Santa Fe Desert Chorale to Give Headliner Performance at National Choral Convention this March 

Desert Chorale joins Orpheus Chamber Singers for One-Night-Only Performance in Dallas

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Santa Fe, NM — The American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) has invited Santa Fe Desert Chorale to give the closing performance at the 2025 National Conference in Dallas, TX on Saturday, March 22, 2025, at 8:00 PM CDT at the Meyerson Symphony Center.

The Desert Chorale is honored to have been selected to participate in the 62nd National Conference, which takes place March 18-22, 2025. During “Finale to the Future,” the grand finale concert of the conference, the Chorale will perform an abbreviated version of their 2023 program The American Immigrant Experience, which was well received in Santa Fe two summers ago.

This concert will also include Earth Symphony by Jake Runestad, a major work to be performed by Baylor University Symphony Orchestra and a consortium of collegiate Texas choirs. The Desert Chorale has commissioned Runestad in the past, and they look forward to sharing the stage in Dallas when Runestad conducts his piece.

“The Desert Chorale is honored by this invitation” said Artistic Director Joshua Habermann, “and looks forward to sharing a bit of Santa Fe with audiences in Dallas, and conference attendees from around the world.”

Held every other year, the ACDA National Conference brings together choral directors, singers, composers, and choral conducting students from across the country. The theme of this year’s conference is “Celebrating the Choral Art: Past, Present, Future.” ACDA explains, “The 2025 National Conference will highlight our rich choral heritage, celebrate the music and expertise of our present-day choral colleagues, and look with excitement to the next generation.”

Santa Fe Desert Chorale last performed at the ACDA National Conference held in Salt Lake City in 2015. This performance was later broadcast by Minnesota Public Radio. The Chorale also gave invitational performances at regional ACDA conferences in Los Angeles and Chicago during the 2017-2018 season. From 2017 through February 2020, the Desert Chorale presented regular concerts in the Dallas area.

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Santa Fe Desert Chorale is thrilled to share the stage with Orpheus Chamber Singers in a unique joint concert on Sunday, March 23rd at Lovers Lane Methodist Church at 5:00 PM CDT.

Orpheus Chamber Singers is a professional choral ensemble based in the Dallas/Fort Worth area currently led by Artistic Director J.D. Burnett, a Desert Chorale artist for over 20 years. The Texas ensemble, which has also been invited to perform at the ACDA National Conference that weekend, is celebrating their 30th anniversary this season.

“My love for Santa Fe and the Desert Chorale began twenty-five years ago when I sang my first summer season as a tenor with the Chorale,” said J.D. Burnett. “I fell in love with the city, with professional choral music, and met friends and mentors who would shape the rest of my life. Because the Santa Fe Desert Chorale has meant so much to me, the opportunity for the Chorale and Orpheus Chamber Singers to share a concert is the convergence of very important aspects of my artistic life so far.

“My admiration and affection for my Orpheus colleagues and the city of Dallas makes this event so very rich for me personally; to host the great Santa Fe Desert Chorale in Dallas and to sing side by side is an opportunity to affirm the importance of singing, of music, and of its great potential to bring beauty and wholesomeness to our community and our world. It will be a moment not to be missed, and one that will stay with me for a long time.”

Planned Repertoire (subject to change)

Orpheus Chamber Singers

Kanarbik by Veljo Tormis

O Clap Your Hands by Orlando Gibbons

O Sapientia by Paweł Łukaszewski

Close[r], now by Ayana Woods

So Breaks the Sun by Shavon Lloyd

Rotala by Juris Karlsons

Santa Fe Desert Chorale: The American Immigrant Experience

Reading: Our Story

Fiesta by Cristian Grases

Reading: The Gangs

Identity from Cantos Sagrados by James MacMillan

Reading: The Firestorm

Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child, arranged by Craig Hella Johnson

Reading: Song of the Exiles by Holly Karapetkova

City Called Heaven, arranged by Josephine Poelinitz

Precious Lord Take My Hand by Thomas Dorsey, arranged by Arnold Sevier

Reading: excerpt from Mother Country by Richard Blanco

Her Beacon-hand Beckons from To the Hands by Caroline Shaw

Reading: excerpt from Mother Country by Richard Blanco

North by Ryan O’Neal (Sleeping At Last), arranged by George Chung

Hands by Jocelyn Hagen

Orpheus and Desert Chorale:

Svete Tihiy (Gladsome Light) by Alexander Gretchaninov

Sweet Rivers, arranged by Shawn Kirchner

Desert Chorale Artist Roster: March 2025

Santa Fe Desert Chorale artist biographies and headshots are available at desertchorale.org/artists.

Orpheus & Desert Chorale in Concert Tickets:
Advance Tickets: $78/Adults & Seniors, $16/Students
Balcony Seating (Limited): $21.50/Adults & Seniors, $11/Students
At the Door: $80/Adults & Seniors, $20/Students

More information about this concert and a link to purchase tickets can be found here: desertchorale.org/concerts-events/orpheus-and-desert-chorale

Media Contacts: For more information regarding Joshua Habermann or Santa Fe Desert Chorale, please contact Joanna Armstrong by email at joanna@desertchorale.org.

For more information regarding J.D. Burnett or Orpheus Chamber Singers, please contact Ruth Ann Ritchie at administrator@orpheuschambersingers.org.

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Santa Fe Desert Chorale is supported in part by New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding is provided by the County of Santa Fe Lodgers’ Tax, and the City of Santa Fe Arts and Culture Department and the 1% Lodgers’ Tax. Santa Fe Desert Chorale thanks the following organizations for their ongoing support: New Mexico Bank & Trust, Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce, the Santa Fe New Mexican, Santa Fe Selection Travel Guide, and Thornburg Investment Management.

The Vision of the Santa Fe Desert Chorale: Singing for our common humanity.

Mission Statement: The mission of the Santa Fe Desert Chorale is to excite, engage, and inspire diverse audiences with the beauty and power of great choral music.

About the Santa Fe Desert Chorale

Founded in 1982 by Lawrence “Larry” Bandfield, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale is one of the longest-running professional music organizations in New Mexico, as well as one of the most distinguished American professional chamber choirs. “The Santa Fe Desert Chorale [is] a top-notch, 24-voice group… comprising the crème de la crème of professional choral singers from coast to coast” (Dallas Morning News). Performing in historical venues such as the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, the Desert Chorale has become a centerpiece of the cultural life of Santa Fe. Their annual Summer Festival is one of the nation’s largest choral events.

Artistic Director Joshua Habermann has led the Chorale since 2008 in repertoire spanning seven centuries, from early polyphony to contemporary works. Habermann’s versatile programming sets the ensemble apart as “a rara avis in the choral music world” (Santa Fe New Mexican).

The Chorale’s first commercial release, The Road Home, launched at No. 3 on the Billboard Classical Chart following a sold-out CD launch program in Santa Fe. The ensemble has traveled across the nation, performing in prominent conferences and cities such as Dallas, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

The Desert Chorale had the honor of performing at the American Choral Directors Association National Conference in Salt Lake City in 2015 and will return to give the closing performance at the ACDA National Conference in Dallas in 2025.

Dedicated to advancing the composers of our time, the Chorale has commissioned over 30 new works, and several additional pieces have been given their world or American premieres by the Santa Fe Desert Chorale. The organization’s Commissioning Club selects and funds a new commission annually.

While nationally recognized, the Chorale prides itself on its strong relationships within the community of Northern New Mexico. Since 2016, the Chorale has hosted an annual community singing workshop, Santa Fe Sings!, bringing together music-lovers of all backgrounds to express themselves through song under the direction of Joshua Habermann. Through its Insights & Sounds program, the Chorale also presents free mini-concerts for children to introduce them to the beauty and power of great choral music, symposiums that gather experts for engaging dialogues through the lens of choral music, education workshops and masterclasses for local high school students, and more.