Category Archives: Previews

Edward Simon Brings New Album, ‘Femeninas: Songs of Latin American Women,’ to the Outpost

Edward Simon Group (l2r): Reuben Rogers, Adam Cruz, Edward Simon, Luis Quintero, Magos Herrera. Photo by Goren Sarriegui-Simon.

One of the leading jazz artists from Latin America and perhaps best known as a member of the SF Jazz Collective, award-winning Venezuelan composer and pianist Edward Simon makes good use of both his jazz chops and his Latin background on his latest release, Las Femeninas, Songs of Latin American Women, which features jewels from the Latin American songbook—all by female songwriters—in exquisite jazz settings. In addition to those songs, Simon’s Latino Soy suite graces the album with three original compositions. Simon’s trio, with Reuben Rogers on bass and Adam Cruz on drums, will bring that music to the Outpost this week, along with two guest artists, Grammy-nominated Mexican vocalist Magos Herrera and Venezuelan percussionist Luis Quintero.

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NuAeen Ensemble Brings Persian Classical Music to Albuquerque in Support of Iranian Protesters

The NuAeen Ensemble comprises four of the world’s most-renowned performers and composers of Persian classical music, all natives of Iran now living in the United States, including Albuquerque’s Sourena Sefati. On Saturday, June 3, to raise awareness of both the ongoing protests in Iran and Persian music, the ensemble will give Albuquerque a rare opportunity to hear that music in its For Freedom Concert at Keller Hall.

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Raven Chacon’s Pulitzer Prize–Winning ‘Voiceless Mass’ Makes Albuquerque Premiere

On Saturday morning, March 4, at the Cathedral of St. John, Friends of Cathedral Music, under the artistic direction of Canon Dr. Maxine Thévenot (organist), will present “Encountering the Spirit,” an ambitious program capped by the Albuquerque premiere of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize–winning Voiceless Mass, by composer Raven Chacon, a member of the Diné nation who has deep roots in the metro area.

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Annual Carnaval Celebration Premieres New Album from Frank Leto

With “Carnaval 2023: Homage” set for February 24 and 25 at the NHCC, Frank and Pilar Leto deliver their 18th production celebrating Carnaval with original music and dance. This year, they are paying tribute to the couples who deeply influenced them, such as their friends Airto Moreira and Flora Purim, and Frank is releasing a studio album, Homage, featuring songs that have graced their Carnaval productions over the years.

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Raquel Z Rivera, Fidel González, and Arnaldo Acosta Coax Rain with Song

Fidel González and Raquel Z Rivera. Photo by Musically Speaking.

With New Mexico’s abundance of sun, heat, and wind, and its scarcity of water, agriculture here challenges even the most experienced farmers. They need all the help they can get. With her single “Tlalok San Ysidro” (available here), songwriter Raquel Z Rivera (vocals) offers a musical incantation for rain, with help from Fidel González (stringed concha, percussion, and vocals) and Arnaldo Acosta (percussion). This weekend, the song will be sung at the annual San Ysidro Day celebration, which blesses the acequias and invokes the help of San Ysidro Labrador, the patron saint of farmers, and his wife, Maria de la Cabeza, and the saint’s Mexica/Aztec counterpart, Tlalok, the spiritual energy that brings rain, and his wife, Chalchiuhtlicue.

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