Plan ahead for the spring semester Performing Arts Series! The semester will be kicked off with Footloose, a musical in which a boy who, upon moving to a small Midwestern town, finds that music and dancing have been banned. However, he and his classmates are determined to have a senior prom and won’t let the alleged “sin” of dancing stand in their way. Footloose will be performed on Wednesday, February 11th.

  Footloose will be followed by the Carolina Chocolate Drops, a group of up-and-coming stringband musicians from the South. Their music focuses on the fiddle and the banjo, and the rich traditional music of the antebellum Carolinas. This band will perform on February 27th.

  In March, two Irish bands, Beoga and Gráda, will be visiting NMT. Beoga has been nominate by Irish Music Magazine for the best traditional newcomer’s award, and have also released an album entitled A Lovely Madness, which was a top album of 2004. The band released another album, Mischief, which was released in 2007 and also went on to top the Irish music charts. Gráda was formed in 2001, and is an alternative/acoustic/folk band. Their latest album, Cloudy Day Navigation, was released in 2007, has received critical acclaim by numerous Irish music magazines, and appeared in the Top 10 charts numerous times.

  Also in March is the Cello Quintets of the Presidential Music Series. The program will include music by Glazunov and Shubert, and the musicians will be violist Willy Sucre, violinists Megan Holland and Kerri Lay, and cellists James Holland and Dana Winograd. The Cello Quintets will be performed on the Monday, March 30th.

  April will bring two performances to NMT. On April 7th, the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra will play, then the Golden Dragon Acrobats will perform on April 30th. The New Mexico Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1932, is nationally recognized, and has over 100 full and part-time musicians who are currently led by Roger Melone. The program for April performance is Brahms’ First. Performers will be Guillermo Figueroa as the conductor and Krzysztof Zimowski on the violin. The program will include Gabrieli: Sonate, Szymanowski: Violin Concerto No. 1, and  Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C minor.

  The Golden Dragon Acrobats are the premier Chinese acrobatic touring company. Their “award-winning acrobatics, traditional dance, spectacular costumes, ancient and contemporary music and theatrical techniques” have made them popular all over the world. Their US debut was in 2005 on Broadway, and they won two New York Drama Desk award nominations. The Golden Dragon Acrobats are the only Chinese acrobatic company touring year-round in the United States. The Acrobats have performed in 65 countries, 5 continents, and 48 US states.

  The month of May will bring Al Hurricane and Al Hurricane Jr. to our campus. Al Hurricane, the “legend of New Mexico”, was born in 1936 and has had his band for over 50 years. He has recorded 30 albums, the latest of which, “Que Viva El Godfather”, was released in 2003. Al has had many #1 hits all over the Southwest and has toured all over the world, including Spain and Argentina. Al Hurricane Jr. is Hurricane’s eldest son. He grew up in Albuquerque and recorded his first song at age 14. His song “Flore de las Flores” has been voted the #1 song 10 years running on 89.1 KANW-FM. He has recorded and released 6 solo albums and has done 3 albums with his father.

  If you have any suggestions for performers, you can email or talk to Ronna Kalish, the performing arts director. There will also be a selection committee meeting in January during which students can voice their opinions about performances they want to see. Remember, all of these amazing performances will be free to NMT students! You can pick up your tickets at the bookstore.