Concordia Santa Fe
To enrich the diverse cultural life of northern New Mexico by performing and promoting music of the highest caliber, to provide professional performance opportunities for musicians in a wind ensemble, and to aid in the music education of communities in northern New Mexico.
There are very few professional-level wind ensembles in the USA and none other in New Mexico. Concordia Santa Fe's founders, with vision and determination, brought together northern New Mexico's finest wind and percussion musicians and created the ensemble in 2007.
Comprised of thirty-five northern New Mexico musicians who specialize in the performance of music for woodwind, brass and percussion instruments, the ensemble does not have a permanent music director. Instead, a guest conductor of exceptional renown is invited ti prepare and conduct the ensemble for its concerts. Concordia Santa Fe performs thematically aligned concerts in conjunction with exhibitions given by the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe.
In fostering music appreciation for the wind ensemble repertoire, Concordia Santa Fe provides opportunities for continuing education for its musicians through guest conductors and clinicians. As it has familiarized its listeners with the wind ensemble genre, its audience has found it to be an exciting and new musical art form.
Each artistic season consists of three full-ensemble concerts and four chamber music concerts. All concerts are performed at the St. Francis Auditorium, New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe, and admission is free. In addition, one or two full-ensemble concerts are repeated in Los Alamos and/or Albuquerque, and several small ensemble in-school concerts are performed for youth audiences.
2007
Kurt Carr