Homecoming Artist Spotlight: Fabiola Mndez

Homecoming Artist Spotlight: Fabiola M ndez The first cuatrista to graduate from Berklee talks about the community that shaped her career ahead of her Homecoming performance on September 19.

August 10, 2026

By

Nicole Morano

Fabiola M ndez

Berklees first-ever Homecoming Block Party brings alumni back to Boston on Saturday, September 19, for a daylong celebration of the music that started here. Our Homecoming Artist Spotlight series introduces the alumni taking the stage, including their favorite Berklee memories, the lessons they carried out into their careers, and what coming home means to them now.

Fabiola M ndez, a Puerto Rican cuatrista, singer, educator, and Emmy-nominated composer from Caguas, made history in 2018 as the first student to graduate from Berklee with the Puerto Rican cuatro as her principal instrument. Blending folk, jazz, and Afro-Caribbean traditions, she has performed at NPRs Tiny Desk, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and collaborated with artists including the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, Pedro Cap , and Danny Rivera. She was named Latin Artist of the Year at the 2023 Boston Music Awards, has received honors including the Quincy Jones and ASCAP Foundation Lucille and Jack Yellen awards, and earned a 2023 Children's and Family Emmy nomination for her work on PBS Kids' Alma's Way.

Berklees first-ever Homecoming Block Party takes place Saturday, September 19, from 1 to 6 p.m. Learn more and get your tickets.

To come back home and perform-not as a student, but as a professional musician this time around-feels surreal and I couldnt be more excited.- Fabiola M ndez

Berklee is celebrating its first-ever Homecoming this year. What was your reaction when you were invited to be part of it?Im super excited to be back at my alma mater and to perform after many years of growth and musical experiences around the world!

Looking back, whats one Berklee memory that still makes you smile or has stayed with you throughout your career?I remember one time at Berklee that one of my guitar professors encouraged me to play around with the tuning on my cuatro. It felt like a crazy idea, but it made me think outside the box. Nowadays, a lot of my original music is an exploration of how the cuatro can sound in a variety of harmonic influences.

How did your time at Berklee shape the artist, or person, you are today?So much of my time at Berklee shaped who I am as an artist. The way that I approach my compositions and my playing is influenced by the genres of music and composition techniques I was exposed to at Berklee. I was very blessed to have been the first Puerto Rican cuatro player to graduate from Berklee, which has had its own positive impact on my career because of the historic weight that achievement entails for the Puerto Rican community and for traditional instruments in general. The connections I made while at Berklee have stuck with me and have opened doors in the national and international music community.

Watch Fabiola M ndezs Tiny Desk Concert:

Homecoming is all about reconnecting. What does coming home to Berklee mean to you at this stage of your career?Its a reaffirmation that the work and journey thus far havent gone unnoticed. To come back home and perform-not as a student, but as a professional musician this time around-feels surreal and I couldnt be more excited.

What advice would you share with current Berklee students who are just beginning their own journey?Every stage, no matter how big or small, becomes your presentation letter. Honor each and every stage you step on and the audience that comes to support you. A lot of the small gigs become the pathway for bigger opportunities. It only takes one presenter or one audience member to speak positively about your work. That will open the next door, and the next, and the next, until you look back and realize how much of your growth comes from the community that has supported you along the way.

Follow Fabiola M ndez on Instagram and visit her website.

Related Categories

News

Most Popular

Illustration by Michelle Parkos

Music Marketing: 5 Practical Strategies for Independent Artists Five ways help you build visibility, engage your audience, and grow your fanbase-including one trick to steal from Taylor Swift.

Latest

Homecoming Artist Spotlight: Fabiola M ndez The first cuatrista to graduate from Berklee talks about the community that shaped her career ahead of her Homecoming performance on September 19.

Berklee President Jim Lucchese (left) and Krystal Prime Banfield (far right), Berklee vice president of Education Outreach and Social Entrepreneurship, celebrated the Berklee City Music scholarship recipients on stage at the Berklee Performance Center.

Bryan Lasky

Berklee City Music Presents Nine Scholarships and Awards at Annual Concert Student recipients from seven states and Canada received scholarships, housing awards, and aid to attend Berklee.

Agua Tinta (Daniela Garc a) BM '24

How Agua Tinta's Class Project Launched Her Songwriting Career Two years after graduating from Berklee, the songwriter has a Latin Grammy nomination, a Songwriters Hall of Fame scholarship award, and millions of streams on Spotify.

Read All

Subscribe The latest sounds, stories, and ideas, sent to your inbox weekly.

LINK:	https://www.berklee.edu/berklee-now/news/homecoming-artist-spotlight-f...
	See more stories from berklee

Most recent headlines