Feeling connections: Violinist Ana María Quintero Muñoz a 'multi-faceted' addition to NMPhil

Ana María Quintero Muñoz began her music career at age 4 with a 14-inch violin.

The Colombian-born violinist joined the New Mexico Philharmonic in 2019 immediately after earning her master’s degree in violin performance from New Mexico State University.

Today, she commutes from El Paso, where she is first violin chair with the El Paso Symphony Orchestra. She also teaches an after-school program for the El Paso Symphony Association.

Feeling connections: Violinist Ana María Quintero Muñoz a 'multi-faceted' addition to NMPhil

Quintero Muñoz’s mother taught her to play the violin until she turned 11 and needed private lessons. She graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Music degree from Fundación Universitaria Juan N. Corpas School of Music in Bogotá, Colombia, before coming to New Mexico. She graduated from high school at 15.

She loves the connections she feels when she’s performing with her colleagues.

“Ana is really a superb violinist,” said Roberto Minczuk, music director for the New Mexico Philharmonic. “She has played with me in various capacities. She played concertmaster when we didn’t have one, so she is a great leader.

“She’s really kind of a multi-faceted artist,” he continued, “very prepared and in command of the repertoire. She is a person who brings people together.”

She lists her favorite composers as Mahler, Brahms, Ravel and the French school.

“One of my favorites of all time is Haydn,” Quintero Muñoz said of the composer considered to be the “founder of the symphony.”

She finds the New Mexico Philharmonic to be both entertaining and challenging.

“I feel like my colleagues and I have very high standards for ourselves,” she said. “I have some pretty extraordinary colleagues in Albuquerque. The audience is extremely supportive of the orchestra.”

The repertoire introduces her to music she has never had the opportunity to play. When she played in a chamber music orchestra in Bogotá, the group was limited to Baroque music and contemporary chamber music.

Her latest project is an album of Colombian folk music called “Entresueños de Violín y Tiple,” where she plays accompanied by the title performed by Gustavo Adolfo Renjifo. The Colombian tiple (pronounced: tee-pleh in Spanish) is a plucked string instrument of the guitar family, common in Colombia, where it is considered one of the national instruments

“It looks like a tiny guitar,” Quintero Muñoz said. “It has 12 strings and it sounds like a harpsichord.”

Colombia is known as “the land of a thousand rhythms,” she added.

“That is something I’ve always wanted to do,” she continued. “My parents are both very passionate about Colombian folk music.”

Today, she performs with a violin made by a Colombian friend called “La Mar,” or the sea. He brought her the instrument after her old violin was stolen at NMSU.

“Someone broke into the school,” Quintero Muñoz said. “I never got the original back. I was very sad.”

In what little spare time she has, Quintero Muñoz likes to put together jigsaw puzzles of famous works of art.

“I made a Dalí during the pandemic,” she said. “I did Monet once.”

“I really like board games,” she added. “And I like to play a little guitar and ukulele and sing.”

Today, she commutes to Albuquerque from El Paso, where she lives with her wife and their cat.

“It’s a beautiful drive,” Quintero Muñoz said. “It’s very peaceful. I put on podcasts and music I like.”

Other than classical music, her favorite genre is jazz. Her first stop during a recent New York trip was the famous nightclub Birdland, home to such greats as Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald and Lester Young.

She also likes indie rock and Broadway show tunes. She dreams of bringing Broadway legend Audra McDonald to Albuquerque.

“I love Albuquerque, I really do,” Quintero Muñoz said. “I appreciate the culture and I’m in love with New Mexico culture in general, the landscapes. There’s something about it that doesn’t feel fake.”