In the Northern New Mexico mountain communities of Angel Fire, Taos, Raton and Las Vegas, Music from Angel Fire’s 29th Season will delight audiences with enchanting chamber music from Friday, August 17 through Sunday, September 2, 2012 in 14 concerts featuring works from the Baroque to the Contemporary periods. Included among the 2012 artists are Ida Kavafian, Artistic Director, violin; Ani Kavafian and Pam Frank, violin; Anne-Marie McDermott, piano; Peter Wiley, cello; Tara Helen O’Connor, flute, Karen Lindquist, harp and Guillermo Figueroa, violin/viola.

An evening with Ida Kavafian and friends will take place in Robertson and Sons Violin Shop in Albuquerque on Friday, August 10. This event will be a perfect occasion to mingle with select Festival artists in an intimate setting for a special performance to benefit Music from Angel Fire followed by a reception with the artists.

Two themes will run through the 2012 Season of Music from Angel Fire: French music and music inspired by religion. The 150th anniversary of the birth of the great impressionist composer Claude Debussy and the 100th anniversary of the birth of the witty and charming composer Jean Françaix motivated the programming of French music flowing throughout the Season. Also expect to hear pieces by Poulenc, Saint-Saëns, Ravel and Fauré. Festival Artistic Director Ida Kavafian will host two enlightening evenings of religious music. “Musical Conversations” at the United Church of Angel Fire on August 19 and August 30 will feature Biber’s Rosary Sonatas which are representations of the life of Christ and the Virgin Mary and Haydn’s Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross.

“Closer Encounters” on Friday, August 17 and Wednesday, August 22 will provide the public with an insider’s view of rehearsals – up close and personal. They will be informal, fun, educational and free! The beautiful and historic Shuler Theater will once again be the setting for the Complimentary Community Concert in Raton on August 21, and the Las Vegas concert will be held in the Ilfeld Auditorium on the campus of New Mexico Highlands University on August 24. A number of exciting Season concerts will be performed at the Taos Center for the Arts including the popular Baroque concert. On opening night in Taos on August 18, Music from Angel Fire will participate in the year-long celebration of Remarkable Women of Taos, a creative traveler education theme honoring outstanding historic and contemporary women of Taos, including Ida Kavafian. The program will feature a truly remarkable American woman composer, Amy Beach. The Festival’s Salon Concert in Angel Fire will provide experiences from the sublime to the ridiculous! In addition to time-honored musical selections, hilarity will ensue in this crowd pleasing event which will be followed by the annual Southwestern Art Auction at the Lodge at Angel Fire Resort on Sunday, August 26.

The Festival will proudly present the World Premiere of a new work written for the Festival by the 2012 Composer-in-Residence Steven Stucky – commissioned by Music from Angel Fire and funded in part by the Bruce E. Howden, Jr. American Composers Project. Widely recognized as one of the leading composers today, Steven Stucky was awarded the 2005 Pulitzer Prize in Music for his Second Concerto for Orchestra.

Exceptionally talented young artists from the famed Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia will be broadening their concert experience and repertoire by performing in Festival concerts as a part of the “Young Artist Program,” now in its fourteenth year. The astounding talent of these young artists will also be shared with school children in 30 classroom concerts, demonstrations and interactive lectures in communities across Northern New Mexico though the Festival’s “Music in Our Schools” program which enriches the lives of New Mexico students immeasurably.

The 2012 Season is presented in part by:
The Thaw Charitable Trust
McCune Charitable Foundation
Albert I. Pierce Foundation
Phillips Foundation
Lenfest Foundation
Whited Foundation
Healy Foundation
Hubbard Broadcasting Foundation
Thistlewood Foundation
Weber Foundation
Walmart Foundation
Angel Fire Resor
Questa Mine
International Bank
Bank of America
Lowe’s Pay-N-Save
Angel Fire Community Foundation
Total Arts Gallery
Phil Long Toyota
Robertson & Sons Violin Shop
Village of Angel Fire
City of Raton
City of Las Vegas and San Miguel County Lodgers' Tax,
Town of Taos
New Mexico Arts, a division of the Dept. of Cultural Affairs
National Endowment for the Arts.

Join Music from Angel Fire in celebrating its 29th Season - Music from Angel Fire…a Higher Level of Performance. FOR MORE INFORMATION AND UPDATES ON ALL OF THE ABOVE EVENTS PLEASE CHECK www.musicfromangelfire.org

WHAT: MUSIC FROM ANGEL FIRE’S 29th SEASON
WHERE: ANGEL FIRE, TAOS, RATON & LAS VEGAS, NEW MEXICO
WHEN: AUGUST 17 THROUGH SEPTEMBER 2, 2012
TICKETS: $20 TO $35 with all Family/Youth Concerts and Raton Community Concert Complimentary
INFO: 575-377-3233/toll free 888-377-3300
www.musicfromangelfire.org