Holiday music and opera

Sounds of the season

DECEMBER PERFORMANCES BY TAOS CHAMBER MUSIC GROUP

BY LEAH NELSON

After more than a year of pandemic-related uncertainty, holiday traditions still prevail in Taos, even if they look a little different this time around. For starters, the Taos Chamber Music Group (pictured below) has a trio of concert performances planned to usher in the holiday season, featuring piano virtuoso Gleb Ivanov.

COURTESY PHOTO

Scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 10, 11 and 12, all at 5:30 p.m., the TCMG’s holiday concerts will be held at the Taos Community Auditorium (TCA), at 145 Paseo del Pueblo Norte.

The TCA allows for more socially distanced seating than the Arthur Bell Auditorium at the Harwood Museum, where most TCMG concerts were held prior to the pandemic.

To attend any TCA performance or event, NM DOH safety measures require all attendees to be masked and show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test.

For TCMG director and flutist Nancy Laupheimer, the TCA stage is familiar and comfortable.

“I gave my first recital in Taos in 1980 on the TCA stage,” she said. “In fact, the Prokofiev Flute Sonata that I will play with Gleb Ivanov in December was part of that 1980 program.”

Originally from Russia, Ivanov is no stranger to Taos, or the TCMG. “This is our ninth season of having Gleb Ivanov as part of the TCMG roster of artists,” Laupheimer said.

Ivanov is set to perform a solo recital Friday, Dec. 10, playing works by Franz Liszt, Felix Mendelssohn and Franz Schubert, and will be joined by TCMG members for the final two holiday performances. Along with Laupheimer on flute, Saturday and Sunday performances will feature Sally Guenther on cello and violinist LP How.

They will perform works by Fanny Mendelssohn, Melanie Bonis, Robert Schumann and Sergei Prokofiev. Laupheimer enjoys the idea of female and male composers being given “equal time,” but says many factors came into play when choosing this year’s performance pieces.

According to Laupheimer, she was inspired to return to Prokofiev’s work following a riveting 2019 performance in Taos of the composer’s complete Piano Sonatas, by none other than Ivanov himself.

“Those were mind-blowing,” Laupheimer said.

Sometimes, however, performance inspiration can come from unexpected sources.

“I often will hear a recording of a piece and know just which TCMG musicians would bring an amazing performance to it,” said Laupheimer.

“Such was the case with the Suite for flute, violin and piano by Melanie Bonis,” Laupheimer said. “The Suite is a gorgeous piece for an unusual combination of instruments and is sure to entice the listener’s curiosity about this accomplished, little-known French composer.”

All TCMG holiday performances have a runtime of about 60-70 minutes, without intermission.

More information is available at taoschambermusicgroup.org and tickets are at tcataos.org

2021-2022 ‘The Met Opera: Live in HD’ at TCA

The TCA opens this year’s holiday season with The Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD series: Eurydice, the “ancient Greek myth of Orpheus, who attempts to harness the power of music to rescue his beloved Eurydice from the underworld, has inspired composers since opera’s earliest days. Brilliant American composer Matthew Aucoin now carries that tradition into the 21st century with a captivating new take on the story,” press materials state.

Then the TCA rings in the new year Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022, with the new abridged English language version of Cinderella. In this unique operatic version of the classic fairy tale, Massenet’s Cinderella features mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard in the title role. All Metropolitan Opera events are transmitted in hi-def video, and live streamed on the big screen at the TCA. Admission is free for youth aged 22 and under. Audience members are also invited to the Encore Gallery before most Met Opera performances, for a pre-broadcast talk hosted by the Taos Opera Guild. Following the Cinderella showing, an exciting season of Metropolitan Opera live streams will be held on various Saturdays in 2022 at the TCA. Taos Community Auditorium is located at 145 Paseo del Pueblo Norte, inside of Kit Carson Park. See tcataos.org/calendar for more information.

2022 SCHEDULE SATURDAY JAN. 29: Verdi’s Rigoletto

SATURDAY MARCH 12: Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos – Revival SATURDAY MARCH 26: Verdi’s Don Carlos

SATURDAY MAY 7: Puccini’s Turandot – Revival SATURDAY MAY 21: Lucia Di Lammermoor

SATURDAY JUNE 4: Brett Dean’s Hamlet