Iris Artist Fellowship

The Iris Artist Fellowship is a program for rising professional musicians with a passion for engaging music as a tool for social impact while growing in their own artistry.

Designed to address the under-representation of Black, African American and Latinx artists in classical music, the fellowship is directed toward musicians from those populations.

Iris Artist Fellows perform throughout the Iris Collective season and benefit from the opportunity to build their professional network within a community of skilled instrumentalists with nationwide connections. Between concert events, Fellows focus on chamber music, education, youth development, community-building projects, and collaborations.

The program is designed to provide experiential opportunities in several aspects of a professional music career: including performance, teaching artistry, and community involvement. Iris Artist Fellows bring positive change to schools and other organizations in underserved communities by participating in community engagement programs that focus on social and emotional learning through music, mentorship, inspiration, and social equity.

2024-2025 Iris Artist Fellows

Gabriela Fogo

Gabriela Fogo is a dynamic and versatile violinist and educator from Brazil. A winner of the 2019 Concerto Competition at the University of New Mexico, she has taken on roles as a soloist with orchestras like the New Mexico Philharmonic, The Santa Fe Symphony, and Orquestra Sinfônica de Santo André.

In orchestral settings, Gabriela has played with orchestras across Brazil and the U.S., including Sinfonia Gulf Coast, Valdosta Symphony Orchestra, The Venice Symphony, and the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra. She also has held leadership roles as principal second violin at the New Mexico Philharmonic, as well as concertmaster with the University of New Mexico Symphony Orchestra and Florida State Symphony Orchestra.

In 2019, Gabriela represented Brazil on a tour with the Orchestra of the Americas, and in 2023, she participated in the Sphinx NAAS Audition Intensives.

Her chamber music experience includes collaborations with numerous ensembles like Camerata Fukuda, the Abraham Franck String Quartet, and the Burgin String Quartet, as well as the FogoNuevo violin and viola duo.

Gabriela has performed in masterclasses with renowned musicians like Chaim Taub, Pinchas Zukerman, Gilles Apap, and Kristóf Baráti, and with quartets like the St. Lawrence String Quartet, the Ying Quartet, and the Aizuri String Quartet. Gabriela also has collaborated with musicians like Rachel Barton Pine, Gil Shaham, Leon Spierer, among others.

Deeply committed to music education, Gabriela is a trained Suzuki teacher under the guidance of Susan Kempter at the University of New Mexico. Gabriela has taught private and group lessons, coached youth orchestras in Brazil and the U.S., and was a Suzuki Group class coordinator at the University of New Mexico string lab school. She has collaborated as a violin coach for the Albuquerque Youth Symphony Program and the Tallahassee Youth Orchestras.

Gabriela holds a bachelor’s degree in violin performance from Faculdade Cantareira in São Paulo, Brazil, and a master’s degree in violin performance and string pedagogy from the University of New Mexico, where she was a teaching assistant. She received her Doctor of Music degree in violin performance at Florida State University as a graduate teaching assistant to Dr. Shannon Thomas.

Gabriela started playing the violin when she was 10 through the método Jaffé Collective string method. Her primary teachers include Pablo de León, Marcia Fukuda, Elisa Fukuda, Carmelo de los Santos, and Shannon Thomas.

Roberta dos Santos

Roberta dos Santos is an avid chamber musician and advocate for contemporary music. A Brazilian cellist, Roberta collaborates with some of the most diverse and renowned composers to elevate underrepresented voices in the music scene, both in Brazil and internationally.

From 2014 to 2016, Roberta performed with the Paraiba Symphony Orchestra, participating in significant projects such as recording a special DVD with Brazilian singer Zé Ramalho. Since 2021, she has been a member of The Jackson Symphony and frequently performs across Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana.

In 2023, Roberta took part in The Jackson Symphony’s “Symphony on the Move,” which takes concerts directly to underrepresented audiences throughout West Tennessee. The National Endowment for the Arts recognized the cultural impact of the tour by awarding The Jackson Symphony its prestigious Challenge America grant in 2022.

As an educator, Roberta has dedicated over a decade to teaching at Associação Músicos do Futuro in Taboão da Serra, her alma mater. She is a Suzuki-certified instructor, trained under Dr. Tanya Carey, and she has mentored students at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra Civic Youth Ensembles.

Roberta continues to influence the next generation of musicians through collaborations with the Memphis Youth Symphony Program, PRIZM Ensemble, and other initiatives, while also maintaining a private studio in the U.S. and Brazil.

Roberta is a doctoral candidate in cello performance at the University of Memphis, where she also serves as a teaching assistant. Her doctoral research explores themes of social justice and race within Brazilian classical music.

Roberta earned her bachelor’s degree from Faculdade Cantareira in São Paulo, Brazil, her master’s degrees from the Federal University of Paraíba and Bowling Green State University, and an Artist Diploma from Nicholls State University.

Her principal mentors include Ji Yon Shim Anderson, Felipe Avellar de Aquino, Dennis Parker, Brian Snow, and Kimberly Patterson.