Choosing repertoire for unaccompanied choral concerts is challenging for Simon Carrington, professor of choral conducting at Yale University. “I am usually pleased with my final choices, but (it) can take many hours to find the right balance of repertoire,” he said via e-mail from France. “I was therefore delighted to receive this invitation from the Desert Chorale to conduct their ‘Glorious Voices’ program, for which the entire repertoire had already been chosen.”
“Glorious Voices, Sacred Spaces” is the opening concert of the Santa Fe Desert Chorale’s Summer Festival 2008 and takes place at Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis on June 26.
The Chorale’s general director Don Scott Carpenter says he’s thrilled that Carrington is conducting this program because “he’s one of the top-five choral conductors in the world.”
Carrington has been assigned to conduct an eclectic group of pieces that reaches back to the 16th century to a mass by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and includes a mid-20th century anthem written by Herbert Howell in memory of President John F. Kennedy.
Other works on the program are by Mendelssohn, Brahms and Messiaen.
“As a musician who has always enjoyed the widest range of repertoire, I tend to be involved in each piece individually, whatever its style or period, although in each there will certainly be plenty of special twists and turns that will send shivers down my spine when we inject all the right ingredients,” Carrington said.
The Santa Fe Desert Chorale presents its 26th summer season from June 29 through Aug. 10 with help from seven guest conductors, including the four final candidates competing for the position of music director.
John Kennedy, director and founder of Santa Fe New Music, conducts two performances of Vanguards of New Music, which is a program of contemporary works by Penderecki, Saariaho and Part. It is presented as a collaboration between the Santa Fe Desert Chorale and Santa Fe New Music and takes place at First Presbyterian Church in Santa Fe.
Jonathan Willcocks, a composer and conductor from Chichester, England, conducts the program “Ralph Vaughan Williams ... a Retrospective with the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra” in performances held at the Albuquerque Journal Theater in Albuquerque and at Cathedral Basilica and the Lensic in Santa Fe.
The concert features “Mass in G minor” and “Five Mystical Songs” with baritone soloist David Farwig by Williams and Willcocks’ piece “Lux Perpetua.”
The four music director finalists, Patrick Dupré Quigley, Judith Clurman, Joshua Habermann and Donald Nally, conduct their own programs.
Clurman is in charge of the “Art + Music + Art” concert at the Center for Contemporary Arts. This performance involves coordinating visual art with music and the audience’s seating arrangement.
Habermann conducts the “Northern Lights” concert at Loretto Chapel, which features contemporary music from Scandinavia and the Baltic States. English Renaissance music is celebrated during “The Tutors” performance at Holy Faith Episcopal Church, which is conducted by Nally.
The Scottish Rite Temple hosts Quigley conducting “Viva España,” a concert of repertoire representing 500 years of Spanish music.
A complete schedule is available by calling 988-2282 or visiting www.desertchorale.org. If you go
WHAT: Santa Fe Desert Chorale
WHEN: June 26 to Aug. 10
WHERE: Santa Fe:
Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis
Scottish Rite Temple
Loretto Chapel
First Presbyterian Church
Holy Faith Episcopal Church
Lensic Performing Arts Center
Muñoz Waxman Gallery at the Center for Contemporary Arts
Taos: San Francisco de Asis
Albuquerque: Cathedral Church of St. John
Albuquerque Journal Theater
HOW MUCH: $20-$55
CONTACT: Call 988-2282 or visit www.desertchorale.org
