Music series offers Brahms, violins, hymns
The Cathedral of
St. John continues its “Fridays at 7” series this month with the music of Brahms by Polyphony: Voices of New Mexico on Friday, March 9.
The 14 singers will perform the composer’s waltzes Liebeslieder (“Love Songs”) and Neue Liebeslieder (“New Love Songs”) alongside music for piano and cello. Nate Salazar and Debra Ayers will play the piano; James Holland will perform the Sonata in E minor on cello.
The singers will wear gowns instead of their usual black.
“We’re going to try and replicate a salon evening,” music director Maxine Thévenot said.
On March 16, the cathedral will host New Mexico violinist Cármelo de los Santos.
“Cármelo is one of New Mexico’s hidden treasures,” Thévenot said. “He performs all over the world.”
As the calendar tilts toward Easter, Las Cantantes (the UNM Women’s Choir) and the women of the cathedral choir will sing Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater on March 23.
The Stabat Mater was a medieval Latin hymn on the suffering of the Virgin Mary at the Crucifixion.
Violinist Michael Shu will solo on Heinrich Biber’s “Agony in the Garden” and Tomaso Antonio Vitali’s Chaconne for violin and organ.
One hour before each concert, Santa Fe Opera lecturer and educator Oliver Prezant will offer program lectures.
Prezan is the music director of the Santa Fe Community Orchestra.