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(Photo credit: Getty Images)
The Frost School of Music at the University of Miami recently announced two members of its world-renowned artist faculty were bestowed the highest honor in the music industry, receiving Grammy Awards at the 64th Annual Awards ceremony in Las Vegas on Sunday, Apr. 3.
Carlos Rafael Rivera, assistant professor and director of the Media Scoring and Production Program, won Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media as composer of the hit Netflix Limited Series The Queen’s Gambit.
“I am so grateful to the Recording Academy for this very unexpected recognition,” Professor Rivera said. “To receive a Grammy Award in what is a historical tie with Jon Batiste, Trent Reznor, and Atticus Ross, is one of the most memorable experiences of my life.”
For The Queen’s Gambit Professor Rivera also earned the Primetime Emmy Award, and honors from the Society of Composers and Lyricists, the Hollywood Music in Media and two international Film Critics’ Awards this year.
Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Studio Music and Jazz lecturer at the Frost School earned the Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Album for Skyline, a trio album of Cuban standards and original pieces from bandmates and legends Ron Carter and Jack DeJohnette. This marks the third Grammy for the celebrated artist who among other honors is a multi-Latin Grammy Award winner.
“All of us at the Frost School congratulate our esteemed faculty members Carlos Raphael Rivera and Gonzalo Rubalcaba on their Grammy wins,” said Dean Shelton G. Berg. “Our world-renowned faculty includes some of the most celebrated musicians of our time. Winning a Grammy Award is the highest recognition bestowed in the music industry and we are thrilled both Carlos and Gonzalo have been acknowledged by the members of the Recording Academy for their extraordinary contributions this year!”
Carlos Rafael Rivera’s work for film and TV includes scores for Netflix’ Godless, for which he received a Primetime Emmy, Universal Pictures’ A Walk Among The Tombstones, starring Liam Neeson, the hit TV show and 15-time Emmy nominee Hacks for HBO Max, starring Jean Smart, as well as the upcoming Just Beyond for Disney +, and La Reina Del Sur 3 for Telemundo.
Pianist and composer Rubalcaba already was a young phenom with a budding career in his native Cuba when he was discovered by Dizzy Gillespie in 1985. Since, Piano & Keyboard Magazine selected him in 1999 as one of the great pianists of the 20th Century, alongside figures such as Glenn Gould, Martha Argerich and Bill Evans and established himself as a creative force in the jazz world. His international recording career, which includes titles such as Discovery – Live at Montreux, Images – Live at Mt. Fuji, The Blessing, Suite 4 y 20, Rapsodia, Diz and Imagine – Gonzalo Rubalcaba in the USA, has garnered 16 nominations including both Grammys and Latin Grammys. His most recent Latin Grammy nomination was in 2021 in the category of Best Traditional Tropical Album with multi-Grammy winning vocalist and Frost alumni Jon Secada, BM ’83, MM ’86, who also received the Frost Distinguished Alumni Award in 1999.
