The Desert Chorale will present “Sephardic Legacy,” an original program of music, in conjunction with the exhibit Fractured Faiths: Spanish Judaism, The Inquisition, and New World Identities. Vanessa Paloma, Santa Fe native and Sephardic music expert, will be the guest vocalist. Fattah Abbou joins the program performing the oud and percussion instruments. Performances will take place at the New Mexico History Museum on Tuesday, July 26, at 8 pm; Sunday, July 31, at 3:30 pm; and Tuesday, August 2, at 8 pm. The program will be led by Joshua Habermann. Tickets for the performances are $65 and $45 each. For tickets, go to www.desertchorale.org.
Steven Ovistky, executive director of the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and a frequent lecturer on Sephardic music, will give free public talks prior to each concert. The talks, as well as a brunch on July 31, at 1:30 pm, are sponsored by Stephen and Jane Hochberg. The brunch buffet features strictly kosher catering under the supervision of Chabad Center for Jewish Life and is $50 per person (advanced registration is required).
Entering its 34th season, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale is one of the longest continually performing professional music organizations in New Mexico, as well as one of the most distinguished. A recipient of the 2006 Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, in 2015 the Santa Fe Reporter named the ensemble one of the “Best of Santa Fe” in the Music Performance category. Scott Cantrell of The Dallas Morning News characterized the Chorale as presenting “stunning singing…incredible power,” during the 2015 Summer Festival.
Now in his eighth season as music director, Joshua Habermann leads the 24-voice professional Chorale in repertoire spanning seven centuries, from Medieval polyphony to contemporary works. The critically-acclaimed ensemble performs at historical sites in Santa Fe such as the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis and the Loretto Chapel, as well as other venues throughout the Southwest. A recent highlight was an invitational appearance at the 2015 American Choral Director’s Association National Conference in Utah which was later broadcast by Minnesota Public Radio.
The Santa Fe Desert Chorale presents both summer and winter festivals of concerts featuring a wide range of literature from around the world. The 2016 Summer Festival Season will take place from July 19 through August 14, 2016. The composition of the Chorale is truly national in scope with artists drawn from coast-to-coast; many sharing the stage with peer groups from Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society to the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and including Chanticleer, Conspirare, and Seraphic Fire.
The Desert Chorale prides itself on its strong relationships within the community of Northern New Mexico, and enjoys collaborations with Creativity for Peace, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, New Mexico History Museum, National Dance Institute—New Mexico, Performance Santa Fe, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Santa Fe Symphony and Chorus, Santa Fe Pro Musica, and The Santa Fe Opera. Community engagement is an integral part of the Desert Chorale’s mission. (www.desertchorale.org)
Music Director Joshua Habermann is in his eighth season with the Santa Fe Desert Chorale. Since joining the ensemble he has raised the ensemble’s artistic profile and broadened its programming to include choral-orchestral masterworks as well as cutting-edge a cappella programs. Maestro Habermann has led honor choirs and choral festivals in North and Latin America, Europe and Asia. As a singer (tenor) he has performed with the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus (Eugene, Oregon), and Conspirare (Austin, Texas). Recording credits include three projects with Conspirare: Through the Green Fuse, Requiem, a GRAMMY® nominee for best choral recording in 2006, and Threshold of Night, a GRAMMY® nominee for best choral recording and best classical album in 2009.
In 2011, Joshua Habermann was named Chorus Director of the Dallas Symphony Chorus, the official vocal ensemble of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, where he prepares the 185-voice chorus for classical and pops series concerts. Highlights with the DSO include performances of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Verdi’s Requiem, Berlioz’ Te Deum, and Britten’s War Requiem, which was performed for the national meeting of the American Choral Directors’ Association in 2013. From 1996-2008 Joshua Habermann was assistant conductor of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and Professor of Music at San Francisco State University, where under his direction the SFSU Chamber Singers received international engagements in Havana, Cuba, and undertook concert tours in Germany and the Czech Republic, and China. In 2006 he led a collaboration between the SFSU Chamber Singers and the L’Orchestre des Jeunes de la Méditerranée based in Aix-en-Provence in music of Poulenc and the Requiem of Maurice Duruflé in concerts throughout France. National invitations include the Waging Peace Festival in Eugene, Oregon, multiple appearances at the California Music Educators Convention, and an appearance at the American Choral Directors’ Association regional convention in 2008.
From 2008-2011 Habermann was director of choral studies at the University of Miami Frost School of Music, where he led the graduate program in conducting, and directed the Frost Chorale. Notable projects in Miami included an appearance at the Florida Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association convention, and collaborations with the New World Symphony and conductor Michael Tilson Thomas in music of Ives, Schubert and Beethoven. During this same period Maestro Habermann led the Masterchorale of South Florida in performances of masterworks such as Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Haydn’s Creation, and Mozart’s Requiem.
Guest Artists:
Fattah Abbou (Oud and Percussion, Sephardic Legacy): Fattah Abbou was born and raised in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco, where he began playing traditional Tamazight “Berber” music at the age of seven. He is proficient on several string instruments, including banjo, lotar, oud, sintir, ribab, and an array of percussion instruments.
Recognized as a master of North African music, Fattah has studied and performed Tamazight (Berber) music, as well as other North African musical styles, for over thirty years. He recorded several CDs in Morocco with his former band Imdiazen, and has collaborated on recordings with many national and international artists.
He is also a producer of several cultural events, and the recipient of multiple grant awards for traditional arts and the preservation of indigenous culture. Fluent in English, French, Arabic, and his native tongue, Fattah is also a sought-after music and cultural educator who has presented at schools and universities throughout the United States, in addition to performing nationally and internationally with the world music sextet AZA.
Vanessa Paloma (Guest Vocalist, Sephardic Legacy) Vanessa Paloma is a performer who has performed and lectured on five continents. Her groundbreaking work has been featured on PBS, NPR, PRI, in The New York Times, France24, and Al Jazeera International among others. The New York Times describes Paloma as “a kind of one-woman roving museum of her own.” She has performed at the World Festival for Sacred Music Los Angeles (2002, 2005, and 2008) and Sephardic Music Festival in Manhattan (2010 and 2012). Other recent performances focused on Sephardic repertoire include the National Museum of Colombia (2014),as a soloist for the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony (2012), Spertus Institute in Chicago (2012),Tangier Trance Festival in Zürich (2010), and at Mekor Haim Synagogue in Porto (2007). She recently performed traditional Andalusian repertoire at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris (2014) as well as being featured in an avant garde opera on the Song of Song’s at the Alchemy in Hollywood (2016).
She is raising awareness of Moroccan Judeo-Spanish repertoire throughout Morocco at venues such as the Festival Voix des Femmes in Tetouan (2008), Tarab Tanger (2010), Mawazine in Rabat (2011), Slat el Fassiyine for the Mimouna Caravane in Fes (2014), Villa des Arts, Casablanca (2014) throughout the Institut Français in Morocco (2014-2015) and in repeat appearances at Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan Studies. She has appeared on Moroccan television, radio and in the press on numerous occasions.
More Info
