(October 16, 2014) SANTA FE — On Tuesday, November 4, the New Mexico School for the Arts will celebrate one of its long-time supporters, Mara Robinson, with a tribute concert of instrumental and vocal music.
Mrs. Robinson and her late husband Charles were long-time patrons of the arts, arts education, and the well-being of children and youth in New Mexico. In January of this year they were memorialized as “Living New Mexico Treasures” by the New Mexico House of Representatives. Mrs. Robinson, 84, graduated from St. John’s College, of which she eventually became a Trustee, founded Opera-West in San Francisco, and served on the Advisory Council of the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson moved permanently to New Mexico in 1978 and since then have devoted themselves to improving the quality of life in the state for all residents.
The concert, which will be held at the Lensic Performing Arts Center in downtown Santa Fe, will open with a collaboration between NMSA vocalists and an NMSA string quintet in works by the great Baroque composers Vivaldi, Purcell and Handel. Two of Brahms’ great works for solo piano, followed by works for violin and piano will be featured along with Bartok’s duets for two violins. The vocalists will perform art songs and arias by Fauré, Obradors, Rodrigo, Copland, Weill and Heggie. A touching “Danny Boy” arranged for solo voices will be juxtaposed by the comic genius of Sondheim and the dramatic pulse of Bernstein’s West Side Story. Another quintet will close the evening with “Joy” by Ricky Ian Gordon.
The concert will be held at the Lensic Performaning Arts Center in downtown Santa Fe, at 6:00pm. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for students and seniors, and can be purchased at ticketssantafe.org.