t h e  E n s e m b l e


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musical director LINDA RANEY
director of the Santa Fe Women's Ensemble since 1988, is very active as a choral director, teacher, and organist. As director of music and the organist at the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Fe, she leads a diverse choral and handbell program for adults as well as the Recital Series. This season the church will be receiving a new thirty-stop mechanical-action pipe organ from C. B. Fisk of Glouchester, MA. Linda is also the choral director of the Santa Fe Symphony Chorus. She completed her undergraduate and graduate studies at Indiana University, attaining a doctor of music degree. She has also studied in Italy, France and England. She has attended conducting master classes with Helmut Rilling, Andre Thomas, Renee Clausen, Anton Armstrong, and Rodney Eichenberry. Linda’s love of women’s music began in college. Poulenc’s Litanies for the Black Virgin and Ceremony of Carols by Benjamin Britten introduced her to the unique timbre of women’s voices. Today’s vast literature for women with profound texts set in a multitude of styles has kept this passion alive for the past almost 20 years.


s i n g e r s
Lynda Abshire, second soprano, joined the Women’s Ensemble in 2006, having sung with the Fort Worth Opera Chorus, the Atlanta Symphony Chorus, the Arlington Choral Society, the Austin Civic Choir, the Las Cruces Chamber Chorale, and Master Singers at NMSU. Another passion for Lynda is early music; she’s played harpsichord and recorder in groups from Las Cruces, El Paso, Chama, and Albuquerque. A member of the American Recorder Society, she was instrumental in starting the Rio Chama Early Music Society.

Linda Rice Beck, second soprano, also sings with the Santa Fe Symphony Chorus and First Presbyterian Chancel Choir. She is a published composer and member of ASCAP. Her “Pié Jesu” was included in the repertoire of the Corofest Umbria Music Festival in Assisi, Italy, in 2004, and “O Sacrum Convivium” has been performed nationally, and locally under the direction of Dennis Shrock. Linda’s “Prayer of Saint Francis” will be performed by SFWE on its concert tour of Italy in June.

Mickey Bond, first alto, joined the Women's Ensemble in 2006. She has sung with the Longy Chamber Singers in Cambridge, Massachusetts, under Lorne Cooke DeVaron, and in Santa Fe with New Mexico Pro Coro. She is currently singing with Canticum Novum and has studied voice with Margaret Pettengill. A painter of expressionist landscapes, Mickey is the mother of two teenage children.

Barbara Doern Drew, singing both first and second soprano, is celebrating her 25th year with the Santa Fe Women’s Ensemble. Her choral experience has varied from small female ensembles to large mixed-voice groups with full orchestra. Barbara is the mother of two teenagers, the associate editor of Sun Monthly magazine, a writer, and a professional tarot reader, bringing ancient wisdom to assist in our modern challenges. She loves sharing the adventure of life with her husband, Walter.

Gwen Gilligan, second alto, joined the Women’s Ensemble in 1983 and, except for a brief hiatus when her children were young, has been with the group ever since. She has lived in Santa Fe for 35 years and has sung with many choral groups here. Her two children grew up in Santa Fe, attending many Ensemble concerts; Johanna now lives in New Orleans, and Patrick lives in Albuquerque. Gwen is also a longtime real estate broker with Santa Fe Properties.

Sue Katz, first alto, has been with the Women’s Ensemble since 2005. She has had the opportunity to sing with Canticum Novum recently. In the past, she sang with Santa Fe Pro Coro and the Santa Fe Symphony Chorus. Sue has been a family physician with La Familia Medical Center for 17 years and is the medical director of the Villa Therese Clinic.

Christine Keightley second alto, an early member of the Women’s Ensemble, rejoined the group in 2006. She and her husband moved back to New Mexico after 20 years in California, where she sang with Los Robles Master Chorale and the Chamber Singers in Moorpark, and Cuesta Master Chorale in San Luis Obispo. A former speech pathologist, Chris is retired and also sings with the Santa Fe Symphony Chorus. She is on leave from the Ensemble for the fall 2007 season.

Julie Kirk, first soprano, rejoined the Women's Ensemble in 2004, having sung with the group from 1986 to 1990. She also sings with the Zia Singers and Canticum Novum. Julie is co-owner of Frontier Frames and enjoys painting in watercolor and wood carving. She is a volunteer with the Library for the Blind and Physically Disabled, recording her seventh book, and is a member and past president of the Santa Fe Civitan Club.

Mary Mittnacht, first soprano, joined the Women’s Ensemble in 2007, having moved to Santa Fe from New York City in 2006. She also sings with the Symphony Chorus. Her choral experience includes the New York Choral Society (NYC) and the Back Bay Chorale, Harvard University Choir, and Radcliffe Pitches (Boston area). Mary works part time for the NY-based human resources consultancy Towers Perrin. She is thrilled to be in Santa Fe with husband Stewart and their menagerie of pets.

Tina Ossorgin, joining the Women’s Ensemble this year as alto, has lived in Santa Fe 31 years. In 1988 she participated in honoring the Baptism of Russia by singing with the SF Millennium Choir. She has sung at SFCC, at UNM under Bradley Ellingboe, as well as with the Early Music Ensemble. She has attended various workshops on Russian Orthodox liturgical music over the years and sings regularly while conducting the choir at St. Juliana of Lazarevo Russian Orthodox Church.

Susan Phillips, first alto, is a lifelong singer and has sung with the Women’s Ensemble for 15 years. She has also sung with the UNM women’s chorus, Las Cantantes, and the UNM Symphony Chorus with conductor/composer Brad Ellingboe. She is a clinical exercise physiologist by profession and has recently assumed new responsibilities at her late husband's business, Reynolds Insurance, Inc. She enjoys pilates, walking and hiking with the dogs, golf, traveling, and reading.

Sarah weiler, first alto, is in her first season with the Women’s Ensemble. She was very active in North Dakota and Minnesota, both as a soloist and member of the Fargo-Moorhead Chamber Chorale. Sarah studied voice at Minnesota State University Moorhead, then attended the University of Cincinnati and received dual masters degrees in arts administration. She is currently working in development at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and is excited to join the music community of Santa Fe.

Marty Noss Wilder, second alto, has sung with the Women’s Ensemble since 1983. She has a BA in music from Stanford University, where she sang with the Stanford University Chorus and the Memorial Church Choir. Locally, she sang with the Chorus of Santa Fe (now the Symphony Chorus). Marty and her husband, Richard, own Wilder Landscaping, and their son, Andrew, is a freshman at Santa Fe Secondary School. She is a licensed massage therapist and a registered polarity therapy practitioner.

commissioned composer
DR. SAMUEL GORDON
Dr. Samuel Gordon is director of choral studies and professor of music at the University of Akron, and he has been engaged in both singing and conducting careers in the United States and abroad, while also actively composing. He received his BS in music from the Pennsylvania State University and his MM in conducting and DMus in voice from Indiana University. He was the tenor in the National Gallery of Art Vocal Arts Quartet from 1985 to 2003, also enjoying a choral conducting residency there from 1988 to 1996. He is the recipient of the Studio Lauda Award at the International Early Music Festival in Zadar, Yugoslavia, and was the first-prize winner (in several categories) at the prestigious Concorso Polifonico “Guido d’Arezzo” (Italy), the International Musical Eisteddfod (Wales), and the Welsh National Eisteddfod, being the first American to win the Welsh competition. Laureate of the Fiat Conducting Prize, he was also given the Trimillenial Medal by the city of Cadiz, Spain, and the Bronze Horreo in Orviedo, Spain.
Performances at international festivals have included the Salzburg Festival, the Rheingau Musik Festival, the Bregenz International Festival, the Llubljana Festival, Mozaik (Yugoslavia), the Flanders Festival, the Holland Festival, the Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds (Italy), the Ambler Festival and the Haydn Festival of a Lifetime at the Kennedy Center. He has performed for the BBC, Eurovision and National Radio and Television throughout Europe. As guest conductor, he has led the internationally acclaimed National Gallery of Art Orchestra (Washington, D.C.), the Taipei Philharmonic, the Pennsylvania Ballet Orchestra, the Perugia Chamber Orchestra and the Canton Symphony, and last spring he conducted our Santa Fe Symphony and Chorus in Dvorak’s Stabat Mater. He has performed concerts of vocal chamber music with the Vocal Arts Quartet at the Louvre in Paris and at the Belvedere Museum in Vienna. He has been featured soloist with the orchestras of Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, St. Louis, El Paso, the National Gallery of Art and the National Symphony.
Dr. Gordon has been guest clinician for the American Guild of Organists and the Music Educators National Conference, and he has led workshops and festival choirs in thirty-five states, throughout Europe and internationally. He has been a member of the international jury for the Anglo-International Festival (Coventry, England), Concerts at Sea and the Festival of the Americas (Nassau, Bahamas). He is the artistic director of the Singers Companye, a professional chamber choir, and VOCI, a community choir based in Canton, Ohio. He is also artistic director of Corofest Italia, a music festival based in Assisi, Italy. In July of 2006, Dr. Gordon and the University of Akron Choir were finalists in the Seghizzi International Choral Competition in Gorizia, Italy; the ensemble returned with a first prize. Also in 2006, he conducted the Mozart Coronation Mass with over three hundred singers from thirteen countries along with the Salzburg Dom Orchestra at the Salzburg Cathedral as part of the International Mozart Birthday Celebration in Salzburg, Austria.
As a composer, Dr. Gordon’s works have been performed internationally. In 2006 the Santa Fe Women’s Ensemble premiered his Motets for the Ladymass. He has recorded for Koch International Classics and Telarc International, and he has his own published choral music series with National Music Publishers. His works have been premiered at the National Gallery of Art and the Kennedy Center, both in Washington, D.C. The Washington Post cited his Noel as “the highlight of the program” when sung by the Washington Choral Society at the Kennedy Center.

pianist BILL EPSTEIN

began studying piano at age eight in Linden, New Jersey. Further studies were at the Chicago Musical College and Harvard University. In 2002, Bill moved with his wife, Sheila, to Santa Fe. His work here has included church jobs, playing for eurythmy dance at the Santa Fe Waldorf School, and accompanying Canticum Novum and the Santa Fe Community College Chamber Choir. Bill began accompanying for the Men’s Camerata and the Women’s Ensemble in the fall of 2006.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The Board of Directors
President
 Keytha Jones
Vice President of Development
 Mary Mittnacht
Secretary
 Linda Rice Beck
Treasurer
 Jim Beck
Member
 Julie Kirk