South ABQ News

New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (New Mexico Tech) issued the following announcement on Sept. 2. 

New Mexico Tech’s Performing Arts Series (PAS) begins its fall season this month with its much anticipated schedule of music and artistic acts. And just like classes which are in a hybrid mode ala pandemic style, the PAS season is working up a unique blend of live-stream, Zoom and drive-in scenarios.

The first concert is Saturday, Sept. 19, featuring the +Pan Quartet, with Socorro and Albuquerque-based musicians, and is also the first of the Presidential Chamber Music Series programs. All the PAS events will be free and live-streamed. Most of the shows will be streamed in real time from Macey Center. The full schedule and more information are available on the new PAS website: nmt.edu/pas

“I made a decision that this is such a different time, and such a different format for some of our regulars,” said Ronna Kalish, PAS director, “I didn’t want to charge for tickets and subscriptions. Instead, we are offering a $40 per household optional membership.” 

Members will be invited to special Zoom pre- and post-show events such as meet-and-greets or Q&As with the performers. For special outdoor events, such as one possibly in October, members would get first dibs on reserved outdoor seating or car parking space, Kalish said. Donations are always gratefully accepted and there will be ways to donate during each concert, she said.

All but a couple of shows feature New Mexico artists. Many presenters in New Mexico are doing their part to support the state’s arts industry, Kalish said, noting the difficulties associated with travel now, especially out-of-state travel.

In addition to PAS concerts, Kalish plans to continue the summer’s popular Socorro Sessions.

“We had such a great response, I decided I would make the effort to get as many Socorro bands to Macey Center as possible,” she said.

The sessions will be at 6 p.m. Thursdays very two or three weeks. With the 6 p.m. timing, she is looking for a “happy hour” feel.

“Together with Macey Center staff, we are hoping to experiment with some outdoor options which would allow a limited audience, such as opening up the back of Macey Center stage, or drive-in theater-style in the Macey parking lot.  Watch for more details on these events.

A special offering in the fall will be Dana’s Delicacies: Arts, Appetizers and Cocktails, hosted by PAS coordinator Dana Chavez, featuring a hands-on arts project, with advance video demos on how to make the appetizers and cocktails (and mocktails), supply lists and all information (coming soon) online at nmt.edu/pas.

One collaborative effort will be seen in late October. “Othello: The Remix - The Q Brothers adRAPtation” by the Scaffolding Theater Company of Las Cruces.  Imagine the classic Othello, true to the story, but updated with a hip hop/rap feel.

“It is such a unique, timely, thought provoking and fun performance!” Ronna said.

Copyright limitations mean this is one show that reservations will be required, albeit free, via a link at the PAS web site.

“I’m excited about every show,” said Kalish, “but perhaps particularly about the science comedian, Adam Ruben.”

A writer, comedian, storyteller, and molecular biologist, Ruben has appeared nationally and in Europe at clubs, colleges and private venues.

“For his virtual show for NM Tech, Adam will do some standup, a bit of storytelling especially relevant to us Techies and some interactive Q&A,” she said.

The show is set for the Thursday kicking off Tech’s traditional 49ers Reunion on Oct. 10.

The series begins with a Presidential Chamber Music concert by the +Pan Quartet on Saturday, Sept. 19. The evening of chamber music brings New Mexico-based musicians together in a unique format of steelpan drum, violin, cello and piano.  Some in Socorro will know violinist Eric Sewell from the unique local concerts he has offered. Mike Schwebke lives part-time in Polvadera, accompanying his partner who works with horses on the McElvain Ranch. Schwebke is an accomplished steelpan player, more well-known in Chicago than New Mexico, where he performs with a variety of groups.  Kalish introduced Mike and Eric, urging them to form this quartet which will perform contemporary works from the East and West, plus a piece commissioned especially for this project.

Next on the bill, October 3, is a group from Albuquerque, Le Chat Lunatique which promises a night of swing dancing, if only in your living room! They call it “filthy, mangy jazz, a signature sound that makes you want to smoke and drink too much — if only you could get off the dance floor.”

The Q Brothers’ Othello: The Remix, was a commissioned piece which premiered in London in 2012. It subsequently was produced by Las Cruces’s Scaffolding Theatre Company in 2018. Megan McQueen, producer, realized that during this COVID-19 season, she could get streaming rights to the production, Kalish said.  

“We have presented two excellent Scaffolding Theater Company Productions in Socorro – ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘Five Course Love’,” Kalish said. “Megan McQueen has a special connection to Socorro and New Mexico Tech. I feel honored to be able to collaborate with and brainstorm with her and to offer this special performance to Socorro audiences.

Robert Mirabal and band will perform on Nov. 21, coinciding with the just-announced virtual Festival of the Cranes, rounds out the fall season of PAS. A Pueblo musician and flute player and maker from Taos Pueblo, Mirabal has performed worldwide and twice named Native American musician of the year.

Mirabal has performed in Socorro several times. The first time was part of the launching of the PBS program “Mirabal: Music from a Painted Cave.” The second time was a PAS-conceived collaboration performance and intensive outreach activities with NM-based internationally renowned dance company Dancing Earth, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. The third was with his own NM-based band and special performance by the Zuni Dancers, this during Festival of the Cranes.

The new year starts out with Pink Freud, which faithfully recreates the innovative, psychedelic sights and sounds of Pink Floyd. The band is composed of veteran musicians who have gotten together to perform the classic rock of Pink Floyd, the way it was meant to be heard, live, and with power. If you like the music of “Dark Side Of The Moon,” “Wish You Were Here,” “Animals” and “The Wall,” “Meddle” and “The Division Bell,” then you’re going to love Pink Freud,” they promise. 

With a notable connection to New Mexico Tech, guitarist Chuck Hawley spent a good part of his youth in Socorro, his father John Hawley, a scientist at the NM Bureau of Geology. The band has garnered a huge fan in professor emeritus Frank Etscorn, who will be sponsoring this performance.

Next up will be a New Mexico Tech musical production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s “A Reimagined Utopia, Limited, or The Flowers of Progress (for Corona Virus).” The musical is a spoof on limited liability companies, particularly the idea that a bankrupt company could leave creditors unpaid without any liability. The cast and director will take some liberties to contemporize themes that are relevant to current events. Presented by NM Tech’s CLASS Department, this production features local actors and musicians. The performance will be rehearsed “virtually” and recorded in a socially-distanced manner, produced by Eileen Comstock and directed by Warren Martz.

February features the annual Arts Party on Saturday, Feb. 6, now scheduled as a Zoom party; followed by Big Band on the Rio Grande (BBRB) on Feb. 13, think Valentine’s concert. Formed in 1989 as an off-shoot of the Mesilla Valley Concert Band, the ensemble simply enjoys playing the big band music of the past and to perpetuate “the swing thing."

Big Band Swing was perhaps the most popular music in history. During its heyday, ‘30s and ‘40s, big bands were jumpin’ everywhere in the USA. This group, too, has a notable connection to Socorro.  Trombonist and NM Tech alumnus Karl Tonander was the first technical director at Macey Center. Karl’s response when Ronna asked if his band would perform for PAS was “it’s always been on my bucket list.”

March brings Women’s History Month to NMT and the Performing Arts Series is looking into a variety of collaborations. Currently on tap is Lara Manzanares, an award-winning bilingual singer-songwriter of northern New Mexican heritage. In addition to singing the Mexican boleros, rancheras, and corridos of her sheep-ranching childhood, Lara also composes her own style of music in both English and Spanish. 

The NMT Chamber Music Series returns in March with Duke City Hora, performing an evening of klezmer music, traditional American-Jewish music with a selection of the diverse styles, rhythms and Yiddish songs. The trio is Margot Leverett, clarinet, Jordon Wax, accordion, and Charlotte Overby, upright bass. Margot Leverett was founding member of the acclaimed Klezmatics, and is a living master of klezmer, the music she inherited from the generation of clarinetists who brought the tradition to America. Sponsored by New Mexico Tech President Stephen Wells, these concerts are traditionally free (though this year, ALL concerts are free!), begins at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 20.

On April 9, Jarabe Mexicano take the audience on a joyride through a versatile songbook of Mexican Folk as well as rock and roll, Tex-Mex, Latin rock, and reggae-cumbia. Performing on stringed folk instruments accompanied by lively percussion, Jarabe’s dramatic, harmonized vocals in Spanish and English have gained them the admiration from audiences across the country. Some might remember their lively and spontaneous “passing through” appearance at the Capitol Bar a few years back, when they were on tour in New Mexico.

“The Jungle Book” rounds out the season with an April 23 performance by the State Street Ballet of Santa Barbara, Calif. Water, air, earth, and fire – the four natural elements –  intertwine in this dazzling adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s classic collection of stories. The complexities of the jungle and the personalities of its creatures come alive through movement, music, and the dynamic storytelling of some of life’s greatest moral lessons. The performance may feature local student dancers in one number (pandemic permitting!).

Students will again be the highlight of the last PAS event: The annual National Dance Institute’s Socorro residency. NDI this year will be taught for six weeks on Zoom, recorded class-by-class, socially distanced, on the Macey Center stage on the last week, and aired on Facebook and YouTube on May 20.

Although everything is different right now, with corona virus still a part of all our lives, Kalish and Chavez have worked hard to create a special season, with each show having a local connection. They hope the Socorro community, always a huge supporter of PAS, will continue to support PAS and the New Mexico arts community by participating in this virtual season, and looking out for the unique outdoor performance opportunities to be unveiled.  Come one and all!

Original source can be found here.