Coro de Camara’s upcoming “Celestial Call” concerts on May 20 and 21 feature singers Dr, Nina Lanza and Dr. Peter Bloser who will share about space in the program. Courtesy photo
BY NYLEA BUTLER-MOORE
Artistic Director
Coro de Camera
Do the evening skies beckon, filling you with wonder and curiosity? Does the music of the night awaken your imagination and sense of mystery? Then probe the call of the heavens through Coro de Cámara’s presentation of “Celestial Call,” the final program in the chamber chorus’s triptych of discovery, Earth • Water • Sky.
Two matinee performances:
Saturday, May 20 at 4:00 p.m., United Church of Los Alamos, 2525 Canyon Road
Sunday, May 21 at 4:00 p.m., Immaculate Heart Chapel, 50 Mount Carmel Road, Santa Fe.
When the pandemic lockdown occurred in the spring of 2020, Coro de Cámara was only two months away from presenting a ‘celestial’ program. Now, three years later, as space missions, rocket launches, and astonishing findings continue to generate great excitement, the chorus is pleased to offer “Celestial Call.”
Featuring a wide range of music, from Franz Joseph Haydn’s “The Heavens Are Telling’” to David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” the program also includes intriguing words by astronomers, astronauts, and planetary scientists. Coro’s own space scientists, Nina Lanza and Peter Bloser will share glimpses into space and our innate need to explore and expand our horizons.
Both Drs. Lanza and Bloser heard the ‘celestial call’ at an early age and followed it into careers in planetary science and astronomy, respectively. They are scientists who also love music and singing.
“For me,” Lanza says, “the celestial call is that deep emotional connection that I’ve always felt when I’ve looked at the sky and into space and been in the natural world. This Coro concert is really special to me because when I think of all that I love about nature, I feel like singing.”
“In singing and in doing science, I find inspiration, a feeling of elevation, and connectedness,” explains Bloser. “In both the arts and sciences, we get to participate in something bigger than ourselves.”
“Celestial Call” celebrates our collective dreaming, envisioning, and quest to unlock the secrets of the universe. The two stunningly beautiful compositions, “Sure on This Shining Night” by James Agee and Morten Lauridsen and “Song to the Moon (La Luna)” by Jaroslav Kvapil and Z. Randall Stroope, capture the awe and yearning we have when gazing at the night sky. “Gagarin (Beyond Blue Sky)” from Space Race by Phil Cummings and Glyn Lehmann heralds the human journey into space, while Christopher Tin’s epic “Sogno di Volare (The Dream of Flight),” with texts from Leonardo da Vinci’s famous notebooks, fills us with possibility and triumph. Other glittering choral pieces and three iconic instrumentals associated with space will also be performed. Coro pianist Yelena Mealy is joined by guest flutist Heidi Morning, oboist Amanda Barry, and violinist Kay Newnam.
Tickets: $25 Adults at the door, $20 online | $10 College Students | Free 18 & under. Available at the door or online at corodecamara-nm.org.