Winter song: First Presbyterian Church of Santa Fe's January concert series showcases classic, contemporary compositions

First Presbyterian Church of Santa Fe will be filled with music every Friday evening in January.

Winter song: First Presbyterian Church of Santa Fe's January concert series showcases classic, contemporary compositions

The church will host its TGIF concert series at 5:30 p.m. each Friday of the month. There is no admission fee for the concerts but a freewill offering is suggested.

“Our goal with TGIF is that we have, every Friday of the year, a concert, and it’s open to bring together people from Santa Fe and from around the world,” said Linda Raney, music director. “We have so many tourists who come through, and (the concerts are a way) to bring them all together at First Presbyterian Church (of Santa Fe) to enjoy wonderful music.”

Some of the performers also come from different parts of the country and from around the world.

“It’s really that kind of melting pot of bringing together people in our community and people visiting our community, and the musicians themselves vary as well from masters of every possible instrument and combination of instruments, also master vocalists and ensembles of many sizes and styles,” Raney said. “The programs are between 30 and 40 minutes in length, and we always begin at 5:30 on Friday afternoon. The concerts are supported by donations from those who attend. So there isn’t a set fee, but instead, we just rely on donations to support these efforts.”

Organist John Garlisch will kick off the series on Friday, Jan. 3. His program repertoire will consist of “Fantasia in F,” Krebs WV 419 — J.L. Krebs (1713-1780); “In dulci Jubilo” — Marcel Dupré (1886-1971), “In dulci Jubilo,” BuxWV 197 — Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707); “Chaconne in E minor,” BuxWV 160 — Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707); “Epiphany Abstract” — Frederick Frahm (b. 1964); “Pastorale in G” — Adam Heron (b. 1998); “Vom Himmel Hoch,” 3 settings — Ernst Pepping (1901-1981); and “Vom Himmel Hoch,” BWV 700 — J.S. Bach (1685-1750).

“His program is an organ recital,” Raney said. “It’s going to be various pieces. He has several chorale preludes and then ‘Fantasia’ and the ‘Chaconne,’ and they’re pastoral and the timing of the dates of these composers go from the 1600s to the current century. And so it should be a very diverse and fun program to listen to.”

The Atalaya String Quartet will perform on Jan 10. The program will feature compositions by Felix Mendelssohn.

“They’ll play a Mendelssohn String Quartet, Opus 44, No. 2, and it has four movements, and should be quite wonderful,” Raney said.

Flutissimo! Flute Choir from Dallas will take the stage on Jan 17.

“Flutissimo! is a traveling group,” Raney said. “It began with eight people as a flute choir from Texas. It should be very interesting to hear. It’s an amateur ensemble, but at the same time, it sounds like they are going to be presenting some really interesting work that has been either arranged for them or was originally conceived for flute choir. There’s not only the flute, but also the piccolo and also the bass flute or the longer flute. It should be very interesting and a very unusual sound. I always enjoy hearing what they put together.”

The Chancel Choir of First Presbyterian Church will perform Mozart: Mass in C major, KV. 337 “Missa solemnis” on Jan 24.

“It’s a really lovely piece,” Raney said. “It’s one of his short choral works that Mozart wrote and it has a small ensemble as well as the big choir for the soloist. And in this particular instance, he really has some beautiful solos for the soprano soloists and we have three of them. They’re all very interesting, lovely voices that everyone will want to hear, Nancy Maret and Anne Bradley and Elena Guardincerri, the three sopranos, and then they also sing as a little quartet throughout. Nina Brown is the alto, and Travis Bregier and Tim Wilson (are) bass. Michael Roybal is our tenor.”

Wrapping up the January concert series are Johanna Hongell-Darsee and Scott Darsee, who will perform medieval and traditional ballads on Jan. 31.

“What they bring is always so creative,” Raney said. “Johanna’s from Finland originally and both of them are specialists in music, folk music, Finnish, French, Celtic, but all very early music. And the different stories that we’re told with music, the literature that they do is very interesting, but also the instruments they play.

“Usually Scott plays guitar and it will be basically that type of stringed instrument, but Johanna has a wonderful little bone flute that’s just a gorgeous sound. And there are various drums and so forth, and she does some singing. It’s just a really very enjoyable evening, something entirely different, something that you don’t see every day in Santa Fe.”