More than 150 musicians will fill the stage this weekend when three NMSU choirs join with the Las Cruces Symphony Orchestra in two concerts that feature beloved but very different masterworks by Gabriel Fauré and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The concerts will also feature two conductors, Alex Gerleman, NMSU’s new Director of Choral Studies, and Jorge Martinez, interim conductor for the LCSO, both of whom came to KRWG to talk about the concerts.
Gerleman will conduct Fauré’s Requiem, written between 1887 and 1890, in the first half of each concert. He noted that the words “requiem aeternam,” which mean eternal rest, appear in five of the seven movements of the piece, and the” lush harmonies and long unwinding melodies” paint a picture of the soul “going to a restful place, a peaceful place." He added that "the message — and this is something that makes it distinct amongst other requiems — is a message of comfort, and of peace, and hopefully of tranquility.”
Holly Kara Mesarch, resident artist for the El Paso Opera, and baritone Michael Hicks, chair of the music department at the University of New Mexico, will be the soloists. Three choirs will participate – the NMSU University Singers, the Concert Choir, and the Masterworks Choir, which includes students and community members.
Jorge Martinez will take up the baton for the second half of the concert to conduct the orchestra in the rousing and dramatic work “Scheherazade.” The work, which is based on the folk stories from One Thousand and One Nights, depicts the Persian sultan Shahryar’s wife Scheherazade regaling him each night with stories so exciting that he cannot kill her – because he wants to hear what will happen the next night. Martinez said “When I talked with my colleagues, they all tell me, ‘I’ve been waiting to play this piece for so long!’” Concertmaster Brigid McCarthy will play the violin solos in the work.
The concerts are Saturday, May 2 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, May 3 at 3:00 at the Atkinson Recital Hall.
Musical clips in the interview come from:
- “Requiem,” Op. 48, clips from movements V (Agnus Dei), IV (Pie Jesu) and I (Introit & Kyrie) by Gabriel Faure, performed by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields orchestra and chorus, conducted by Sir Neville Marriner, and soprano Sylvia McNair (Phiips cd #446084);
- “Scheherazade,” by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, movements 1 and 4, performed by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Robert Spano conducting (Telarc cd #80568).