In Tuesday’s (8/6) Albuquerque Journal, Winthrop Quigley writes about the New Mexico Philharmonic, formed in 2011 after the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra folded, “largely because most of the NMSO musicians, led by some prescient orchestra members, decided that failure was not an option. Against some long odds … the musicians who put together the Phil did a lot of things right, beginning by recognizing reality…. From a three-musician nucleus, a board of directors was formed. It met weekly for two to three hours. There was no staff.… Some musicians needed help paying their bills … so a relief fund was created with donations from unionized orchestras and from local trade unions. ‘We recognized what we couldn’t do, so we’d find somebody in the community who could,’ [cellist Carla] Lehmeier-Tatum said.… Two days after the NMSO bankruptcy filing, Lehmeier-Tatum was in Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry’s office. Berry, an old trombone player, told her that a great city simply has to have an orchestra. He hosted a black-tie, fundraising gala…. The Phil performed some of the old NMSO’s engagements in its first few months, including a zoo concert that attracted 2,600 people. The current season includes more than 30 concerts,” and the NMSO has started an afterschool music program.
Posted August 7, 2013
Pictured: Linda Bovin, left, and Nicolle Maniaci, second from left, of the New Mexico Philharmonic rehearse at Popejoy Hall in December 2011. (Marla Brose/Albuquerque Journal)
