As we turn to the New Year, the Music in Corrales series is looking to finish its season strong.
“One of the other questions for us, coming out of the pandemic, was just how ready were people to come back to live concerts as we did a number of concerts during the pandemic online,” said Lance Ozier, president of Music in Corrales. “That was OK for the situation, but we’ve brought the concerts back into the Old Church here in Corrales, but last year if we sold 150 tickets, we might have 100 people and this year, we sold out and it was definitely closer to around 150-170 people in the building.”
After a successful fall schedule, Music in Corrales looks to keep the crowd rocking.
“We make our artists’ selections about a year in advance, so the way that we go about it is people recommend artists to us,” Ozier said. “We have a committee that reviews DVDs or YouTube videos or CDs of the artists, and then they discuss them and they choose. So many times, it’ll be an artist that we know of, or has come recommended to us.”
At 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21, Richard Antoine White will perform with pianist Pamela Viktoria Pyle.
White is a tuba player at the University of New Mexico and also is a principal tubist for the Santa Fe Symphony.
“To have Richard is big as he’s now very famous, and we’re so excited to have him. We always try to have at least one local artist or local group,” Ozier said.
This year, Music in Corrales has brought in some new faces to the stage.
“It does seem like people are willing to come out and I think there’s a lot of pent-up desire because a lot of people are traveling, and going out again,” Ozier said. “We’ve got four really different kinds of groups and none of them have ever performed this venue for us before.
In February, Music in Corrales welcomes Brasil Guitar Duo at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 11.
“The two guitarists have Brazilian heritage, but they’re Americans that use their classical guitars with traditional rhythms and music from Brazil,” Ozier said. “What’s cool about many of our artists is they bring their own culture or traditions to things that people might already be familiar with.”
Following is The String Queens, a string trio, on March 18.
“The String Queens bring their own flavor with a mix of classical and contemporary, and the thing that impressed us about them in the selection process is their energy, as well as their musicianship,” Ozier said. “They just bring a really strong musical power to their playing and I think that is what will entertain people.”
Concluding the series is John Jorgenson Bluegrass Band on April 22.
“The cowboy way and bluegrass music is always popular here with Corrales being semi-rural,” Ozier said. “Corrales’ heritage is in agriculture and country and we think this bluegrass band is really spectacular.”
Music in Corrales aims to have a little bit of something for everyone’s music tastes.
“Our model is not to have one genre, but to have multiple different genres to attract a wider audience and it’s it works pretty well for us,” Ozier said.
“We love when people come up to us after the concert and say, ‘I didn’t really think I was gonna like this, but I enjoyed it,’ ” Ozier said. “We like to expand people’s horizons and hopefully, they may encounter something that they didn’t think they would be interested in, but they actually enjoyed it.”
Music in Corrales series brings a mix of genres to the stage
EXCERPT: At 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 21, Richard Antoine White will perform with Pamela Viktoria Pyle.
