'Hallelujah' for the holidays
Nov. 24—The holiday entertainment monsoon got off to its traditional fast start this year, courtesy of the Santa Fe Symphony's pre-Thanksgiving Messiahs, and continues in the sooner-is-better vein with today's Winter Solstice Concert by the New Mexico Performing Arts Society, which arrives about a month before the celestial event itself.
There's nothing on tap quite as er, um, unique as 2022's A John Waters Christmas. However, many established favorites are back, including the New Mexico Gay Men's Chorus in its largest-ever holiday extravaganza, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale and its Candlelight Carols performances at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, Mariachi Christmas 2023 at the Lensic Performing Arts Center, and conductor-pianist Joe Illick with his New Year's Eve Orchestra, also at the Lensic.
Santa Fe Pro Musica has a strong lineup in its Bach Festival at St. Francis Auditorium and Broadway favorite Jessica Vosk returns for a concert under the Performance Santa Fe banner, while the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet is offering Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker. Groups new to our town include The Golden Gays with their holiday drag musical tribute to television's The Golden Girls, titled Thank Yule for Being a Friend and, at the other end of the spectrum, You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, courtesy of Family Theatre of Santa Fe.
For those who react to the season with a ho-hum instead of a ho-ho-ho, there's also much to choose from, including a play about John Quincy Adams at New Mexico Actors Lab, music by 20th- and 21st-century composers Peter Lieberson, György Ligeti, and Thomas Adés on various Chatter programs, and Grammy Award-winning soul singer Macy Gray. — Compiled by Brian Sandford, Spencer Fordin, and Mark Tiarks
----Friday, November 24
Winter Solstice Concert
New Mexico Performing Arts Society
7 p.m., Immaculate Heart of Mary Chapel, $25 (streaming), $50-$60 with discounts available
The concert opens with J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 4, in which a trio of two flutes and one violin is featured in juxtaposition with a small continuo group of strings and keyboard. An eight-member chamber choir follows with motets and seasonal music by Tomás Luis de Victoria, Orlando Gibbons, and Joseph Haydn, among others. The finale is Bach's Mass in A, one of his lovely and more intimate "Lutheran Masses," consisting of the Kyrie and Gloria sections only, scored for four-part chorus, two flutes, strings, and keyboard.
Holiday miniature show
10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Blue Rain Gallery (ongoing event; check for dates and times)
It takes a steady hand to create a miniature piece of art. That's a quality shared by the artists featured in Blue Rain Gallery's small-works show, which has an opening reception from 5 to 7 p.m. at the gallery. Featured artists are Roseta Santiago, Jim Vogel, GL Richardson, Kathryn Stedham, Hyrum Joe, Robin Jones, Dennis Ziemienski, Chris Pappan, Starr Hardridge, Helen K. Tindel, Deladier Almeida, Nathan Bennett, Erin Currier, Thomas "Breeze" Marcus, Sean Diediker, Matthew Sievers, Ryan Singer, and Nicolas Otero.
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Monday, November 27
Michael Martin Murphey's Cowboy Christmas
7:30-10 p.m., St. Francis Auditorium, $65, Gardenia Jungle Entertainment
Murphey might hail from the Land of Enchantment's neighbor to the east, but he's about as New Mexican as a Texan can be. He has brought his Christian-based Michael Martin Murphey's Cowboy Christmas show to Santa Fe for years, performing songs primarily from his Christmas and greatest hits albums. The 78-year-old guitarist and crooner has paid tribute to the region and state via songs such as "Santa Fe Cantina," from his 1986 album Tonight We Ride, and "Route 66" and "Land of the Navajo" from his 1989 album Land of Enchantment.
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Wednesday, November 29
Thank YULE for Being a Friend
Tickets and venues
TICKETS
AMP Concerts ampconcerts.org No phone sales
Chatter, chatterabq.org
El Flamenco Cabaret,
505-209-1302, entreflamenco.com
El Farol Flamenco Dinner Show,
505-983-9912, elfarolsantafe.com
Family Theatre of Santa Fe,
Gardenia Jungle Entertainment,
gardeniajungleentertainment.com
Lensic Presents
505-988-1234, lensic.org
New Mexico Actors Lab,
505-395-6576, nmactorslab.com
New Mexico Gay Men's Chorus nmgmc.org or from the Lensic
New Mexico Performing Arts Society 505-474-4513, nmpas.org
Performance Santa Fe 505-984-8759, performancesantafe.org
Popejoy Presents 505-925-5858, popejoypresents.com
Santa Fe Desert Chorale
505-988-2282, desertchorale.org
Santa Fe Playhouse 505-988-4262,
Santa Fe Pro Musica
505-988-4640, sfpromusica.org
Santa Fe Symphony 505-983-1414,
Santa Fe Women's Ensemble
505-303-8648, sfwe.org
Taos Chamber Music Group 575-770-1167, taoschambermusicgroup.org
VENUES
Center for Contemporary Arts,
1050 Old Pecos Trail
Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, 131 Cathedral Place
Cristo Rey Catholic Church 1120 Canyon Rd.
El Flamenco Cabaret,
135 W. Palace Avenue
El Farol, 808 Canyon Road
First Presbyterian Church,
208 Grant Avenue
Harwood Museum of Art 238 Ledoux St., Taos
Immaculate Heart of Mary Chapel,
50 Mount Carmel Road
Hiland Theater 4800 Central Ave. SE, Albuquerque
Immanuel Presbyterian Church 114 Carlisle SE, Albuquerque
Lensic Performing Arts Center
211 W. San Francisco Street
St. Bede's Episcopal Church 550 W. San Mateo Road
New Mexico Actors Lab Theater,
1213 Parkway Drive
Scottish Rite Masonic Center,
463 Paseo de Peralta
St. Francis Auditorium,
107 W. Palace Avenue
Teatro Paraguas, 3205 Calle Marie
Tumbleroot Brewery and Distillery, 2791 Agua Fria Street
Wise Fool New Mexico, 1131-B Siler Road
The Golden Gays
7 p.m., Lensic Performing Arts Center, $30
The character names probably are familiar: Rose, Blanche, Dorothy. While most episodes of the long- running sitcom The Golden Girls took place in a house in Miami, the drag-dressed characters portraying three members of the wisecracking foursome in "YULE" get trapped at an airport on Christmas Eve. Thus begins an adventure in which they must visit their past, present, and future to save Christmas.
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Thursday, November 30
The Night Before Christmas
7:30 p.m., Santa Fe Playhouse, $30-$75 (ongoing event; check for dates and times)
"The Night Before Christmas" is such a ubiquitous term associated with the December holiday that it's easy to forget that it's not the title of a famous play or book. In fact, it's part of the first line in Clement Clarke Moore's A Visit from St. Nicholas, an 1823 play with a title that sums up its content. So the Playhouse's The Night Before Christmas isn't cut from well-worn cloth; rather, it's about two men in a warehouse full of mostly legal merchandise who learn that someone wearing an elf suit has broken in. Confusion about this person's identity ensues. Scottish playwright Anthony Neilson wrote The Night Before Christmas, which was first staged in December 2013. The Playhouse's version stars Joey Beth Gilbert as Cherry, Ali Janes as Elf, David Stallings as Simon, and Hamilton Turner as Gary. Emily Rankin directs.
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December 1
Jessica Vosk
Performance Santa Fe
8 p.m., Lensic Performing Arts Center, $25-$105
She's graced the stages of Broadway and Carnegie Hall, and now Vosk is making a triumphant return to Santa Fe. The soprano, perhaps best known for playing Elphaba in Wicked in both the Broadway and national touring productions, charmed a Santa Fe audience for the first time in 2022. Vosk will sing some of her favorite tunes and also some holiday classics, and she's appearing as part of Performance Santa Fe's 2023 Winter Gala.
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December 2
Mariachi Christmas 2023
National Latino Behavioral Health Association
7 p.m., Lensic Performing Arts Center, $29-$45
Albuquerque ensemble Mariachi Xochitl is a backbone performer in the health association's bilingual holiday fundraiser, which benefits college students. Albuquerque singer Eva Torrez, who hails from a family of musicians and traces her career to the early 1980s, is a featured performer. Also appearing are students from Mrs. C School of Music, a music program for ages 8 and up; folklorico dancers; and guest singer Carlos Medina.
Winter Letters Farolito Tour, Fort Sumner
5-9 p.m., Bosque Redondo Memorial at Fort Sumner, $7
Take a step back in time with the Winter Letters From the Reservation Tour, which will bring you the voices of former military officers and Diné and Ndé (Mescalero Apache) people held captive on the former grounds of the Bosque Redondo Indian Reservation between 1862 and 1867. Staff-led tours begin every 20 minutes between 5 and 9 p.m. The walking tour takes about an hour and covers 1.5 miles of ground, all lit by more than 1,000 farolitos.
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December 3
Keep Hope Alive, Voices of the Community
The Life Link
5:30-8 p.m., Lensic Performing Arts Center, $75
Keep Hope Alive is a key fundraiser for The Life Link, a nonprofit that helps people struggling with housing, addiction, and exploitation. Featured performers are singer and pianist Jay Heneghan, former The Voice contestant Ricky Duran, singer-songwriter and Life Link clubhouse program manager Robyn Ruff-Wagner, Pretty Echo Spirit Flutes owner/performer Robert Goodluck, and Santa Fe Desert Chorale singer Sarah Nickerson.
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December 4
Holiday concert
Santa Fe Concert Band
7 p.m., Lensic Performing Arts Center, free
The concert band cuts an impressive figure as a unit, with its dozens of members clad in red.
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December 7
Kings Return Christmas
7:30 p.m., Lensic Performing Arts Center, $25-$39
Kings Return is a four-piece harmonic band that doesn't exclusively perform Christmas music, but a peek at the band's upcoming tour reveals that it's especially busy around the holidays. The performance includes selections from the group's 2001 release A Merry Little Christmas, which features secular and religious holiday music. The group features tenor Vaughn Faison, bass Gabe Kunda, tenor JE McKissic, and baritone Jamall Williams.
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December 8
Something Must Be Wrong with My Mistletoe
New Mexico Gay Men's Chorus
7:30 p.m., Lensic Performing Arts Center, $20-$60
You can expect the unexpected and the uninhibited at the New Mexico Gay Men's Chorus' holiday concert. This year's event is a musical potpourri that looks at, and no doubt comments on, "the fun, frivolity, mishaps, and mayhem" endemic to the season. It's also one of the most ambitious and expansive in the chorus' history, featuring a 25-piece onstage orchestra. The program includes a suite of songs from the 1993 film The Nightmare Before Christmas, "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch," and Idina Menzel's "December Prayer," as well as less familiar titles such as "Reindeer Tango" and "I'm in the Market for a Miracle."
Lights of Gisewa at Jemez Historic Site
5-9 p.m. at Jemez Historic Site, $7 (tours on December 8-9)
For two nights, you can visit one of New Mexico's cultural treasures by candlelight. The Jemez Historic Site's stone ruins of the Gisewa Pueblo, believed to date back around 700 years, and the San José de Jemez Mission will be illuminated by hundreds of farolitos. Visitors can walk down a 1,400-foot interpretive trail that weaves its way around the monument. Tickets are free for affiliated-tribe members.
You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
Family Theatre
7:30 p.m., New Mexico Actors Lab theater, $7-$27 (runs two weekends; check for dates and times)
Family Theatre had a presence at September's Theatre Walk Santa Fe, but You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown marks its first full production. As its name suggests, the theater produces plays suitable for all ages, featuring mostly adult actors. It was created this year by Mark and Jeannette Kolokoff, who have lived in Santa Fe for four years after previously teaching and directing theater in Colorado. The show is based on Charles M. Schulz's long-running Peanuts comic strip.
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December 9
Candlelight Carols
Santa Fe Desert Chorale
7 p.m., Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, $10-$100
You'll have plenty of chances to hear Santa Fe's most heavenly voices singing your favorite holiday songs at the Cathedral. Desert Chorale's holiday offering will run through December 22 and features renditions of trusty holiday chestnuts like "Silent Night" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" next to some choral arrangements you've never heard before.
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December 10
Sounds of the Season
Santa Fe Symphony
4 p.m., Lensic Performing Arts Center, $25-$92
This holiday pops concert is a Santa Fe tradition that includes some very special guests, the Santa Fe Youth Symphony, which joins the orchestra for two selections, and, for the first time, the senior division winner of the symphony's new concerto competition for young performers. It's Toby Vigneau performing the 1853 Double Bass Concerto in B minor by Giovanni Bottesini, who was known as "The Paganini of the double bass." The "Hanukkah Festival Overture," selections from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite, Leroy Anderson's "Sleigh Ride," and Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" are also on the program, which ends with a holiday sing-along.
Winter Lights
Santa Fe Women's Ensemble
3 p.m., First Presbyterian Church, $12-$35 (multiple dates; check for dates and times)
The Santa Fe Women's Ensemble and its director's tenure both can be traced to the 1980s. In 1981, Sakina von Briesen assembled nine women to sing Benjamin Brittten's "Ceremony of Carols" at the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe. Seven years later, Linda Raney was named the group's musical director. For this year's holiday concerts, she has selected a repertory including the "Huron" carol; the Spanish carol "Riu riu chiu;" Harold Thurman's "I Will Light Candles This Christmas" and "The Work of Christmas;" May Sarton's "December Moon;" Chiara Margarita Cozzolani's "Gloria in altissimis Deo;" the Hanukkah classic "Eight Days of Lights;" and Joan Szymko's "Red and Green."
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December 12
Carols & Choruses
Santa Fe Symphony
3 p.m., Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, pay-what-you-wish admission
Carmen Flórez-Mansi, director of the Santa Fe Symphony Chorus, leads the singers and the orchestra's brass section in this annual gift to the community. The program includes John Rutter's beloved Gloria. No tickets are required, and all ages are welcome.
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December 15
Winter Wassail
Performance Santa Fe
7:30 p.m., Scottish Rite Masonic Center, $95-$125
It's a winter world premiere, courtesy of Performance Santa Fe and Music Before 1800, celebrating both the drink (a hot mulled spiced cider laced with brandy or sherry) and the communal celebrations it fueled in the British Isles during the holidays. This is an immersive, participatory event, with alcoholic and non-alcoholic wassail being served. Guitarist and dancer Steven Player leads the revels, along with Bjarte Eike on violin, and Emi Ferguson, flute and vocals, harkening back to a time when pagan rituals and sacred services co-existed in concord.
Noche de las Luminarias
5-9 p.m. at Fort Seldon Historical Site, $7
Celebrate the upcoming winter solstice with an evening at the Fort Seldon Historical Site. More than 900 luminarias will line the path around the fort's footprint, and there will be a campfire and a host of family-friendly activities as part of the festivities. Fort Seldon was built in 1865, but the area was populated by Native American farmers as early as 400 AD.
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December 16
The Nutcracker
Aspen Santa Fe Ballet
2 and 7:30 p.m., Lensic Performing Arts Center, $36-$114 (multiple dates)
The costumes and music in The Nutcracker are such fixtures on stages over the holidays, it's easy to forget that the entire story takes place in a child's imagination. Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, whose name succinctly describes where it is and what it does, will present Tchaikovsky's Christmas Eve classic over two nights. It features New York City Ballet dancers Brittany Pollack and Robert Fairchild.
Lights of Los Luceros
5 p.m., Los Luceros Historic Site (about 10 miles north of Española), $5-$10
Los Luceros will be decked out in its holiday finery, and visitors are invited to stroll the historic site's walking paths lined with farolitos and luminarias. There will be food vendors and arts and crafts booths, and Black Mesa Winery will sell mulled wine and cider. If the night sky is clear, Los Luceros will double as a stargazing site.
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December 17
Ryanhood
Concert
7:30 p.m., Tumbleroot Brewery & Distillery, $18-$23
Ryanhood isn't the state of being Ryan. Rather, it's a mashup of the names of the members of Ryanhood, a Tucson, Arizona, folk-rock band. Bandmates Ryan David Green and Cameron Hood have been performing together since 2003. The show, billed as A Winter's Evening with Ryanhood, is sure to feature music from the band's 2017 holiday album On Christmas.
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December 19
A Celtic Family Christmas
Lensic Presents
7:30 p.m., Lensic Performing Arts Center, $49-$75
Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy were noted fiddle players even before they married in 2002. They've had 21 years since to fine-tune their chemistry, and viewers will see the result during a performance that also features some of the couple's seven children.
Holiday Flamenco 2023
7 p.m., Teatro Paraguas, $20-$25 (multiple dates)
Singer-songwriter Mina Fajardo and flamenco guitarist Chuscales will hit the stage at Teatro Paraguas on back-to-back nights starting December 19. The pair will be mining material from Fajardo's newly released holiday album, and they'll be accompanied by Compañia Chuscales, which consists of principal dancer Monze Diaz and a troupe of 15 supporting flamenco dancers.
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December 20
Bach Cello Suites
Santa Fe Pro Musica
7:30 p.m., St. Francis Auditorium, $35-$100
Santa Fe Pro Musica's Bach Festival launches with a particularly contemplative event — a complete performance of J.S. Bach's six Suites for Solo Cello, given over two consecutive evenings. The suites are in six different keys, conveying different emotional qualities in music that's technically and interpretively demanding. They're played here by Tanya Tomkins, artistic director and co-founder of the Valley of the Moon Music Festival in Sonoma, California. Suites No. 1, 4, and 5 are on this program.
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December 21
Bach Cello Suites
Santa Fe Pro Musica
7:30 p.m., St. Francis Auditorium, $35-$100
Suites No. 2, 3, and 6 conclude Tomkins' traversal of Bach's cello suites. Although written in different keys, the suites are unified by their structure — each begins with a prelude, followed by a series of baroque dance forms, always including an allemande, courante, sarabande, and gigue, in the same order. Legendary cellist Mstislav Rostropovich called Suite No. 6, the evening's finale, "a symphony for solo cello."
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December 22
Baroque Christmas
Santa Fe Pro Musica
7:30 p.m., St. Francis Auditorium, $35-$100 (with encore at 4 p.m. December 23)
For those with fond memories of Pro Musica's Baroque-era holiday concerts at Loretto Chapel, this is the closest equivalent. Violinist Stephen Redfield leads the group's Bach ensemble in a program that includes Arcangelo Corelli's Christmas Concerto and Francesco Geminiani's Concerto Grosso "La Folia," an arrangement of a Corelli violin sonata for chamber orchestra. Soprano Clara Rottsolk is the soloist in Handel's Gloria, an exuberant major work that was rediscovered in 2001 after having been lost for almost 200 years, while Bach is well represented through his Toccata and Fugue in D minor, performed by David Solem on the venue's recently restored organ. A set of traditional carols closes the program.
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December 23
Winter Cabaret
2 and 6 p.m., Wise Fool New Mexico, $5-$20
Wise Fool New Mexico, which bills itself as the state's only contemporary circus arts company, showcases members' skills at its annual Winter Cabaret. The theme of this year's event is "In the Clouds" — reflecting the planned "acrobatic feats of sky-high proportions." Ticket sales support the nonprofit's programming.
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December 24
Nochebuena Clásica!
Santa Fe Symphony
4 p.m., Lensic Performing Arts Center, $25-$92
The literal translation of nochebuena is "the good night," but it really means Christmas Eve and the large Hispanic family celebratory gatherings that start late that evening. The orchestra and classical guitarist Jason Vieaux perform Vivaldi's Guitar Concerto in D Major and Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez. (A small town outside Madrid, Aranjuez was once a royal residence.) Arcangelo Corelli's Christmas Concerto opens the concert; Mozart's "Linz" Symphony No. 36 closes it.
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December 29
Bach and Beyond
Santa Fe Pro Musica
7:30 p.m., St. Francis Auditorium, $35-$100 (encore at 7:30 p.m. December 30)
Colin Jacobsen, Pro Musica's artistic director, returns to Santa Fe for the group's final holiday concerts, in which he is the soloist for Bach's Violin Concerto in A minor and leads the ensemble in his Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major. Felix Mendelssohn's enthusiasm for Bach's music helped rescue the composer from near oblivion; he wrote the String Symphony No. 10 when he was 14 years old, in a style that seems to reflect the work of Bach's son, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. The program also includes Philip Glass' Company, a work for strings derived from music he wrote for a Samuel Beckett play, and Arvo Pärt's Fratres (Brothers), written in the composer's "tintinnabuli" style which reflects the influence of Gregorian chant.
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December 31
Joe Illick & The New Year's Eve Orchestra
Lensic Presents
5 p.m., Lensic Performing Arts Center, $30-$80
Much to our good fortune, conductor- pianist Joe Illick has a standing date with Santa Fe on December 31, leading his New Year's Eve Orchestra and a guest soloist in the old year's final concert. Augustin Hadelich, the Grammy Award-winning violinist who was named 2018's "Instrumentalist of the Year" by Musical America, performs Max Bruch's Violin Concerto, while Illick pulls double duty as soloist and conductor in the third movement of Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2. The "Méditation" from Jules Massenet's Thaïs and Pablo de Sarasate's "Carmen Fantasy" are also on the program. Note: There's an open rehearsal for families at 1 p.m. on December 31; general admission tickets are $5 for kids 12 and younger, $20 for adults.
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