Summer Festival 2013

Santa Fe
Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis

July 11, 19, 25, August 2, 8pm


Albuquerque
Cathedral of St John

July 28, 4pm

In a program ranging from early American Shaker tunes to modern classics, the Desert Chorale explores our rich and varied national musical heritage.

Perennial favorites like Simple Gifts and Shenandoah stand alongside uplifting spirituals that are sure to bring down the house! Highlights include Shawn Kirchner’s gospel and bluegrass-inspired Heavenly Home, as well as works by America’s beloved choral music composer, Morten Lauridsen.

Also featured – and especially commissioned for this program – is a new work by up-and-coming composer Abbie Betinis, with a text drawn from the letters of Abigail Adams.

Santa Fe
Loretto Chapel

July 16, 23, August 1, 7

Ted Lee Eubanks

Experience the clear blue light of a Scandinavian sky as the Santa Fe Desert Chorale journeys north to the Arctic Circle. In a program inspired by Nordic folklore, kings, castles and unicorns all make appearances, along with the iconic and beloved Swedish Chef from The Muppet Show.

In the sun-starved winter months, when the darkness of night seems never-ending, Scandinavian composer’s dream of warmer climes, and this program will feature some of their most charming settings of Spanish flamenco and Caribbean salsa to interject southern passion into a cool Nordic blue.

Santa Fe
Loretto Chapel

July 26 August 6, 13, 8pm

First Presbyterian Church

July 30, 8pm

Image courtesy of Bliss Corporation, Italy

Men have called me mad, but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is the loftiest intelligence . . . whether much that is glorious – whether all that is profound – does not spring from disease of thought.

So wrote Edgar Allen Poe, one of many great poets and musicians to have suffered from mental illness. This program explores the relationship between creativity and madness, and how differences in thought may unleash artistic genius.

Hear the wondrous music of Carlo Gesualdo, the “murdering prince of Venosa,” as well as music inspired by Vincent van Gogh, whose severe depression led to his suicide at age 37, and the Swiss artist Adolf Wölfli, who, in a mental institution was allowed only a single pencil and two sheets of paper per week, and yet managed to create thousands of extraordinarily intricate illustrations.

Santa Fe
Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis

August 10, 8pm


Albuquerque
Cathedral of St John

August 11, 4pm

From the celestial to the sensual, the Desert Chorale presents an evening of ravishing French music. Mezzo-soprano Susan Graham brings her flawless mastery of the French repertoire to an evening dedicated to the joys of life and beyond. Songs of love and laughter by Debussy, Poulenc, Camille Saint-Saëns, as well as Jean-Phillipe Rameau, whose touching O Nuit was featured in the hit 2004 film, “Les Choristes,” are a prelude to the heavenly Requiem of Maurice Duruflé, featuring Ms. Graham.

The justly celebrated mezzo-soprano also joins the Desert Chorale for Reynaldo Hahn’s À Chloris, in an arrangement created by Joshua Habermann especially for this sublime program.

Santa Fe
Loretto Chapel

August 15, 16, 18, 19, 8pm

John Callcott Horsley

When a collection of Italian madrigals entitled Musica Transalpina (Music from Across the Alps) was published in London in 1588, no one could have foreseen the craze that it set off in the British Isles.

Thoroughly charmed by their Italian counterparts, British composers set out to emulate them, and the English madrigal was born. Just 13 years later, the greatest of the English madrigal collections, The Triumphs of Oriana, was published in London by Thomas Morley, in honor of Queen Elizabeth I.

At turns playful, sensual, tender – or even naughty – these little gems are a beloved part of our shared musical inheritance. Come hear the Desert Chorale in delightful vocal chamber music from both sides of the Alps.

Santa Fe
La Posada de Santa Fe Resort and Spa

August 29, 6pm

Two-time Grammy Award-winner and regional Emmy Award-winner, Sylvia McNair headlines the Desert Chorale’s 2013 summer gala benefit.

Her interpretations of “The Great American Songbook,” heard in New York at the Rainbow Room, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Savoy Room at Sheldon Hall, The Colony in Palm Beach, Feinstein’s at the Regency, and the famed Oak Room of the Algonquin Hotel, made critic Rex Reed swoon, “I could get used to this kind of ecstasy.”

The evening will include an al fresco cocktail reception, exquisite dinner, live auction, and performance.