The composer, singer, and multidisciplinary artist will begin her residency at NYU’s Espacio de Culturas in January.
Music Composition alum Sonia Megias Lopez (MM ’12) has been selected as the 2026 Artist-in-Residence at NYU’s Espacio de Culturas. During her residency, she will use her expertise in experimental music to create artistic and cultural experiences that are open to the community.
Born in Almansa, Spain, Megias Lopez obtained her undergraduate degree in composition in her home country. She was working as an educator and choral conductor there when she traveled to New York City to attend The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) Awards. She first met Nancy and Ira Shankman, two NYU Steinhardt professors from the Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions who, by chance, were traveling to Madrid the following week.
“I invited them to meet my choruses, and they loved what I was doing,” says Megias Lopez, who is also a singer and multidisciplinary artist. “They told me that I must come to Steinhardt and work with them, so I applied for a Fulbright grant and got it. I spent two years in New York working on my master’s degree with some fantastic teachers and making very good friends and mentors.”
In her musical style and compositions, Megias Lopez pushes the boundaries of what is traditionally considered choral music, using out-of-the-box sounds and performance techniques and creating special music notations. For example, her piece Metatrón combines geometry and a visual projection to engage the audience; many of her performances also include audience participation.
“When you think of a chorus, you picture people in a half-circle singing in beautiful parts together,” says Megias Lopez. “In experimental choral music, you can question everything, including the roles of the conductor, the performers, and the audience. I take influence from avant-garde music in the U.S. because European contemporary music can feel more intellectual and closed off to newcomers. I want to use music to bring everyone in using their intuition.”
As part of her residency, Megias Lopez will continue working with CoroDelantal, an amateur chorus and vocal laboratory that she founded while obtaining her master’s degree. Since returning to Spain after graduating from NYU Steinhardt, she has expanded CoroDelantal headquarters to Madrid and the Contemporary Art Museum of Alicante (MACA).
Megias Lopez will also begin “Art for the Living,” a series of interviews conducted every other week with local artists and curators. The interviews will be open to the NYU community and the public, as well as streamed.
“When I was living in New York, I worked with many artists from different disciplines, from sculptors to poets or dancers,” says Megias Lopez. “People find artists’ lives very interesting—and sometimes strange—so I want to engage the audience in a discussion about how we make art, using our lived experiences to help people find their own inspiration.”
Megias Lopez is also currently working on her PhD; her research is on how to make experimental musical scores more accessible for people with visual impairments. While in New York, she will participate as a Visiting Research Scholar at The Barry S. Brook Center for Music Research and Documentation at the CUNY Graduate Center, where she will continue this work about expanded musical notation.
“The tools I create are not about describing the musical staff with notes and bars by using Braille,” says Megias Lopez. “I want to develop new devices, such as edible scores or tactile scores, to create specific notations that open up experimental music to blind amateur choral singers so they, too, can enjoy and grow from it.”
NYU’s Espacio de Culturas fosters academic, artistic, and cultural connection within, between, and beyond Spain, the Iberian Peninsula, and the Americas. They host events throughout the year, such as screenings of Spanish Cinema, academic roundtables, and art exhibitions.
Megias Lopez’s residency will run from January through June 2026. Learn more about Sonia Megias Lopez and her work.
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