Las Vegas, N.M. – A New Mexico Highlands music professor will conduct the Santa Fe Symphony and Chorus May 30 at 7 p.m. in a free concert commemorating Memorial Day.
Andre García-Nuthmann is the guest conductor for the concert, which will be at St. Francis Cathedral at 131 Cathedral Place, also known as the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi.
The program will feature Antonio Vivaldi’s Kyrie for double chorus and orchestra, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Misa Brevis in F, and Gabriel Fauré’s Cantique de Jean Racine.
García-Nuthmann, who directs the vocal and choral program in the Highlands Department of Music, was selected as a finalist for the Santa Fe Symphony choir director position. The May 30 concert is an audition for the position.
“If I receive this position I will not retire from Highlands,” García-Nuthmann said. “In fact, I hope if I’m selected I will be a liaison for the symphony and the university.”
García-Nuthmann said he is extremely honored to reach this level of the audition process.
“I’m excited and humbled to conduct the symphony for such an auspicious event,” García-Nuthmann said.
Oksana Herrera, a Highlands music major and soprano vocalist, was chosen to join the symphony choir in this concert. She is a West Las Vegas High School graduate.
“I’m so proud that Oksana passed the audition and will be performing with the symphony,” García-Nuthmann said.
For more than 20 years, García-Nuthmann has collaborated with the Santa Fe Symphony to bring the symphony to perform in joint performances with the Highlands Department of Music groups such as the Madrigal Choir in the university’s Ilfeld Auditorium.