Lobo grew up in Newark, was active in high school choir and jazz band, and even experimented with writing his own singer-songwriter tunes, but he started at UD without much formal training in music composition. 

“I had an independent study with my high school band director, UD alum Michael Archer. He wasn't a composer, but he gave me a few books and could answer questions about music notation,” he said. 

Through his time at UD, Lobo grew as a musician and developed the skill to do something few undergraduate composition students have the opportunity to do: write a piece for a 15-member ensemble.

Lobo said that classical music today isn’t like classical music from 200 years ago. His music has influences from jazz, Latin American folk music and pop music. 

“It is an auditory soundscape that feels as if it’s alive, as if it’s a creature that’s slowly morphing and slowly changing,” he said. 

He compared modern composers to scientists experimenting to discover something new or sounds that have never been heard before. It may not sound like anything you hear on the radio, but it is part of being a musician and a scholar.

As if writing the piece wasn’t hard enough, Lobo had to overcome another challenge: compiling a group of musicians to perform it. Unlike participation in University ensembles, which is tied to course requirements for music students, playing in a friend’s recital is strictly voluntary. Finding 15 musicians with the time to rehearse and perform a sinfonietta is no easy feat.

Thanks to Lobo’s determination, and with guidance from assistant professor of music composition Yoshiaki Onishi, Deluge had its premiere performance on May 13, along with pieces by other senior composition students and a short opera written by adjunct professor Rachael Smith. Members of the Delaware Chamber Music Collective, a group of graduate music students, performed the concert, and Onishi conducted.

“I’m really happy that we could get this to happen at the university,” Lobo said. “The logistics of such a large piece make it really difficult, but it’s a magical moment for a composer when the music is heard for the first time by a live audience.” 

The child of two university professors, Lobo said his parents have been surprised that from the start he has worked one-on-one with professors and that the mentorship he received matches the level of graduate study. 

In the fall, Lobo will begin his graduate studies at Peabody Institute of John Hopkins University, studying composition under Pulitzer Prize Finalist Felipe Lara and classical guitar with Franco Platino.