Foundation to honor veteran N.M. musicians
The New Mexico Music Commission Foundation will honor several veteran New Mexico musicians with lifetime achievement awards at a show next week at the Lensic Performing Arts Center.
During the event Friday, which marks the foundation’s first time presenting lifetime achievement awards to musicians, the winners will personally accept their awards and receive tributes by some of the state’s top musical talent.
Those being honored are jazz musician, woodwind teacher and disc jockey Arlen Asher; Native American flutist Fernando Cellicion; country and folk singers Bill & Bonnie Hearne; Norteño star Al Hurricane (Alberto Sanchez) and Dale Kempter, who is music director laureate of the Albuquerque Youth Symphony Program.
Catherine Oppenheimer, co-founder of the National Dance Institute of New Mexico, will receiving the Lee Berk Award in recognition of her commitment to advancing music in New Mexico. Berk, former president of the Berklee College of Music, was the first chairman of the state Music Commission.
Santa Fe singer and songwriter Joe West will be the master of ceremonies at the event, which will include performances by several musicians from around the state, including Jono Manson, John Kurzweg, Brian Hardgroove & Impulse Groove Foundation, American JeM, singer and songwriter Sean Healen, Tiffany Christopher and Horace Alexander Young.
The show is a benefit, with funds raised going to the Solace Crisis Treatment Center and to the New Mexico Music Commission for its educational activities. Tickets are $25 to $100 and are available through the Lensic box office, 505-988-1234.