Dr. Julieta Margarita Alvarado-Rieppel passed away on May 2, 2017 at the University of Minnesota Medical Center. Julieta was a loving wife, mother and grandmother, a role she relished and was just growing into with her beautiful new grandchildren. She is survived by her husband, Dr. Daniel Rieppel, and their children, Ingrid Margrit Pederson and her husband Andrew and Erich Emmanuel Matthias Rieppel, as well as her parents (Manuel Antonio Alvarado and Margarita Miranda de Alvarado) and siblings *Manuel Antonio Alvarado III and Dr. Beatriz Cecilia Alvarado).
Dr. Alvarado was born on January 11, 1959, in Panama City, Republic of Panama. She attended Colegio Internacional de María Inmaculada for 13 years. Her love of classical music brought her to the famed Cleveland Institute of Music in Cleveland, Ohio, where she continued her piano studies with the legendary Vitya Vronsky-Babin and Doris Ornstein on harpsichord. Afterwards she matriculated to Indiana University, Bloomington under the guidance of Thomas Binkley and Elizabeth Wright in the Early Music Institute. Upon returning from Munich, Germany, she settled in the Twin Cities and gave her recital debut at St. Louis, King of France Catholic Church in 1991. An award-winning harpsichordist, Dr. Alvarado performed widely in the U.S., Latin America and Europe.
As a recipient of several international, national, and state awards, she received grants for research and performance from the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Jerome Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the Fund for U.S. Artists at International Festivals and Exhibitions, and the Artist Exploration Fund in New York City. She often returned to her native country of Panama to visit family and friends and contributed to the Panamanian music community by performing concerts and giving lectures at the University of Panama. Dr. Alvarado’s degrees include a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music and Case Western University and a Ph.D. in Leadership for Higher Education with high distinction from Capella University, Minneapolis. She has taught as Assistant Professor of Music at Minnesota State University, Mankato, and at Lake Superior College, Duluth. Most recently, she led the development of the music program at Saint Paul College and as Mtaught as an online music instructor at Southwest Minnesota State University, Marshall, where she first joined the music faculty in 1998.
A recognized colonial music scholar, her publications include music editions in the U.S. and her Panama -her native country- as well as several peer-reviewed articles for journals in Spain and Bolivia. Twice named a Fulbright Scholar to Latin America — to Bolivia from 2001-2003 and to Panama from 2009-2010, Dr. Alvarado was appointed to the Fulbright National Peer Review Committee in Washington, D.C. in 2011 and served as 2013-2014 President of the Fulbright Association’s Minnesota Chapter. She was a very active member of the board up until her untimely death.
The Fulbright Association is deeply saddened to hear of Dr. Alvarado’s passing. Throughout her life, she has contributed to the Fulbright mission with leadership and dedication, and she will always be remembered as a valued member of the Fulbright community.
