Dolly Parton and the Latino Community: The Songs, the Collaborators, the Books
Six decades of collaborations with Latina and Latino artists, and a bilingual literacy program reaching two million kids.
Women remain underrepresented in composition, and the gap is widest in film scoring. From Hollywood blockbusters to award-winning symphonies, Latina composers and conductors are bringing their cultural heritage to the music industry — breaking barriers and broadcasting Latin American perspectives to audiences around the world.
Here are four remarkable women whose work deserves a place on your playlist.
Germaine Franco: The First Woman to Score a Walt Disney Animation Studios Film
Few composers have transformed Hollywood's musical landscape like Germaine Franco. The Grammy-winning Mexican-American composer became the first woman to score a feature for Walt Disney Animation Studios with Encanto (2021), whose soundtrack spent nine weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
She co-composed Dora and the Lost City of Gold with John Debney, scored The Mother, and wrote additional music and songs for Coco — work that won her an Annie Award — where she highlighted traditional Mexican instruments.
"For Coco, I was lucky to go to Mexico and record 50 musicians, and we recorded songs and a bit of score, mostly source music, but the different ensembles and musicians we used were amazing. Of course, we used the mariachi, but there's so much more to Mexican music. We had trío romántico, which is three guitarists singing with harmonies. And then also lots of amazing drums, percussion, and singers. There's this one instrument, the jawbone, which is in the song 'Un Poco Loco.' You can hear it when you see the skeleton dancing," she told The Credits, the Motion Picture Association's publication.
If that film shaped how you think about the women in your own familia, we wrote about that too: How the Women of Coco Woke My Broken Heart.
In 2023, she won the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media for Encanto, the first Latina to receive the honor in that category. Encanto also made her the first Latina nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score.
Jessica Bejarano: The Latina Conductor Who Built Her Own Orchestra
Mexican-American conductor Jessica Bejarano has built a career around making classical music more diverse and accessible. Raised by a single mother in Bell Gardens, a low-income community southeast of Los Angeles, she didn't discover orchestral music until college.
"I had to take a course in conducting as a music-ed major, because that's what I was as an undergrad, and if you're going to be a music teacher, you have to know how to conduct your ensemble. So we would take a course in basic conducting. When I took that course, I fell in love with the art of conducting," she explained in an interview with Kenan Arts at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
She did not wait for an orchestra to hire her. Today, she is the Founder and Music Director of the San Francisco Philharmonic, an ensemble she created in 2019 to reflect the cultural diversity of the Bay Area. She also serves as a Cover Conductor with the San Francisco Symphony and as Curator and Scholar in Residence with the San Francisco Opera.
A music director shapes what an orchestra plays. Bejarano built hers to sound like the Bay Area.
Gabriela Ortiz: The Grammy-Winning Mexican Composer Behind Revolución diamantina
Daughter of Mexican musicians, Gabriela Ortiz is one of the most celebrated contemporary composers in Latin America. Her music combines Mexican folk traditions, avant-garde techniques, electronic music, and orchestral writing. That mixture has carried her distinctive sound to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, and the New York Philharmonic.
Her portrait album Revolución diamantina, recorded by Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, won three Grammy Awards at the 2025 ceremony. Ortiz took Best Contemporary Classical Composition for the title work and shared Best Classical Compendium with Dudamel and the orchestra.
"Revolución diamantina is a piece that tackles a hugely important issue in terms of social commentary: violence against women. You could say it's a rebellious piece, which is why I was actually surprised that it was recognised at the Grammys. Ultimately, I hope this award helps to shine a spotlight on Latin American music, where so much significant work is happening right now," she said in an interview with Platea Magazine, translated from the Spanish.
Tania León: The Cuban-American Composer Who Won the Pulitzer Prize
Composer, conductor, and educator Tania León has spent decades expanding the boundaries of contemporary classical music. Born in Havana, Cuba, she moved to the United States in the 1960s and became a founding member and the first music director of Arthur Mitchell's Dance Theatre of Harlem in 1969.
"I come from a very poor family, a family integrated by people of different cultures. But what we had in common was the fact that we were poor and dreaming of something that was virtually impossible. It was my grandmother who got an idea that I liked music because of the way I reacted to music on the radio. She would tell me, 'You're going to see your name in the marquees of the theaters.' And I saw these people scraping pennies, literally, to provide me with my education," she told NPR.
Her compositions blend Afro-Cuban rhythms with modern classical techniques, creating a musical language that has earned worldwide recognition. In 2021, León received the Pulitzer Prize for Music for her orchestral work Stride, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic. The following year she was named a recipient of the 45th Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime artistic achievement.
Why Latina Composers and Conductors Matter in Film, TV, and Classical Music
Representation in music shapes the stories audiences hear. Latina composers and conductors bring perspectives influenced by migration, language, and family traditions, which enrich film scores, orchestral music, opera, and multimedia projects.
The difference between these four women and the pipeline conversations that surround them is that they are not waiting. Franco scored the Disney film. Bejarano founded the orchestra. Ortiz wrote the piece about violence against women and took it to the Grammy stage. León built the archive she now belongs to — a pattern we see across Latinx-led production houses and in every artist who stops asking for the table and builds her own.
The industry still counts. Streams, tickets, and season subscriptions are the numbers that decide who gets commissioned next — the same math behind the 2024 Grammy snub of Latinx artists we covered last year. Encanto, Revolución diamantina, and Stride are all streaming now, and the San Francisco Philharmonic publishes its season at sfphil.org.
Frequently Asked Questions About Latina Composers
Who was the first woman to score a Walt Disney Animation Studios film?
Germaine Franco, a Mexican-American composer, with Encanto in 2021. She is also the first Latina to win the Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media and the first Latina nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score.
Has a Latina composer ever won the Pulitzer Prize for Music?
Yes. Cuban-American composer Tania León won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Music for Stride, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic. She received the Kennedy Center Honors the following year.
Which Latina composer won a Grammy in 2025?
Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz won Best Contemporary Classical Composition for Revolución diamantina. The album won three Grammys total, recorded by Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Are there Latina conductors leading major orchestras?
Jessica Bejarano founded and serves as Music Director of the San Francisco Philharmonic, which she created in 2019. She is also a Cover Conductor with the San Francisco Symphony.
Resumen en español
Las compositoras y directoras de orquesta latinas están transformando la música para cine, televisión y salas de concierto con obras que reflejan su identidad y herencia cultural. Este artículo destaca las trayectorias de Germaine Franco, Jessica Bejarano, Gabriela Ortiz y Tania León, cuatro artistas que han abierto camino en una industria históricamente dominada por hombres. Franco fue la primera mujer en componer la música de una película de Walt Disney Animation Studios; Bejarano fundó su propia orquesta en San Francisco; Ortiz ganó el Grammy a la Mejor Composición Clásica Contemporánea en 2025; y León recibió el Premio Pulitzer de Música en 2021. Además de repasar sus principales logros, el artículo reflexiona sobre la importancia de apoyar a las compositoras latinas para promover una representación más diversa en el mundo de la música.
