OUR MISSION

The Santa Fe Concert Association has been bringing world-class music, dance, and theater to Santa Fe since 1937. Originally a member of Columbia Artists Management’s fabled Community Concerts network, the Association became an independent presenting organization in 1970. Today, it presents or produces a wide range of events including classical music recitals, chamber music and orchestral ensembles, popular performers, opera and operetta companies, Broadway shows, dance companies ranging from folk and ballet to modern and experimental, circus ensembles, and an ongoing series of youth concerts and educational activities. The organization’s performing home is the Lensic Performing Arts Center in downtown Santa Fe, a 1931 theater now beautifully restored.

Conductor, pianist, and composer Joseph Illick became SFCA Executive and Artistic Director in May 2008. Since then, the group’s programs have expanded to include vocal recitals by rising young international stars and chamber music concerts in intimate venues such as St. Francis Auditorium in the New Mexico Museum of Art. Illick has also inaugurated a lecture series devoted to great figures in music such as Verdi, Mozart, and Chopin. Annual gala special events include Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve concerts at the Lensic.

The 2009-10 performer roster includes The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields octet, the male vocal ensemble Chanticleer, violinists Midori and Sarah Chang, pianists Andrew van Oeyen and Adam Nieman, cellists Wendy Warner and Pieter Wispelwey, the women’s vocal quartet Anonymous 4, the Irish Guard and Royal Scottish Regiment, the Moscow Festival Ballet, and Ballet Folklorico de Mexico. Current outreach activities include regular youth concerts, each attended by hundreds of students from Santa Fe elementary and middle schools, and Bravo! Kids, which provides public performance opportunities for talented young Santa Fe musicians and dancers.

The Santa Fe Concert Association is a nonprofit organization registered in the state of New Mexico. Its current funders include The City of Santa Fe Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, New Mexico Arts, The McCune Charitable Foundation, The New Mexico Community Foundation, The Santa Fe Community Foundation, and hundreds of individual donors.