Principal’s Medal: Luis Meseguer Mira
Presented by Professor Dame Sally Mapstone FRSE
Winter Graduation 2025
I would now like to introduce the Principal’s Medal. This award was inaugurated 16 years ago with a gift from three anonymous donors and is supported by Ede and Ravenscroft, believed to be the oldest firm of tailors and robe-makers in the world.
The award of the Principal’s Medal recognises students who display exceptional endeavour and achievement during their time at St Andrews. The medal may be awarded to final-year undergraduates and postgraduates in any discipline, and the achievements celebrated are both academic and extracurricular.
Today, the Principal’s Medal is being awarded to a truly outstanding student: Luis Meseguer Mira, who has just graduated with an MLitt in Sacred Music.
Luis is first and foremost an outstanding composer and cultural leader whose achievements during his time at St Andrews have been extraordinary. The final project of his Masters, a sound installation for the world’s largest monument to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Madrid, will form the permanent musical environment for a site expected to welcome millions of pilgrims in the decades ahead. This pioneering work, created entirely in musique concrète or experimental sound art, represents a bold and original contribution to the history of sacred music. Luis premiered the installation at the Laidlaw Music Centre in August 2025, and it will feature again during the International Network for Music and Theology conference hosted by St Andrews in 2026.
Academically, Luis has excelled in every aspect of the MLitt programme, achieving distinction in all modules and producing compositions of remarkable depth and creativity. His Mass of Divine Mercy, written for congregational participation, was performed at St James’ Catholic Church in St Andrews and is now part of its liturgical repertoire. He also contributed to the St Andrews Research Internship Scheme with Pilgrimage, a work blending medieval melodies with contemporary texts, which drew praise from leading musicians, including Grammy-award-winning soprano, Lucy Schaufer.
Luis’s influence extends far beyond the classroom. He has enriched the musical life of the University as Assistant Conductor Scholar of the Renaissance Singers, composing new works such as The Visit of the Three Wise Men, now part of their Christmas repertoire. He created a choral piece for St Leonard’s College’s 50th anniversary, performed as an organist in services and concerts, and contributed original music to the Orgelbüchlein Project, a global initiative to complete J S Bach’s unfinished organ collection.
His versatility was evident in interdisciplinary collaborations, including the Intersections programme with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where he composed Trio Prophecy, inspired by research on rap and prophetic traditions.
Luis’s entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to community are equally inspiring. To fund his studies, he organised concerts across Spain and launched a crowdfunding campaign, demonstrating remarkable initiative. He has founded Transfiguración, the only Spanish-language magazine dedicated to contemporary sacred art, leading a team of 50 artists and scholars, and interviewing leading figures in composition, such as Sir James MacMillan.
Luis’s academic and artistic achievements, leadership and service to the community are truly exceptional. Luis has been appointed Music Director at the Shrine of St Bernadette in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and will take up this position in the new year.
Luis, in recognition of your many accomplishments academically, artistically and personally during your time at St Andrews, it gives me great pleasure to bestow upon you the Principal’s Medal.