Artist Profile: Jennifer Perez

by Linda Marianiello, Executive Director, NMPAS

Soprano Jennifer Perez is a native New Mexican. She was one of the first young artists to enter the New Mexico Bach Chorale as an up-and-coming professional. Mentoring emerging artists is a major part of NMPAS’s Mission to promote New Mexico’s most talented professionals. We are very proud of all that Jennifer has achieved since graduating from UNM a few years ago.

Many NMPAS artists, including Jennifer, earn their living through music. Her main performing activities are with NMPAS, the Oregon Bach Festival, and the Dallas Choral Festival. Since all of her income derives from singing and part-time teaching, the COVID-19 emergency has left her in a difficult financial situation.

Jennifer says that the psychological effect of the coronavirus has been even more devastating than the financial insecurity she’s currently experiencing. She’s trying to fill the void with practicing. Yet having rehearsal and concert deadlines provides the very structure that is now missing from her life and the lives of her colleagues. Her concern for her colleagues, as well as herself, is what makes Jennifer so special to everyone at NMPAS and the wider community.

Jennifer wants to share her love of music with NMPAS audiences during the COVID-19 emergency. She’s working with Artistic Director Franz Vote and members of the New Mexico Bach Chorale to plan a “live” concert via video link. Her idea is to create a special Thank You gift for each person who donates to the Artist Relief Fund and supports NMPAS through the remainder of the 2019-2020 season.

Although Jennifer had very little formal training before college, she has been singing since she was a child. She was born in Ventura, CA and moved permanently to New Mexico at age 10. Jennifer went to Bernalillo High School and, after graduation, pursued a bachelors and masters in vocal performance at UNM in Albuquerque. Jennifer Vanover was her high school choral teacher and the person who encouraged her to pursue a career in music. Being cast as Cosette in Les Misérables is among Jennifer’s most special high school memories.

She decided to pursue music in college, because it was the one thing she could not live without. Jennifer Perez is not alone in this: many professional musicians feel as though music chose them, not the other way round. UNM in Albuquerque has an excellent music department, and she was lucky to be accepted into their program. Her voice teachers at UNM were Sam Shepperson* and Michael Hix.

At UNM she was very active in the opera program and also sang in three different choirs: concert, chamber and jazz. Jennifer doesn’t see herself primarily as an opera singer, because she’s uncomfortable being in the spotlight for extended periods. But she has learned to adapt to the performing environment, and her current activities span several genres, including oratorio, chamber music, opera in concert version, and choral music.

Jennifer talked about how much she appreciates a group like NMPAS, which focuses entirely on local musicians. She loves singing with us, because the New Mexico Bach Chorale has a robust sound, even when singing as a quartet of soloists, or with 2 or 3 on a part. She appreciates the fact that Artistic Director Franz Vote wants everyone in NMPAS ensembles to sing with their real voice, which promotes healthy vocal production. The fact that the New Mexico Bach Chorale is an ensemble of soloists also suits her to a T – she enjoys soloing with us, but also loves being part of the choral texture.

The other thing that Jennifer has learned from being part of NMPAS is that Bach is her favorite composer. She thinks that the way his music is structured, “the way it’s woven together,” is perfect. Bach took traditional forms to a whole other level, and this really resonates with her.

Jennifer Perez loves living in New Mexico! The beauty of our state means a lot to her quality of life. She enjoys traveling out of state for work, but New Mexico will always be the focus of her life and work.

*Sam Shepperson has also been a tenor soloist with the New Mexico Bach Chorale since 2018.

Photo: JENNIFER PEREZ, Soprano, Soloist and Member of the New Mexico Bach Chorale.

 

 

On March 25, Linda Marianiello interviewed New Mexico Bach Society mezzo soprano Kehar Koslowsky, who has been singing with us for the past several seasons. Artistic Director Franz Vote calls the New Mexico Bach Chorale “an ensemble of soloists.” Most members of the Chorale are soloists for our programs and also sing the choral parts for each of the works presented.

The first topic of discussion was the health emergency, due to COVID-19, and how this is affecting Kehar’s work and the cultural life of Santa Fe in general. We talked about how strange it would be if the summer 2020 festivals were canceled, due to the coronavirus.

Then, we discussed the musicians’ relief fund organized by Thomas Goodrich, one of New Mexico’s most important music educators and musicians. Among other things, Thomas teaches at United World College and New Mexico Highlands University. Taking its cue in part from this initiative, NMPAS asks our donors to please make a donation to the NMPAS Artist Relief Fund, which will assist our artists who are struggling during the cancellation of so many concerts and church engagements. We’ll provide information on how to make a donation at the conclusion of this interview.

Kehar Koslowsky has been performing since she was 4! She has been on stage for most of her life and really loves it. In fact, the women in her family are all musically active, and her grandmother was her first teacher.

At age 13, she began to take voice lessons. Before that she had already played cello since the age of 8. The experience that Kehar gained in school orchestras remains an important part of her training to this day. For example, she mentioned that she learns coloratura passages in works she’s performing by imagining how she would finger them on the cello!

We talked about how important it is for children to have musical experiences, the earlier, the better. Kehar grew up in Saratoga Springs, New York, which had great music programs in the schools. Her high school program was particularly good and offered AP music theory, which she took.

She also participated in a music theater program at Carnegie Mellon University that helped her to choose the classical, rather than the music theater, direction. After that, she pursued a music degree at University of Maryland – College Park. Kehar mentioned that college study encourages students to narrow their focus, a directive she followed at the start of her professional career. After graduation, Kehar lived and worked in Washington, DC for 6 years. For her, this was a period of oratorio and choral work.

For the past 8 years, Kehar has lived in Santa Fe. She originally came here to work for a yoga organization, and she took a break from singing for several of those years. As a more experienced professional, Kehar has returned to singing with the desire to broaden the scope of her musical activities. Among her new areas of interest and activity are recital work, opera, musical theater, and “fusion” projects that incorporate world music and other genres.

As far as opera is concerned, she said that being a lyric coloratura mezzo dictates the choices open to her. Her voice is perfectly suited to baroque, Mozart, French repertoire, and Rossini. Nineteenth-century art song also suits her, but she will probably not venture into Verdi, Puccini, or Wagner. There are also 20th-century operas that work well for her voice.

Kehar feels that the New Mexico music environment is a good one for artists like herself, who want to perform in a variety of settings and to explore new directions. She is a part-time, professional singer, and hopes to build her career to nearly full-time, freelance work.

She mentioned that many musicians have to supplement their income with “something else.” For her, this includes web development and marketing. She began to garner experience immediately after college, when she worked for a publisher. This got her into the digital realm, and today she is able to help nonprofits and other small businesses with their web development and marketing plans.

Kehar’s professional goals thus include looking into more singing opportunities and expanding her client base. Ideally, she’d like to work with more music nonprofits, especially since she has special expertise in this area.

The coronavirus is forcing many people, including Kehar, to “get clearer on life and actualizing that.” Currently, all of her work has been canceled for March and April, and she has 4 concerts schedule for May 2020. These include the Santa Fe Symphony, Santa Fe Pro Musica, Polyphony, and NMPAS. She has no idea whether any of them will happen.

Kehar also has a church job, as do many of our vocalists in the New Mexico Bach Chorale. Now that churches are not holding services, some are moving to online worship. She works with NMPAS artist and pianist Debbie Wagner at Santa Fe’s Christian Science Church. They initially shut down, but are starting video hookup for services. She’ll have her first streaming experience this coming Sunday, March 29th.

If you would like to support the work of Kehar Koslowsky during the COVID-19 emergency, please make a donation via the DONATE button on the NMPAS website or by mailing your donation to our PO Box:

New Mexico Performing Arts Society
3201 Zafarano Dr, Suite C #236,
Santa Fe, NM 87507

If you mail us a donation, please include a note, asking us to use the funds for the NMPAS Artist Relief Fund. In that case, your donation will to go directly to our musicians during the coronavirus emergency.

To our artists and audience members: please be safe and stay healthy!

Kehar Koslowsky, fourth from left, at the NMPAS 2019 Winter Solstice Concert in Santa Fe (Nov 30, 2019)

 

 

For several years, we have wanted to start a Bach Cantata Series. In fact, one of our founders, Chris Ihlefeld, had this in mind when we started NMPAS in 2012.

The new NMPAS Cantata Series consists of two programs on March 1 and May 3. These concerts differ from other NMPAS series events in several respects:

– They are designed to last for an hour or less and take place without intermission. Tickets are just $25. Reserved seating is available for an extra fee on a first-come, first-served basis.

– Each concert features a Bach cantata and another work by Bach or one of his contemporaries.

– Cantata programs are designed as chamber music experiences with small vocal and instrumental ensembles.

The inaugural program on March 1, 2020 at 5:30 pm in the Immaculate Heart of Mary Chapel features a cantata that Artistic Director Franz Vote considers extraordinary. Cantata 30, “Rejoice, redeemed flock!,” is a masterpiece that exceeds performers’ expectations. We hope that listeners will also be inspired by this music, which goes from one great chorus, recitative, and aria to another.

Featured soloists for Cantata 30 are soprano Camille Tierney, alto Jacqueline Zander-Wall, tenor Tjett Gerdom, and bass Paul Bower. They are joined by oboist Kevin Vigneau, flutist Linda Marianiello, and pianist Natasha Stojanovska.

Metropolitan Opera conductor emeritus Franz Vote leads the ensemble. Among Maestro Vote’s credits are Music Director of the Seattle [Wagner] RING (2000-2001), numerous performances on the podium of the Metropolitan Opera, including the premiere of “Tales of Hoffman” (1995-2001), international appearances throughout all of Western Europe, and opera gala performances in Japan and China.

Jamie Bernstein On Growing Up in Her Father’s Shadow

by Linda Marianiello

On Sunday, August 4, at 11 a.m., Jamie Bernstein will read from her memoir, Famous Father Girl: A Memoir of Growing Up Bernstein, about her life as the daughter of the famous composer, conductor, and activist Leonard Bernstein. The event at Collected Works Bookstore is sponsored by Journey Santa Fe.

Jamie Bernstein spent most of her life waiting to write her memoir, which is about living in her father’s shadow. A book agent finally convinced her that the centennial of her father’s birth was the perfect time to publish her book, and she wrote the first draft that same day!

Another reason she wrote the memoir was to “control the narrative.” Leonard Bernstein’s children wanted to tell it “in the true way they saw it.” Jamie gave her brother, Alexander, and sister, Nina, veto power over everything she wrote in the book. They read every draft, and neither asked her to leave anything out.

It took ages for Jamie to figure out who she is, independently of her father. As early as second grade, a classmate identified her as “famous father girl.” She was fifty before she found “another way to be in the world of music.” And the right path turned out to be concert narration, which she came to quite by accident.

The catalyst was The Bernstein Beat, a program featuring Bernstein’s own music and based on his legendary Young People’s Concerts with the New York Philharmonic. Jamie’s artistic partner is the conductor Michael Barrett, a close associate of Leonard Bernstein. They did a test run with the Utah Symphony. Then, Carnegie Hall invited them to do the program. Other concerts about Mozart and Aaron Copland followed. They developed a large repertoire of programs, not all of them about her father. And she suddenly realized, “This is my career. Who knew?”

So why didn’t Jamie become a professional musician? When she moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a singer/songwriter, she noticed that her father’s renown closed more doors than it opened. Record executives said her music sounded “too Broadway.” She was writing eclectic music; her father’s own works were similarly wide-ranging. Record companies wanted a hit song, a template that would guarantee future sales. Ultimately, it didn’t work out.

And there was something else: Jamie’s mother, Felicia Cohn Montealegre, discouraged the siblings from drawing attention to themselves. This probably affected her decision to abandon a performing career and definitely caused her to avoid the limelight. She was “always in knots” about being the center of attention. The image she used to describe this in the book is “one foot on the gas pedal and one on the brake simultaneously.”

Today Jamie identifies as a “fan of music.” In fact, she’s been thinking about this a lot lately. She has many musician friends, whose work spans a wide range of genres from jazz and Latin to chamber music, as well as opera and orchestral works. “Musicians can’t get very far without an audience,” she points out. Audience members are not passive receptors. Musicians need them every bit as much as the other way round. Jamie is glad to embrace the role of audience member by “being there with open ears and heart.”

Leonard Bernstein’s legacy in the life of his children is complex, but his role as a teacher was pervasive. Their dad was the consummate teacher. He was always grabbing people’s attention and saying, “Listen to this!” Whether rehearsing an orchestra, telling a good Jewish joke, or engaging in some other activity, the same sensibility was at play. He used to say, “When I learn, I teach, and when I teach, I learn.” So, it is not surprising that all three children became teachers. They love nothing more than to share their passion for learning. The youngest, Nina, teaches about food. Alexander became an educator. And Jamie, the oldest of the three, teaches through concert narration.

The picture would not be complete without Leonard’s activism. In the 60s and 70s, people were afraid to talk about politics, especially when Richard Nixon was president. But Leonard and his wife, Felicia, were committed to making the world a better place and spoke out when they perceived an injustice. The children grew up with that whole sensibility, which is part of who they are today.

The siblings are devoted to keeping their dad’s legacy alive. The centennial provided an unrepeatable opportunity to introduce young people to his life and music. While many young people have not heard of Leonard Bernstein, they are usually familiar with West Side Story. And now a movie remake of West Side Story, directed by Steven Spielberg, is in production. It features a young cast, the Sharks are Latinos, and the script has been revised by Tony Kushner.

In her memoir, Jamie Bernstein speaks openly about her dad’s identity as a gay man. After Leonard Bernstein separated from his wife, he had a very hard time being an openly gay man. This was also due to the fact that Leonard’s mother was still alive, and he was concerned about how this would affect her. So another important reason for writing the memoir was to finally talk about the things that no one could talk about then, her dad’s sexual identity being one of them. Her mother’s breast cancer was another. There was a “paralysis around calling things what they were,” Jamie said.

Jamie feels that we’d made enormous progress around the issue of homosexuality in recent decades. Once gay marriage passed, she thought that most Americans viewed gay people as normal. She believes we’re in the midst of a backlash against gay rights, and it’s as hard to talk about difficult topics today as it was in the 60s and 70s.

When asked about the future of classical music, Jamie referenced her father’s passion for teaching and social justice. Her optimism is fueled by personal experience with El Sistema. Founded in 1975 in Venezuela, El Sistema is a national system of youth orchestras and choirs that lifts children out of poverty and gives them tools for life. The concerts she heard in Venezuela were some of the best she has ever attended. “It was like going to a ball game,” she said.

El Sistema has inspired hundreds of similar programs worldwide. Jamie believes it may take 15 or 20 years to see the change here in the US. If even 1% of the children currently in an El Sistema program pursue a professional career, they will bring their entire community with them. And these communities are a brand new demographic for classical music.

Jamie Bernstein is also a featured author for the 2019 JCC Book Fest at the Jewish Community Center in Albuquerque at 3 pm on Sunday, October 20, 2019. Tickets ($10 in advance, $12 at the door) for the event are available through Hold My Ticket: www.holdmyticket.com.

Event Details:

Famous Father Girl: A Memoir of Growing Up Bernstein with Jamie Bernstein

11 a.m. Sunday, August 4

Collected Works Bookstore, 202 Galisteo St

Free and open to the public, https://www.journeysantafe.com

The upcoming New Mexico Bach Society concerts take place this spring in Los Alamos, Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Please visit the NMPAS website (www.nmpas.org) for dates, times and tickets. Or call Hold My Ticket at 877-466-3404.

NMPAS has become particularly well known for its New Mexico Bach Society programs, which have sold out for the past two seasons. So we added performances in Los Alamos and Albuquerque to the 2018 schedule. Both venues are beautiful, and we encourage audiences to try an alternate venue if the Santa Fe concert sells out or if they live closer to one of these alternate locations.

The Los Alamos program takes place at United Church of Los Alamos, 2525 Canyon Road on Saturday evening, March 10th, at 7 pm. The Santa Fe program is Sunday, March 11, 2018 at 5:30 pm in the Immaculate Heart of Mary Chapel, 50 Mount Carmel Road. The Albuquerque program in on Sunday, March 25th, at 3 pm at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church, 601 Montaño Rd NW. Doors open 30 minutes before concert time.

Featured artists for these 3 concerts include eight members of the New Mexico Bach Chorale:

Sopranos Kelli Dahlke-Fuentes and Camille Tierney
Mezzo sopranos Esther Moses Bergh and Jacqueline Zander-Wall
Tenors Andre Garcia-Nuthmann and Tjett Gerdom
Basses Paul Bower and Tim Willson

Vocalists of the New Mexico Bach Chorale perform as soloists and ensemble members in Bach’s Cantata BWV 8, “Dear Lord, when shall I die?” and in excerpts from two of Bach’s most monumental works, the St. Matthew and St. John Passions. The concert concludes with the final chorus from the St. John Passion, “Ruht wohl ihr heiligen Gebeine,” [Rest in peace you holy limbs]. The music provides a seasonal reminder of Lent and Easter. Yet the music stands on its own as some of the greatest and universally beloved repertoire of all time.

The Santa Fe performance includes members of the New Mexico Bach Society Players:

David Felberg, concertmaster
Carla Kountoupes, violin 2
Kim Fredenburgh, viola
Lisa Donald, cello
Mark Tatum, string bass
Linda Marianiello and Tracy Doyle, flutes
Kevin Vigneau and Corey Sweeney, oboes
Cindy Little, continuo

This year’s New Mexico Bach Society concerts also feature a solo keyboard work, French Suite No. 1 in D minor BWV 812, performed by Steinway Artist Jacquelyn Helin. The keyboard work will not be heard at the Albuquerque performance on March 25, 2018 at 3 pm, however.

Cindy Little is the accompanist for the Los Alamos (March 10, 2018 at 7 pm) and Albuquerque (March 25, 2018 at 3 pm) performances. Flutist Linda Marianiello joins her for the Albuquerque program.

Dear Friends of NMPAS!

I wanted to post a link to this article because it addresses something that all of us who love live music think about frequently: What is the future of the performing arts?

In “Curtains: The Future of the Arts in America,” Michael Kaiser, former Director of the Kennedy Center, says a few things that I’d like to emphasize. This material comes from an article by Jordan Levin of the Miami Herald. The link to the complete Miami Herald article by Jordan Levin is posted at the bottom of this excerpted text:

“His method, based on building an engaged and happy ‘family’ of board members, donors, audiences and community through a combination of creative, high quality programming and intense marketing and outreach, has become a kind of standard operating system for the arts.”

“If I’m a local theater or ballet or opera company and I’m going to compete with this online presence [which is previously defined in the article] then I had better be doing work that’s really interesting and special and has something really unique,” he [Kaiser] says. “Or I will be viewed as a poor, expensive competitor to what I can get online.”

The solutions Kaiser offers largely come from his DeVos [Institute] toolkit; doing high quality, innovative programming, with a laser focus on building your community and brand.”

And, finally, he says that it’s not the argument that the arts are good for society that will win people over: “But good performances do. Excitement, word of mouth, people going ‘wow,’ that’s something to see.”

The Mission and Vision of New Mexico Performing Arts Society, as well as audience, artist and community responses to our programs, very much resonate with Michael Kaiser’s vision for the future of arts organizations like ours.

There is lots of new information about the 2017-2018 NMPAS season on our new website. We invite you to visit us at: www.nmpas.org

Warm regards,

Linda Marianiello

Link to the complete article: www.miamiherald.com/opinion/issues-ideas/article17415302.html

MOZARTFEST April 3, 2016

Ilfeld Auditorium, New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas, NM

nmpaswarmupstill3Orchestra warming up on stage before “Overture to the Magic Flute”

Open Dress Rehearsal, March 30, 2016 Immaculate Heart of Mary Chapel, Santa Fe

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Piano soloist Linda King rehearses Mozart’s “Elvira Madigan” concerto with Franz Vote and the NM Bach Society Orchestra – Franz is chatting with concertmaster Ruxandra Marquardt.

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Franz chatting with Linda King about a spot they want to coordinate.

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Linda Marianiello and Anne Eisfeller rehearsing Mozart’s flute and harp concerto with the orchestra.

SANTA FE FLUTE IMMERSION June 30-July 3, 2016

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Native flutist and flute maker Phillip Haozous and Hyda Maria Dougherty presenting music at the Allan Houser Sculpture Garden reception and tour on July 3, 2016.

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Bart Feller, principal flutist of the Santa Fe Opera and SFFI faculty member since 2012, in the “Green Room” at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Chapel before his performance at the Closing Concert on July 3, 2016.

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Group of performers in the New Mexico Flutist Showcase (L to R): Daniel Sharp of Verne Q. Powell Flutes, Joshua Hall (faculty), Jennifer Lau, Tracy Doyle (Alamosa, CO) and artistic director Linda Marianiello

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Carol Redman, baroque flute, Jesse Tatum, Joshua Hall, Jennifer Lau, Daniel Sharp, Tracy Doyle, Ruth Singer with Franz Vote, pianist

A Southwestern Native, Silver & Gold Flute Showcase

Sunday, July 3, 2016 at 5:30 pm

Immaculate Heart of Mary Chapel, Santa Fe, NM

2016 Faculty

Bart Feller, Principal Flute, The Santa Fe Opera

Joshua Hall, Doctoral Candidate, University of Colorado – Boulder

Linda Marianiello – Executive Director, New Mexico Performing Arts Society, Flute Soloist and Powell Recording Studio Artist

Valerie Potter – Professor of Flute, University of New Mexico, Principal Flute, New Mexico Philharmonic

Participants

Phillip Haozous and Hyda Maria Dougherty, Native flutes and baroque recorders, Santa Fe, NM

Tracy Doyle – Alamosa, CO

Bart Feller – New York, NY and Santa Fe, NM

Joshua Hall – Boulder, CO

Jennifer Lau – Albuquerque, NM

Linda Marianiello – Santa Fe, NM

Valerie Potter – Albuquerque, NM

Carol Redman – Santa Fe, NM

Daniel Sharp – Powell Flutes, Maynard, MA

Ruth Singer – Santa Fe, NM

Jesse Tatum – Albuquerque, NM

Franz Vote, Piano

PROGRAM

Music for Native Flutes and Baroque Recorders

Phillip Haozous, Native flutes and Hyda Maria Dougherty, Native flutes and baroque recorders

Johann Sebastian Bach, Sarabande and Allemande from Solo pour la flute traversiere

Carol Redman, baroque flute

Gabriel Fauré, Fantaisie

Ruth Singer

Jenni Brandon, Goldfish Songs: I. Pearlscale: A flash in the Sunlight … II. Celestial: Looking heavenward … III. Ryukin: “Bela” IV: Lionhead: The gentle giant

Tracy Doyle

Gabriel Fauré, Sicilienne and Morceau de Concours

Maurice Ravel, Pavane pour une infante defunte

Daniel Sharp

Charles Koechlin, Troisieme Sonatine

  1. Adagio II. Sicilienne III. Final

Jennifer Lau

Georg Philipp Telemann, Fantasia No. 12 in G minor

Bart Feller

Toru Takemitsu, Voice

Jesse Tatum

Georges Hue, Fantaisie pour flute et piano

Joshua Hall

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The Bach “Zia”, logo of the New Mexico Bach Society, has been used by permission of Zia Pueblo.

GET READY FOR A PROGRAM OF HEAVENLY MUSIC BY JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH

The Annual New Mexico Bach Society concert is coming up on April 9, 2017. I’d like to start this post with special thanks to NMPAS’ business partner, Los Alamos National Bank, and the other public funding organizations that have helped to make this program possible, New Mexico Arts and the Santa Fe Arts Commission!

NMPAS is also extremely grateful to all of the individual donors to our organization, without whom our concerts could not take place. A complete Donor List is available on the NMPAS website: http://www.nmperformingartssociety.org/donorslist.html

Here is the complete program, including a list of featured soloists for this special spring concert that is exclusively devoted to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. In a subsequent post, we will share details about the soloists and repertoire for this program. Tickets are available on the NMPAS website (http://www.nmperformingartssociety.org/calendar.html or by calling Hold My Ticket at 877-466-3404:

Sunday, April 9, 2017 at 5:30 pm
Immaculate Heart Chapel, 50 Mount Carmel Road, Santa Fe
With Keyboard Soloist Jacquelyn Helin

Vocal Soloists:
Jacquelyn Zander-Wall, Alto
Andre Garcia-Nuthmann, Tenor
Paul Bower, Bass
Tim Willson, Bass

Members of the New Mexico Bach Society
Franz Vote, Music Director and Conductor
Jacquelyn Helin, Continuo

Chamber Orchestra:
Linda Marianiello and Jennifer Lau, Flutes
Gail Robertson, Viola
James Holland, Cello
Jean-Luc Matton, String Bass

PROGRAM
Trio Sonata in G major for Two Flutes and Continuo BWV 1039
Motet: “Ich lasse dich nicht, du segnest mich denn” BWV Anh. 159
– Intermission –
Partita VI in E minor BWV 830 for Solo Keyboard
Chorale: “Ach wie flüchtig, ach wie nichtig” BWV 026 from Cantata 26
Cantata “Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit” BWV 106
Chorale: “Komm Süsser Tod” BWV 478

Dear Friends,

The 2017 e-poster for the Pierre Monteux School and Music Festival is attached. The Maitre (Maestro) founded the School 74 years ago, and it is still going strong.

One of the hardest things for instrumentalists to acquire in music school is enough orchestra experience to be truly prepared for the professional world. Monteux offers that experience in a beautiful location with great faculty and colleagues. In fact, after two summer at Monteux I won my first orchestra position in the New Haven Symphony as a sophomore at Yale University!

Here is a link to their website: http://monteuxschool.org, where you will find lots of information about the School. You can also apply online. The deadline for 2017 is February 15th.

Please share this information with all of your students, friends and colleagues. Thank you!

Warm regards,

Linda Marianiello

Flutist and Executive Director, New Mexico Performing Arts Society

2017-poster

This morning I woke up to a note from a dear friend in Paris. She just read the Camino de Santiago series on the NMPAS blog for the first time. Beatrice is a cellist whose father is French. Her mother is Spanish, so she knows Spain really well. Thus, it was wonderful to receive her thoughts about the series, which I’ve translated from French into English:

Last night I read your blog about the Camino de Santiago, and I loved it. It’s very interesting, well written, simple, yet well documented. You really understand what the Camino is all about. We sense your emotion and profound respect. Bravo!!!

The photos are very beautiful and really bring across the special atmosphere [of the Camino]. Of course, I have always found the Spanish countryside with its clear and deep blue skies very moving.

As we come to the end of my personal Camino de Santiago story, this feels like a wonderful set of thoughts with which to wrap up. The thing about travel is that it lets you into a new world that can add real meaning to your life. That is why I love to travel and to spend time with people from cultures that are unlike my own. I always learn so much, and it’s so much fun.