Santa Fe Desert Chorale Announces 2016 Summer Festival Season. Festival Season Includes 17 Performances/ 5 Distinct Programs/ 6 Venues.
Tickets Are On Sale At The Box Office Today: March 1, 2016.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Santa Fe, New Mexico, March 1, 2016: The Santa Fe Desert Chorale announced the programming and scheduling for the 2016 Summer Festival Season today. In making the announcement, Music Director Joshua Habermann said, “with a festival ranging from new American music to Jewish folk traditions to Russian masterworks, the 2016 season is a wonderful opportunity to show the depth and breadth of Desert Chorale’s ability to sing in any style.”
The 34th season opens with American Voices on Tuesday, July 19, 2016 at 8:00 p.m. at Christ Church Santa Fe (1213 Don Gaspar Avenue, Santa Fe, NM 87505). Featured is the world premiere of a work commissioned by the Santa Fe Desert Chorale from Composer-In-Residence Jake Runestad (b. 1986) with text drawn from the journals of Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862). The program includes a second world premiere: Frank Ferko’s (b. 1950) composition Song of the Sky Loom, set to a native Tewa poem. This work was commissioned by Sally Roberts in celebration of the 75th birthday of Don Roberts in 2013.
Additional works by composers David Montoya, Shawn Crouch, John Kelly, Meredith Monk, Sydney Guillaume, Randall Thompson, and Charles Ives will be performed. Arrangements by Joseph Jennings, Aaron Humble, and Moses Hogan round out the program. Music Director Joshua Habermann conducts.
Pianist Debra Ayers returns for her third appearance with the Chorale. Subsequent performances will take place on Sunday, July 24, 2016 at 4:00 p.m. at The Cathedral of St. John (18 Silver Avenue SW, Albuquerque, NM 87102), and Friday, July 29, 2016 and Thursday, August 4, 2016 both at 8:00 p.m. at Christ Church Santa Fe. Ticket prices are $75, $65, $45, $35 and $20 in Santa Fe; $55 and $40 in Albuquerque. Free pre-concert talks by Jake Runestad will occur on July 24 and July 29, 2016 (see attached schedule for time and location).
While in residence, Jake Runestad and Frank Ferko will appear in a panel discussion about choosing and setting text, moderated by KHFM radio personality and Santa Fe Desert Chorale vocalist Kathlene Ritch. The event will take place on Wednesday, July 20, 2016 at 6:00 p.m. at Collected Works Bookstore and Coffee Shop (202 Galisteo Street, Santa Fe, NM 87501). Admission is free. Additionally, Mr. Runestad will make appearances at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, El Castillo, The Montecito Santa Fe, and will collaborate on a project with Creativity for Peace.
The opening night concert on July 19, 2016 will be preceded by a cocktail reception with American standards played by pianist Bert Dalton and a dinner with concert introductory remarks by composers Jake Runestad and Frank Ferko. The pre-concert event begins at 5:00 p.m. and will take place at Quail Run (3101 Old Pecos Trail, Santa Fe, NM 87505). The cost per person is $100 and advance reservations are required.
The second program of the season, Sephardic Legacy, will be presented in conjunction with the New Mexico History Museum’s exhibit Fractured Faiths: Spanish Judaism, The Inquisition, and New World Identities. Vanessa Paloma, Santa Fe native and Sephardic music expert, will be the guest vocalist. Fattah Abbou joins the program performing the oud and percussion instruments. Performances will take place at the New Mexico History Museum (113 Lincoln Avenue, Santa Fe, NM 87501) on Tuesday, July 26, 2016 at 8:00 p.m.; Sunday, July 31, 2016 at 3:30 p.m.; and Tuesday, August 2, 2016 at 8:00 p.m. The program will be led by Joshua Habermann. Tickets for the performances are $65 and $45 each. Steven Ovistky, Executive Director of the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and frequent lecturer on Sephardic music, will give free public talks prior to each concert. The talks, as well as a brunch on July 31, 2016 at 1:30 p.m., are sponsored by The Honorable Stephen and Jane Hochberg. The brunch buffet features strictly Kosher catering under the supervision of Chabad Center for Jewish Life and is $50 per person (advanced registration is required).
Program three has been created by Guest Conductor Dr. Richard Sparks. “Sounds and Sweet Airs” commemorates the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death. Musical selections programmed are based on Shakespearian texts and will include works by composers Sven-Eric Johanson (1919-1997); Frank Martin (1890-1974); Robert Applebaum (b. 1941); Ralph Vaughan Williams (1877-1909); and Sir George Shearing, OBE (1919-2011).
Pianist Nathan Salazar, a native of Los Alamos, will make his Santa Fe Desert Chorale debut with this program. Actor Anna Farkas, Associate Artistic Director of Santa Fe’s International Shakespeare Center, will perform spoken word selections between musical works. Performances are scheduled Thursday, July 28, 2016; Saturday, July 30, 2016; and Wednesday, August 3, 2016 at 8:00 p.m. There will also be a Sunday matinee, August 7, 2016 at 4:00 p.m. All performances will be at Church of the Holy Faith (311 East Palace Avenue, Santa Fe, NM 87501). Tickets are $65 and $40 per person. Free pre-concert lectures will be given an hour and a half before each performance by popular RENESAN instructor, Stephen Bellon.
Harry Bicket, Chief Conductor of The Santa Fe Opera and Artistic Director of The English Consort, will lead a program of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s (1710-1736) Stabat Mater, Henry Purcell’s (1659-1695) “Evening Hymn,” and John Blow’s (1649-1708) Paratum cor meum. Maestro Bicket appears courtesy of The Santa Fe Opera. Santa Fe Desert Chorale vocalists, soprano Meredith Ruduski and mezzo-soprano Helen Karloski are soloists in this program. David Felberg, Concertmaster of the Santa Fe Symphony will be joined in the performances by colleagues: Ruxandra Marquardt (violin II), Shanti Randall (viola), Sally Guenther (cello), and Jean-Luc Matton (bass).
Performances will be held at the historic Loretto Chapel on Monday, August 1, 2016; Sunday, August 7, 2016; and Wednesday, August 10, 2016 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are $65, $45 and $20. Joshua Habermann, Santa Fe Desert Chorale Music Director, will lead pre-concert talks an hour and a half before each performance in the Tesuque Room at the Inn and Spa at Loretto (211 Old Santa Fe Trail, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501).
Sergei Rachmaninov’s (1873-1943) All-Night Vigil is the final program of the 2016 Summer Festival Season. Joshua Habermann leads the enlarged 32-voice ensemble, in a reprise of the ‘Vespers’ which was last performed by the Desert Chorale in 2012. The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis (131 Cathedral Place, Santa Fe, NM 87501) is the venue for the monumental work for a cappella chorus on Thursday August 11, 2016 and Saturday, August 13, 2016 at 8:00 p.m. The Albuquerque performance of the ‘Vespers’ on Sunday, August 14, 2016 at 4:00 p.m. is the final performance of the 2016 Summer Festival Season. Santa Fe ticket prices are: $75, $65, $55, $45, $35, and $20; Albuquerque prices are $55 and $40 per person. Assistant Music Director, Dr. Matthew Tresler, will give free pre-concert talks an hour and a half prior to each concert, in the performance venues.
Special ticket offers:
Students with valid identification are eligible for discounts at many performances in select seating sections. Groups of 10 or more for a single performance are eligible for a 10% discount.
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Santa Fe Desert Chorale: Entering its 34th season, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale is one of the longest continually performing professional music organizations in New Mexico, as well as one of the most distinguished. A recipient of the 2006 Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, in 2015 the Santa Fe Reporter named the ensemble one of the “Best of Santa Fe” in the Music Performance category. Scott Cantrell of The Dallas Morning News characterized the Chorale as presenting “stunning singing…incredible power,” during the 2015 Summer Festival.
Now in his eighth season as Music Director, Joshua Habermann leads the 24-voice professional Chorale in repertoire spanning seven centuries, from Medieval polyphony to contemporary works. The critically-acclaimed ensemble performs at historical sites in Santa Fe such as the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis and the Loretto Chapel, as well as other venues throughout the Southwest. A recent highlight was an invitational appearance at the 2015 American Choral Director’s Association National Conference in Utah which was later broadcast by Minnesota Public Radio.
The Santa Fe Desert Chorale presents both summer and winter festivals of concerts featuring a wide range of literature from around the world. The 2016 Summer Festival Season will take place from July 19 through August 14, 2016.
The composition of the Chorale is truly national in scope with artists drawn from coast-to-coast; many sharing the stage with peer groups from Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society to the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and including Chanticleer, Conspirare, and Seraphic Fire.
The Desert Chorale prides itself on its strong relationships within the community of Northern New Mexico, and enjoys collaborations with Creativity for Peace, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, New Mexico History Museum, National Dance Institute – New Mexico, Performance Santa Fe, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Santa Fe Symphony and Chorus, Santa Fe Pro Musica, and The Santa Fe Opera. Community engagement is an integral part of the Desert Chorale’s mission. (www.desertchorale.org)
