Send in the Clowns

Opera West! returns with its third production: Pagliacci

The Saturday afternoon before opening night, the cast for Pagliacci had to change rehearsal rooms. Voting machines had arrived early at St. John’s United Methodist Church and were stored where the troupe had been practicing.

“I’m not worried,” Opera West! Founder, Director and Producer Janice Pantazelos said brightly. “We’ll make it work.”

The opera’s conductor, Russell Vinick, had just arrived from Chicago (where he serves as music director and conductor of Chicago Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra) to conduct Opera West’s chamber orchestra and was consulting with pianist Maki Kimura. Children’s Chorus Director Kathleen Echols spoke quietly with the small group of elementary school students who will be in the show. Although not a dress rehearsal, baritone Mark Cotton, who performs the role of the hunchback clown, went off to put on his prosthetic stomach so he could practice singing with its weight. The sounds of vocal warm-ups filled the space.

Pantazelos is used to improvising when necessary. A former professional mezzo-soprano, she founded the Santa Fe company and mounted its inaugural show, Suor Angelica, on March 12, 2020—the day after New Mexico posted its first COVID-19 cases (the company would later receive second place in the national American Prize competition for best livestream opera performance during the pandemic). Last year, its singers and musicians performed Madame Butterfly (a wonderful production is available on YouTube) and several members of its cast will return for Pagliacci, a two-act melodrama by Ruggero Leoncavallo that premiered in Milan in 1892 and involves (briefly): marriage, jealousy, death and clowns (pagliacci is Italian for clown). The show runs just over an hour and features two sets of leads because Pantazelos wanted to showcase as much talent as possible. Creating more Santa Fe opportunities for professional musicians and more accessibility for opera-goers drives every aspect of her company.

“I’m trying to give back,” she says, in part by staging shorter operas at affordable prices to draw in families and people who might not otherwise attend a late or long night. “I’m trying to build a new audience.” (Julia Goldberg)

Opera West! Presents Pagliacci: 6 pm Friday, Nov. 11; 1 pm and 7 pm Saturday, Nov. 12; 5 pm Sunday, Nov. 13. $20-$200; St. Francis Auditorium at the New Mexico Museum of Art, 107 W. Palace, with live streams available for purchase for opening night and Saturday’s matinee performances. (505) 490-5995; operawest.org

Next Level

If you look around the art world for even a moment, particularly in our region, you’ll find no shortage of notable Indigenous artists creating across countless disciplines, be they traditional, contemporary or something else. If you then look back to their training, chances are they spent at least some time at the Institute of American Indian Arts, that Santa Fe bastion of learning that has fostered more exciting artists than even seems possible. This week at the school, find a cadre of graduating seniors from varying practices celebrating the completion of their studies with the exhibit, Same World, Different Voices. Much of the work was created in these students’ final semester, meaning it’s likely some of the most thoughtful and innovative they’ve done yet. Wouldn’t you like to say you saw them when? (ADV)

Same World, Different Voices: 6-8 pm Thursday, Nov. 10. Free. Balzer Contemporary Edge Gallery @Institute of American Indian Arts, 83 Avan Nu Po Road, (505)-424-2300

Crank it Up

Welcome to the time of the year when, if you’re cool, you start to think about helping others. The holidays are barreling down on us like a 10-speed, friends, which is a pretty sweet segue to talkin’ about Cranksgiving. Oh, Cranksgiving—that annual gathering of bicyclists who, with as little as $20, can join with the national movement to pick up a scavenger hunt list of Thanksgiving foods, then ride to grocery stores picking up items destined for local food bank, The Food Depot. “We normally deal in numbers by weight,” says organizer Bill Lane of last year’s ride, “and we know that between the food riders have collected on ride day, and donations, we collected about 5 and a half tons.” We think you can do better this year, Santa Fe. Register through cranksgivingsantafe.com (or just show up on Saturday) and get to scavenging—it truly helps folks in need. (ADV)

Cranksgiving 2022: 10 am Saturday, Nov. 12. Free (pay for food; donations accepted). Santa Fe Railyard Water Tower, Cerrillos Road and Paseo de Peralta, cranksgivingsantafe.com

Visionary

Yeah, yeah—we’ve told you about solo act Velvet Vision (aka Betty Taylor) before, but after her iconic Madonna cover performance at a Halloween show in late October, we feel it’s worth repeating: She’s an extraordinary talent. Taylor’s trademarked emotional croon as presented over her indomitably catchy and intricately composed synth tracks just work; like a combo of bigger bands such as MGMT and the smaller indie acts such as Mates of State or, in some cases, Mirah. If you didn’t know, that’s a hell of a combo, and Velvet Vision’s just about the only person regularly doing anything like it in Santa Fe, which is noteworthy on its own, but throw in an appearance at El Rey Court’s increasingly popular Queer Night, and baby, you’ve got a party going. (ADV)

Queer Night with Velvet Vision: 7-9 pm Monday, Nov. 14. Free. El Rey Court, 1862 Cerrillos Road, (505) 982-1931