When guitarist Marcos Cavalcante was growing up in Brazil, his parents – both of whom were musicians – would not allow popular music to be played in their home. Their maid, however, took out her guitar when they would leave, and Cavalcante discovered it was “the instrument of my heart.” Cavalcante went on to study composition and conducting, eventually earning graduate degrees at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. After teaching in higher education for many years in Indiana, Brazil and northern New Mexico, he recently moved to Las Cruces to teach at MacArthur Elementary. “My call is to teach. It’s a calling,” he told Intermezzo host Leora Zeitlin. “I can’t resist it.”
Teaching is also a passion for NMSU’s new clarinet professor, Madelyn Moore, who came to the KRWG studios with Cavalcante. “For me, [teaching is about] helping people have their ‘light bulb’ moment, whether that’s in music or in life, helping them to find what they’re passionate about.” Moore and Cavalcante are performing at the next Classical Drinking concert at the Dona Ana Arts Council in Mesilla on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Although the event will mainly feature Cavalcante – who performs classical, jazz, Latin, and other styles – the two will be joined by cellist Hyerim Mapp to perform a set of tangos by Canadian composer Sid Rabinovitch. The musicians only met a few days ago, but Cavalcante was so inspired that he plans to write a new work for them to perform on Saturday.
Listen here for much more about these two recent arrivals to the Las Cruces music scene, their background, influences, and the goal of the “Classical Drinking Series,” which, Moore said, is “to make classical music more accessible and user-friendly.”
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