{"id":15883,"date":"2025-10-30T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/san-juan-symphony-weaves-a-communal-tapestry\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T19:35:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T19:35:22","slug":"san-juan-symphony-weaves-a-communal-tapestry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/san-juan-symphony-weaves-a-communal-tapestry\/","title":{"rendered":"San Juan Symphony weaves a communal tapestry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Amy
Amy Barrett, director of the San Juan Symphony Chamber Singers, salutes her singers at the end of the Oct. 26 concert in St. Mark\u2019s Church. Behind her: Dennis Costello, soloist for Christopher Tin\u2019s \u201cBaba Yetu.\u201d (Courtesy of J. Reynolds)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

San Juan Symphony Inc. is on a roll.<\/p>\n

On Oct. 26, the musical juggernaut launched its second program in the Beyond the Concert Hall series in St. Mark\u2019s Church. On Nov. 7 and 8, the Symphony Orchestra, with two local choruses and a soloist straight from the Met in New York, will present the next offering in twin concerts for the 40th season in Durango and Farmington.<\/p>\n

\n

If you go<\/h4>\n

WHAT:<\/strong> \u201cWe Are the Music Makers,\u201d San Juan Symphony, Thomas Heuser conductor, with the Durango Choral Society and Farmington\u2019s Caliente Choir, plus mezzo soprano soloist Deborah Nansteel. Works by Johann Strauss Sr., Richard Wagner and Sir Edwar Elgar.<\/p>\n

WHEN: <\/strong>7:30 p.m. Nov. 8, Durango; 3 p.m. Nov. 9, Farmington.<\/p>\n

WHERE:<\/strong> Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College, Durango, and Henderson Performing Arts Center, Farmington.<\/p>\n

TICKETS:<\/strong> $24 to $69.<\/p>\n

MORE INFORMATION: <\/strong>Visit www.sanjuansymphony.org<\/a> or call 382-9753. Visit www.durangoconcerts.com<\/a> or call 247-7657.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Last weekend, the SJS Chamber Singers, under new director Amy Barrett, delivered a robust set of tuneful surprises and gave the sold-out St. Mark\u2019s crowd a collective embrace.<\/p>\n

Continuing the tradition set in 2016 by founder Elizabeth Crawford, the Singers offered music by emerging composers. Among the highlights: \u201cAwake My Soul,\u201d by Elaine Hagenberg, opened the program with a vocal fanfare as brilliant as a Renaissance pronouncement. Two back-to-back works in the middle of the concert contrasted ferocious anger and shimmering tenderness. \u201cDies Irae,\u201d by Ryan Main, took a familiar, Latin text about God\u2019s wrath and unfurled it in thunderous clouds of sound. Eric Whitacre\u2019s serenely beautiful \u201cChild of Wonder\u201d followed, accompanied by violist Lara Aase and pianist Christi Livingston.<\/p>\n

To introduce a rousing Swahili chant, \u201cBaba Yetu,\u201d by Christopher Tin, Barrett asked the audience how many played video games. Three hands out of 140 shot up; Barrett\u2019s three boys. So, Mother Barrett went on to educate the audience about a new and expanding genre \u2013 video game music. It has burgeoned into a Grammy award category of its own.<\/p>\n

The American composer\u2019s version of the Lord\u2019s Prayer was originally created for Sid Meier\u2019s video \u201cCivilization IV.\u201d Now, the work is performed in concert halls with full orchestra. Watch and listen to any number on YouTube. The Singers performed with percussionist Mark Rosenberg and pianist Christi Livingston. Soloist Dennis Costello forthrightly led the call-and-response of the African-style choral work.<\/p>\n

The program concluded with a stirring vocalise sung in syllables, by Jocelyn Hagen, and the singers fanned out into the sanctuary holding hands. Hagen\u2019s comforting blanket of sound filled the air, and the experience brought forth what the French sociologist Emil\u00e9 Durkheim described as communal efflorescence. Barrett and the SJS Singers created a moment that\u2019s hard to describe but emotionally apparent when experienced.<\/p>\n

The San Juan Symphony rolls on Nov. 7 and 8, when the full orchestra presents twin concerts titled: \u201cWe are the Music Makers.\u201d Opening with Strauss\u2019 bright \u201cRadetzky March,\u201d then spreading Wagnerian wings to perform the \u201cPrelude to Tristan und Isolde,\u201d Music Director Thomas Heuser and the orchestra will welcome a massed choir of 80 voices to perform Edward Elgar\u2019s oratorio \u201cThe Music Makers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The text is a nine-stanza English ode by the 19th-century poet Arthur O\u2019Shaughnessy. The telltale opening line gives it all away: \u201cWe are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n

For months, the Durango Choral Society and Farmington\u2019s Caliente Community Chorus have been preparing for this extravaganza. And mezzo-soprano Deborah Nansteel, recently seen as Teresa in the new Metropolitan Opera production of Bellini\u2019s \u201cLa Sonnambula,\u201d will be the soloist.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are few discernible section breaks in \u2018The Music Makers,\u2019\u201d Heuser said. \u201cThe flow of the music has a Wagnerian continuousness and harmonic chromaticism that lends itself to the through-composed model. And the solo mezzo-soprano offers a poignant intimacy in the second half of the work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Thomas
Thomas Heuser, artistic director and conductor of The San Juan Symphony Orchestra, gives a presentation in Musically Speaking the Wednesday evening before a concert weekend at the Powerhouse Science Center. (Courtesy of J. Reynolds)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
Musically Speaking<\/div>\n

At 6 p.m. Wednesday, Thomas Heuser, music director and conductor of the San Juan Symphony, will give one of his free \u2013 and jargon-free \u2013 preconcert lectures on the upcoming orchestra program. Scheduled for the Powerhouse Science Center, 1295 Camino del Rio, Heuser\u2019s informal presentation will look at the composers, the structure and stories behind the music, and he will play excerpts to illustrate his points.<\/p>\n

Heuser\u2019s lecture style is informal and yet full of musical information. Plan to arrive early to take advantage of free appetizers and a cash bar. Mingle with fellow music lovers, get a good seat and learn why Strauss\u2019 \u201cRadetzky March,\u201d Wagner\u2019s \u201cPrelude to Tristan und Isolde\u201d and above all, Elgar\u2019s big oratorio, \u201cThe Music Makers,\u201d were chosen for the second concert in the orchestra\u2019s 40th season.<\/p>\n

Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Upcoming shows will include performances in Durango, Farmington<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15884,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1060,28,559,1885],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-15883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-arts-entertainment","tag-headlines","tag-music","tag-san-juan-symphony-orchestra"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15883"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19895,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15883\/revisions\/19895"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15883"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=15883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}