Cuban-American composer and conductor Odaline de la Martínez will receive Tulane University’s 2026 International Alumni Award for Exceptional Achievement at the 52nd annual Tulane Alumni Awards Gala on April 18, 2026, at the Civic Theatre in New Orleans.

The award is presented by the Tulane Alumni Association recognizes alumni who live or work internationally and who have demonstrated sustained excellence and leadership in their professional fields.

De la Martínez, who emigrated to the United States from Cuba as a child in the early 1960s, studied at Tulane University on a full scholarship, graduating summa cum laude with a double major in mathematics and music. Her subsequent studies were supported entirely by major international awards, including a Marshall Scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, a Danforth Fellowship at the University of Surrey, and a Watson Fellowship supporting global research in electronic music.

Her professional career includes several historic milestones, notably becoming the first woman to conduct a complete concert at the BBC Proms in 1984. She later founded the Lontano Ensemble, LORELT Records, and the London Festival of American Music. Among her compositions is the opera “Imoinda.”

Among De la Martínez’s upcoming performances are a presentation of her “Studies in Rhythm” for solo piano at the Sonic Matter Festival’s Komponistinnen Piano Marathon in Zurich on Feb. 28, 2026. Her ensemble work “Memorias” will be performed by North South Consonance on March 5, 2026, at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music in New York City.

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