Santa Fe Desert Chorale

Since its founding in 1982, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale has become one of the most successful choral ensembles in the U.S., with performances and recordings that reflect its Mountain West origins and surroundings. The chorale was founded by longtime conductor Lawrence "Larry" Bandfield, who saw an opening in that arts-oriented city for a high-quality choral ensemble. Bandfield served as the group's first music director, serving in that capacity until 1998. From 1999 to 2004 the director was Dennis Shrock, and from 2005 to 2007 Linda Mack. Since 2009 the music director has been Joshua Habermann, who has also directed the Dallas Symphony Chorus. The chorale offers summer and holiday concert seasons. It has also (since 2002) maintained a children's program, and in 2011 a new Desert Chorale II program was established, combining students from the University of New Mexico with singers from the parent group. Unlike many other small choral ensembles, the chorale has a high rate of turnover, with about one-third of the singers joining the group in any given year. Auditions are held in New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas. The Santa Fe Desert Chorale performs music from various eras but has often focused on Hispanic and Native American composers and repertories, both well represented in New Mexico. Since 1987 they have premiered more than 20 new works, including, in 2012, Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate's Visions of a Child. The Chorale has released more than a dozen CDs, mainly contemporary in content and often linked together by spiritual concepts or by recording in a specific local venue, as in 2007's Live from Loretto Chapel, recorded in Santa Fe. In 2018 the Santa Fe Desert Chorale released The Road Home, their first recording on the Avie label. The group has given concerts in Chicago, Dallas, Fort Worth, Los Angeles, and Oklahoma City, as well as at the 2015 American Choral Directors National Conference in Utah.
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