Kim Fredenburgh, Altura Ensemble headline final 2023 Placitas Artists Series concert

Violist Kim Fredenburgh and the Altura Ensemble will perform “Music for Strings, Winds and Piano” at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 17, at Las Placitas Presbyterian Church.

The concert will be performed by Kevin Vigneau on oboe, Anastasia Samsel on flute, Toby Vigneau on double bass, and Judith Gordon on piano.

The concert will open with an introspective work, “Reverie for Viola and Piano,” by contemporary Southwestern composer David Dean Mendoza. This will be followed by two movements from the “Concertino for Flute, Viola, and Double Bass” by Austro-Czech composer Erwin Schulhoff. The composer based his “Andante” on a Ukrainian folk song and his finale movement, a “Rondino,” is a folk dance.

The performance will continue with works by Johannes Brahms, Johann Sebastian Bach and the Italian romantic composer Giovanni Bottesini.

The program’s second half will feature “L’Etang (The Pond)” by German-born American violinist Charles Loeffler, inspired by macabre French poetry. The viola and oboe offer a dark and sinister timbre suited to this underworld. Ludwig van Beethoven’s flute “Serenade trio, op. 25” follows.

Concertgoers are encouraged to come early for a 2 p.m. monthly artists’ reception in the church’s Fellowship Hall. On exhibit will be the works of Connie Falk, studio and plein air oil painting; Rick Hatfield, beaded and found art sculpture; Larry Schulte, mixed-media, much based on the Fibonacci sequence; and Tom Wise, photography and handmade prints.

Dianna Shomaker, Placitas Artists Series’ “Treasured and Featured Artist” for the 2023-2024 concert season, will display her donated artwork, “Joy of Summer,” valued at $2,000. It will be raffled after intermission at the December concert. Raffle tickets, at $20 or three for $55, are available on the Placitas Artists Series website, the Placitas Community Library, and at the concert. The show is open to the public during church gallery hours, Tuesday-Friday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. and by appointment

The Altura Ensemble is a group of friends and family members of host and violist Fredenburgh. The group’s name derives from the Altura Park location where ensemble rehearsals take place.