Music professor and students earn Grammy nomination

Music professor Javier José Mendoza found out he and his students had been nominated for a Grammy for their work on international recording artist Yandel’s Sinfónico (En Vivo) album while in his office at the Wertheim School of Music & Performing Arts.

“It was my colleague, Dr. Jaime Ousley, who texted me,” Mendoza recalled. “I couldn’t believe it. I had to look it up myself.” He quickly shared the news with folks in the building. “Everybody was ecstatic,” he said. Later that night, at home with his wife, he finally caught his breath. “We celebrated. When reality set in, it was just sheer happiness.”

For FIU, the 2026 Grammy nomination is a national recognition of a program that has redefined what a university orchestra can be.

As director of orchestral studies, Mendoza has conducted the FIU Symphony Orchestra for eight years and transformed it into a laboratory for innovation where classical music meets popular culture, Latin music traditions and the modern music industry. It is that group that now owns a piece of music’s highest honor.

“The orchestra as an ensemble has approximately 300 years of history,” Mendoza explained. “But if it’s going to survive, it must evolve. We’ve used the orchestra as a vehicle to present popular music that has wider appeal to modern audiences.”

Mendoza’s Grammy-nominated work with reggaeton superstar Yandel marked a watershed moment for FIU’s program by merging the energy of urban Latin music with the sophistication of orchestral performance and placing students at the center of it all. Dozens took the stage at Miami’s Arsht Center to perform the music recorded live for the album, released on April 3 by Warner Music Latina, and now nominated in the category of Best Música Urbana Album. (Notably, Yandel has been nominated for Latin Grammy awards multiple times, having won twice; the current nomination, by contrast, is part of the Grammys.)

Bringing Latin icons to the symphony stage

FIU students performed with Yandel as part of his Sinfónico USA Tour 2025, with one show taking place on campus, a free event for all students that saw the Wertheim Performing Arts Center packed to capacity.

Earlier this month, Mendoza and the FIU Symphony Orchestra performed another highly successful classical twist with Rubén Blades’ Maestra Vida, a large-scale salsa cantata that sold out at Wertheim Performing Arts Center. The performance required students to master Afro-Caribbean rhythms and salsa orchestration, a challenge that dramatically expanded their musical range.

Now, the orchestra is preparing for its next ambitious show: Celia Sinfónica: A Symphonic Tribute to the Queen of Salsa, a full symphonic celebration of Celia Cruz’s 100th birthday, presented in partnership with Celia Cruz Entertainment, Loud & Live, and FIU CasaCuba.

Under Mendoza’s baton, the orchestra will reimagine Cruz’s iconic hits, including “La Vida Es Un Carnaval” and “Quimbara,” as sweeping symphonic works infused with Afro-Caribbean soul.

“This recognition allowed the students to see the fruit of their labor,” Mendoza said. “They’ve become even more motivated and more dedicated. It’s re-energized them as we prepare for Celia Sinfónica and reminds them that the hard work pays off.”

Students at the center of the moment

For Mendoza, the most meaningful part of the GRAMMY moment wasn’t the nomination itself, it was watching what it sparked in his students. “That energy is being felt directly inside the rehearsal room,” he shared.

Especially by Gianluca Nagaro, first-year graduate student and concertmaster for Celia Sinfónica:

“It’s an honor to be part of something this meaningful,” Nagaro says. “I grew up hearing Celia Cruz at home, and now I get to reinterpret her music with a full orchestra. Dr. Mendoza always reminds us that performance is half about the music and half about what the audience experiences.”

For Mendoza, this transformation, artistic, emotional and professional, is the core of why he does this work.

A global vision for FIU

Beyond Miami, Mendoza’s leadership is propelling the FIU Symphony Orchestra onto the international stage. In June 2026, the orchestra will perform at the National Auditorium in Madrid after being invited by cultural partners at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and the Centro Superior de Investigación y Promoción Musical.

Unlike many international invitations, this one is fully hosted, a rare honor that signals FIU’s growing global recognition.

“We serve as a laboratory,” Mendoza said. “Some of the projects we incubate here continue beyond FIU, like Yandel's Sinfónico tour, which is now international. That’s powerful for our students, for FIU and for the future of orchestral music.”

His long-term vision is ambitious but clear: that FIU helps redefine what a collegiate orchestra looks like in the 21st century.

“My hope,” he said, “is that we will be perceived by this generation as one of the best, if not the best, collegiate orchestras in the country.”