A 30TH ANNIVERSARY RETROPECTIVE OF THE SANTA FE DESERT CHORALE
By Craig Smith
Written: Summer, 2012

Thirty years ago in late May, 30 singers from all around the country gathered in Santa Fe. For most of them, it was their first time experiencing the limitless horizons and star-rich skies of New Mexico. What wasn’t new was their experience in choral music. Their combined years of leading and singing in groups - from intimate chamber ensembles to big professional choruses - easily added up to thousands of hours. Still, there was something unusual about the City Different summer they would soon experience: by singing in the inaugural season of the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, they were making choral history for the city and the region.

SFDC was the state’s first professional vocal ensemble and one of only 43 in the country then. It was one of even fewer groups following a purely festival concept, where an auditioned band of vocal musicians came together for a busy period of rehearsals, followed by performances of high musical caliber. And it was the realization of a dream for Lawrence “Larry” Bandfield, who had always been passionately devoted to choral music – and now, after a successful career in a family business, was ready to turn to his heart’s desire and establish a professional choir. He founded SFDC here in 1982, with the goal of launching the first season in the summer of 1983.

Along the way, Larry approached many locals for advice and support. Charitably speaking, many thought that he was fooling himself. Some compared his audacity to that of John Crosby, who had founded an opera company in Santa Fe a quarter of a century before, against much advice and many perceived odds. Others found it surprising that a capable businessman was so willing to stake his own capital, if necessary, to help the organization along. Even those who fell in love with the concept worried about how ticket sales would go and how the singers would take to Santa Fe: despite its many cosmopolitan benefits, it was a town of quite a few dirt roads, and considered by many still to be well off the beaten track.

But Larry believed in what he was doing, and he was very persuasive. After all, he pointed out, The Santa Fe Opera was thriving. The Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, the Santa Fe Festival Theater, and the British American Theater Festival were exerting major impact. The Dallas Ballet had been resident in Santa Fe from time to time, too. The only thing missing from the city’s summer arts crown was a first-rate choral group, and he proposed to furnish it.

Fueled by that enthusiasm, things progressed. A board of directors was recruited. Staff was hired. Notices went out to colleges and universities around the country. Auditions took place. The staff and board took a deep breath. The singers arrived. And the season was on its way, with nine weeks of rehearsals and 30 performances of three challenging programs – not to mention guest appearances in local churches, including the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi, now the Cathedral Basilica. When it came to an end, it had been a big success, artistically, though precarious, financially; yet after those initial concerts, there was no question of not continuing. Larry’s energy and expertise, the initial board of directors, and the first full-year staff yielded a strong commitment to ensuring a Desert Chorale not only for the next season, but the years to come.

Fast forward to today, and 2012. The Chorale is three decades old. It has enjoyed consistent artistic success, and earned a high place among similar ensembles, both nationally and internationally. It has had its share of triumphs and problems. It is still here – and sounding as good, or better, than ever. Larry, who died in 2008 at 75, would surely be proud.

The Chorale’s reputation rests on two significant glories: its annual blending of voices into a cohesive whole, and its varied repertoire. In terms of blend, the Chorale really does exhibit a consistent sound, even with ever-changing singers. The sopranos offer a poised, floating – sometimes verging on a white – sound that can still explode into vibrancy at big climaxes. The altos are rich, but not overly fruity, able to plumb choral depths. The tenors are incisive, yet capable of great sweetness. And the basses are well-grouped into both baritone and bass subsections, providing a rich, rolling underpinning to the rest of the group.

The repertoire has been extensive ever since that first season when the music ranged from Handel’s Dixit Dominus to Argento’s Peter Quince at the Clavier, from Debussy’s pastel-hued Trois Chansons to Brahms’ mournful Warum ist das Licht gegeben?, and from Kodály’s effervescent Matra Pictures to Britten’s luminous Hymn to St. Cecilia. Repertoire has continued to be just as probing: from medieval chant to Renaissance polyphony, from Bach motets to Stravinsky works for choir and orchestra, from New Mexico folksongs to the glories of Mexican Colonial music (which Larry championed to great success). It is group music that demands intelligence as well as sound, perception as well as heart. And it usually works just as well in performance as on the page. Once heard, who can forget the ensemble thundering out Tschesnekov’s Salvation is Created, or the incense-rich sounds of Rachmaninoff’s Vespers? Or the soaring wings of Allegri’s Misereri mei, the bumptious beauties of Brahms’ Zigeunerlieder, the wildly celebratory Cloudburst of Eric Whitacre, or the wistful chords of Shenandoah?

As you can tell from the list above, the Chorale has never neglected contemporary music for standards or even chestnuts, but provided a judicious mix of each. From the first, it has championed living composers from all over the world, including Robert Beckhard, Steven Sametz, Judith Cloud, Kirke Mechem, Ned Rorem, Dominick Argento, Bradley Ellingboe, Jean Belmont, Morton Lauridsen, and current composer in residence Robert Kyr. Along the way, the ensemble has sung in a plethora of languages besides English, including Latin, Spanish, German, French, medieval French, Russian, Italian, Hebrew, Hungarian, Swedish, Portuguese, and Creole.

Besides singing, members have played instruments including piano, tuned water glasses, flute, recorder, a range of percussion instruments, charango, rain sticks, guitar, and even deer hooves. They also have taken their share of stage management: moving the heavy risers in the Santuario back and forth, moving pianos from floor to stage, and even schlepping gear in storms – “Ah, the glamor of conducting” longtime Chorale pillar Jerry Nelson once quipped, as he and Linda Mack slipped and slid as they wrestled a heavy podium into a hall during a snowstorm.

Speaking of halls, the historic Santuario de Guadalupe was home for the first season and many thereafter. Its live acoustic and antique beauty were strong attractions, even though there was not much room backstage: singers and orchestra players either came in concert dress, braving the heat, or changed from summer clothing into their outfits in the elementary school bathrooms in the adjoining Our Lady of Guadalupe church.

The Santuario was a wonderful space, but before air conditioning was installed it could get hot – very hot. During one memorable first-season concert, one singer after another became dizzy and quietly slipped offstage. When four had vanished Larry turned to the audience and remarked, bemused, “They’re dropping like flies.” And when rain came thundering down, as it often did, pianissimos went unheard. When the heavens let hail loose, pieces sometimes had to be suspended for minutes.

There have been many other Chorale venues since then, of course – the Lensic Performing Arts Center, Loretto Chapel, Cristo Rey Church, Santa Fe Maria de la Paz Catholic Community, and Temple Beth Shalom. Run-out performances to Albuquerque, Los Alamos, and various Northern and Central New Mexico historic churches have let the chorale be heard by an ever-expanding group of listeners. Watching the vans load up after one Los Alamos concert, a patron remarked, “All that glory out of two vans.” The singers, rather stuffed into the vehicles, might have made another sort of remark, despite happiness with the performance.

While the Chorale has always been an integral entity, it also has successfully collaborated with many other arts groups, including The Santa Fe Opera. Chorale singers played a vital part in rendering the massive choruses in Ingvar Lidholm’s A Dream Play in 1998. This summer, they return to the SFO stage to participate in Szymanowski’s King Roger. Other joint projects have taken place with the Santa Fe Symphony and Chorus, Santa Fe New Music, Santa Fe Pro Musica, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.

Education and outreach have been part of SFDC’s work as well, including the All-County Youth Chorus, the Desert Chorale’s Children’s Choir, public lectures, pre-concert lectures, and open rehearsals. Free performances are held at community events on the Plaza and elsewhere in the city, at schools, and at senior residence communities. As recently as this spring, Desert Chorale members served as clinicians for the choral program in the Santa Fe Public Schools. And for several years Chorale singers were section leaders for the annual Berkshire Choral Festival’s week-long workshop here.

Over the decades, the Chorale has recorded over 20 disks of varied repertoire, including Mexican Colonial music, standard favorites, commissioned works, folk songs, and Baroque works. It has performed a cappella and with piano, organ, chamber ensemble, and orchestra. It has fielded as few as four singers for intimate repertoires, and nearly 40 for such big-scaled works as Rachmaninoff’s Vespers, with an average of 24. It has also given gala performances of Gilbert & Sullivan repertoire, Broadway standards, and with guest artists such as Patricia Racette, Susan Graham, and Joyce Castle.

More than 400 singers have been part of the Chorale over the years, some for many more than one season, including summer and the annual December holiday season. There also have been scores of dedicated board members who have given limitlessly of time, energy, and funds to keep the ensemble moving forward. But there have been only four music directors. Larry presided from 1983 through 1998. Dennis Shrock took the podium from 1999 through 2003. Linda Mack was music director from the 2004 through 2007 seasons. And Joshua Habermann has helmed the ensemble since 2008.

All directors, singers, staff, and volunteers have shared the same core artistic goal, set in that first season: to perform diverse choral repertoire spanning five centuries with artistic integrity, superb musicianship, and a spirit of eager adventure. And since no ensemble exists solely for itself, the Chorale also is dedicated to an enduring trait of human expression: to reach the hearts of the audiences and change their lives for the better through song.

Happy birthday, SFDC! Long may you sing.

Craig Smith was a member of the Desert Chorale’s first ensemble in the summer of 1983. His fundraising and public relations talents enriched the work of many Santa Fe non-profits throughout the years, but he probably is best remembered as the longtime, erudite music critic for the Santa Fe New Mexican.

With thanks to Linda Mack and Jerry Nelson, for contributing to this article.