Passport to the Arts kicks of the summer season on Canyon Road this weekend

After months of planning, weeks of delving through the details, and days of anticipation, the first annual Passport to the Arts is finally upon us.

This weekend, Canyon Road will devote itself to a celebration of the arts. From visual mediums to musical melodies, Santa Fe’s famed arts district will come alive with art lovers from all walks of life.

The event will rev up on Friday with special exhibitions and openings at several of the galleries, boutiques and restaurants along the road.

Things will really kick into high gear on Saturday, with a day packed full of events, including live music, a silent auction, and much more.

The fun will start early with a quick draw at 9:30 a.m. Thirty-three artists from galleries all along Canyon Road are participating in the quick draw. Each artist will have 90 minutes to create an original work of art, which will be auctioned off immediately following the event.

We will be hosting one of the three sites for the quick draw in our sculpture garden and are sponsoring five artists in the event, including Barbara Ivey, Cheryl Koen, James Trigg, Andrée Hudson, and Bernard Marks. We will also have several pieces in the silent auction.

Live performances by local student musicians and a free concert by the Tribute Trio will set the musical tone for the day.

Visit www.visitcanyonroad.com for a full schedule of events and more information on Passport to the Arts.

The weekend will come to a close on Sunday with the Historic Santa Fe Foundation’s annual Historic Homes Tour. This year the foundation has chosen to highlight buildings that appeared on the 1912 Kings Map of Canyon Road. The tour will run from 1-4 p.m. Visit www.historicsantafe.org/Tour.htm for more information about the tour.

Save the dates! This year’s ArtFeast is February 24-26th and we hope that you will be able to join us for what has become one of the treasured events of the winter season here in Santa Fe. With a weekend full of food, dance, art, fashion, homes, and more food, it is an event not to be missed!

The weekend kicks off Friday with the Art of Fashion runway show and luncheon.  Friday evening features the Edible Art Tour, which we will be participating in once again this year, and then Feast or Famine to finish off the night. Saturday’s events include the Art of Home Tour with the gala Gourmet Dinner & Auction that evening. It all concludes Sunday with day two of the Art of Home Tour and the Artists’ Champagne Brunch & Auction.

Now in its 15th year, ArtFeast is the winter fundraising event for ARTsmart, a local non-profit organization dedicated to helping New Mexico’s children get the most out of art. Their mission statement: “ARTsmart ensures that Santa Fe and New Mexico youth have the opportunity to explore, experience and engage in the visual arts, a critical component of every student’s education.”

For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit ArtFeast online at http://artfeast.com/artfeast-events/.

For more information on what we’re planning for the Edible Art Tour, please feel to call us at 505-984-2202 or email us at art@waxlander.com.

Anywhere singing and playing are welcome, you’ll find Fletcher and John.

Our friends Fletcher and John have been making sweet, sweet music together for almost fifteen years.  Blending soft folk singer-songwriter pieces with rocking Celtic and blue grass numbers, they have been delighting audiences at gallery openings, festivals, wineries, and home parties since 1997.  And to add a new layer to their stylings, John’s son, Max, has been joining them on the bodhran (a traditional Irish drum) for many performances, including our artist receptions this summer.

Catch them at Waxlander Art Gallery & Sculpture Garden for Bruce King’s reception on Friday, August 19, from 5 – 7pm or,

To learn more about them, their music, or to book them for your gathering, please check out their website:

http://fletcherandjohn.com/

Celebrating its 74th Season, 2010 – 2011!

The Santa Fe Concert Association was established on April 1, 1937, as a participant in Columbia Artists Management’s famed Community Concerts program, which toured international artists all over the country through a network of local presenters.

As it turned out, that initial event would prove to be anything but a joke; for from then until now, for almost three-quarters of a century, SFCA has continued to present the world’s greatest artists and ensembles in recital and concert to the residents and students of Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico.

From singers and instrumentalists to dance companies and theater groups, SFCA has brought literally hundreds of superb performers to Santa Fe through the decades. Among the many standouts have been alto Kathleen Ferrier, soprano Deborah Voigt, and soprano Helen Jepson; pianists Ruth Laredo, Radu Lupu, Andrew von Oeyen, Alicia de Larrocha, and Emanuel Ax; violinists Gidon Kremer, Yehudi Menuhin, Zino Francescatti, Gil Shaham, Midori, and Sarah Chang; The Vanbrugh, Emerson, Cleveland, and Kronos string quartets; vocal ensembles Chanticleer and Anonymous 4; The Beaux Arts Trio; and The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Octet.

SFCA became in independent not-for-profit presenting organization in 1973, and has been under the guidance of Executive and Artistic Director Joseph Illick since May 2008.

The Metropolitan Opera’s Emmy and Peabody Award-winning series of live performance transmissions to movie theaters around the world continues for its fifth season, featuring 11 transmissions.  Tickets go on sale in September, with priority access for qualified Met members starting August 27, 2010.  To become a Met member, visit metopera.org/HDLive.  Don’t miss the chance to experience the Met live at The Lensic Theatre in Santa Fe!

2011

La Fanciulla del West – Puccini, January 8, Start Time: 11am MST

Conductor: Nicola Luisotti

Minnie: Deborah Voigt

Dick Johnson: Marcello Giordani

Jack Rance: Juha Uusitalo

Iphigenie en Tauride – Gluck, February 26, Start Time: 11am MST

Conductor: Patrick Summers

Iphigenie: Susan Graham

Oreste: Placido Domingo

Pylade: Paul Groves

Thoas: Gordon Hawkins

Lucia di Lammermoor – Donizetti, March 19, Start Time: 11am MDT

Conductor: Patrick Summers

Lucia: Natalie Dessay

Edgardo: Joseph Calleja

Enrico: Ludovic Tezier

Raimondo: Kwangchul Youn

Le Comte Ory – Rossini, April 9 New Production, Start Time: 11am MDT

Conductor: Maurizio Benini

Countess Adele: Diana Damrau

Isolier: Joyce DiDonato

Ragonde: Susanne Resmark

Count Ory: Juan Diego Florez

Raimbaud: Stephane Degout

Tutor: Michele Pertusi

Capriccio- R. Strauss, April 23, Start Time: 11am MDT

Conductor: Andrew Davis

Countess: Renee Fleming

Clairon: Sarah Connolly

Flamand: Joseph Kaiser

Olivier: Russell Braun

Count Morten: Frank Larsen

La Roche: Peter Rose

Il Trovatore – Verdi, April 30, Start Time: 11am MDT

Conductor: James Levine

Leonora: Sondra Radvanovsky

Azucena: Dolora Zajick

Manrico: Marcelo Alvarez

Di Luna: Dmitri Hvorostovsky

Die Walkure – Wagner, May 14 New Production, Start Time: 10am MDT

Conductor: James Levine

Brunnhilde: Deborah Voigt

Sieglinde: Eva-Maria Westbroek

Fricka: Stephanie Blythe

Siegmund: Jonas Kaufmann

Wotan: Bryn Terfel

Hunding: Hans-Peter Konig