The Dona Ana Arts Council is partnering with Jim Shearer to create a new kind of music experience called Classical Drinking. The first musical event will be Saturday, September 14 from 7:30 – 9:30 at the DAAC Arts & Cultural Center, 1740 Calle de Mercado in Mesilla, and will feature the talents of La Catrina String Quartet along with Jim Shearer performing as a special guest. The cost is $15 per person, with tickets available in advance on-line or at the door. A cash bar will be offered by Dry Point Distillers with yummy cocktails and non-alcoholic options available.
“We’d like folks to have a cocktail, ask questions of the musicians, and let us talk about how and why we put this music together,” says Jim Shearer, who plays the tuba professionally and is a professor of music at New Mexico State University. “This will be a relaxed environment where the audience is encouraged to interact with the musicians. We want to de-mystify classical music.”
La Catrina String Quartet members are from Mexico (Daniel Vega-Albela, Jorge Martínez-Ríos), Venezuela (Simón Gollo) and Chile (Jorge Espinoza). The quartet was founded in 2007 and based at New Mexico State University. They are internationally recognized for their contemporary Latin American repertoire. The Classical Drinking series will continue on October 12 and November 9, then resume in the spring of 2020 with events on February 8, March 14 and April 11. Artists performing at these events will include Dena Kay Jones on piano, Erik Unsworth on double bass, Sarah Daughtrey with vocals, and Celeste Shearer on French horn.
Classical Drinking will take place on the same day as the Second Saturday 10-10 Arts Hop. “We’re expanding the Arts Hop concept to include performing arts as well as art gallery openings,” says DAAC Communications Director Kathleen Albers. “Plus, we want to give our neighbors in Mesilla, Dry Point Distillers, a chance to show off their ‘art’ of distilling spirits.”
The Dona Ana Arts & Cultural Center is located at 1740 Calle de Mercado in Mesilla, New Mexico. The mailing address is PO Box 1721, Las Cruces, NM 88004. For more information and tickets go to www.daarts.org or call the DAAC office at (575) 523-6403.