“Haunted American Suite” concert and cd feature local musicians and composers

Ghosts, spook lights and other strange phenomena inspired the “Haunted America Suite,” by Justin Raines, an NMSU graduate now working as a composer in Los Angeles, and in the first performances and recording sessions, doors slammed, lights went out, and other spooky things happened. Just in time for Halloween, Jim and Celeste Shearer, and several other musicians from Las Cruces and El Paso, will offer an encore performance of the suite at 7:30 p.m on October 29, at the Atkinson Recital Hall, along with works by Frank Gulino, Elizabeth Raum and NMSU Music Department Chair Lon W. Chaffin. In April, the Shearers talked with Intermezzo host Leora Zeitlin about the “Haunted American Suite” and other works that they commissioned for their new cd of the same name, which had just come out. The interview first aired on April 30, 2015.