Santa Fe Women's Ensemble goes 'Above and Beyond'

Take a musical journey with the Santa Fe Women’s Ensemble as the group performs “Music Above and Beyond for Winter.”

The ensemble will perform at 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 13, and Sunday, Dec. 14, at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Fe.

“We begin with a wonderful piece called ‘Solstice Carol,’ and it’s just a very lovely piece,” Linda Raney, Santa Fe Women’s Ensemble music director, said. “The second piece that we’re doing after that is ‘A Winter’s Ride.’ It’s a very exuberant one, I imagine it being a sleigh ride in winter.”

She said the group wanted to do music that would be centering and allow people “to really get into that wonderful, relaxed state that allows everyone to make better decisions.”

The music will be a mix of classics that Raney said many will recognize, along with some lesser-known music.

Raney said she finds, even with the classic songs, there is always something new to the music.

“You’re in a different place, usually personally, and then you just see new, new aspects of the pieces,” Raney said, “and there’s something about them that, although you’ve done them before, there’s a real newness because you just have a different perspective.”

“There is No Rose,” by Z. Randall Stroope, is one of the songs that Raney finds has worn well. She said the choir enjoys singing the piece and that audiences responds warmly to it.

She said the lineup of songs has a theme of going “above and beyond” what is in front of you, which inspired the program name.

“You get that opportunity to dig deeper within yourself to see what these pieces are saying,” Raney said.

She said together, the ensemble creates a sound that is strong, robust and beautifully blended.

“All of these women are working together, they’re doing something with the understanding, the hope and the desire that together we’re better,” Raney said, “that we’re going to do something better.”