Santa Fe Opera Free or Cheap Events

Santa Fe Opera season is of course a highlight of the year in the New Mexico arts calendar, but if ticket prices are beyond your budget, here are some ways you can still enjoy opera on the cheap for the rest of the summer 2010 season.

Opera Apprentice Concerts at Encantado Resort, Santa Fe

Opera apprentices present an evening of operatic pieces and show tunes, starting with a reception with cash bar starting at 5 pm, followed by apprentice performances at 6 pm.

• Thursday, July 29 (tonight!)
• Wednesday, August 4

Encantado Resort is located at 198 State Road 592 in Tesuque, just north of Santa Fe.

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Santa Fe Opera Apprentices at Vanessie of Santa Fe Restaurant

Apprentice singers perform in the piano bar with a $10 cover charge per person. (And 20% of food and drink proceeds go to the Opera.)

• Thursday, July 29 (tonight!):  two 45- minute sets at 6:30 pm and 8:30 pm
• Saturday July 31:  two 45-minute sets at 6:30 pm and 8:30 pm
• Sunday August 1: 6:30 pm, as this is the finale evening it’s a two-hour set, and everyone apparently joins in with the apprentices on familiar opera pieces and musical numbers.

Seating is first-come, first-served for the bar (no reservations). If you want to dine too, reserve with Vanessie, located at 434 West San Francisco Street, Santa Fe

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Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Scenes

Today’s apprentice singers are the opera stars of the future, and they take to the stage for two concerts produced by apprentice technicians, with heavily discounted ticket prices. Both evenings feature fully staged scenes from popular operas, and should be accessible events for a family visit.

• Sunday August 15 at 8:30 pm
• Sunday August 22 at 8:30 pm
• Price: $15 for adults and $5 for children aged 6 to 17.

You need to book tickets for Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Scenes concerts.

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Free Insider Day Backstage Tours

If you missed our earlier mention of the Santa Fe Opera Insider Days, you can still join these free Saturday morning talks and backstage tours until August 28 – they even provide free refreshments! See our previous post on the Santa Fe Opera Free Insider Days for all the details.

Note: I was TRYING to put little musical note symbols in between these items instead of asterisks to make it purty, but my HTML coding doesn’t want to play. (And you can’t just cut and paste from the Word symbols.) I’m stumped. Anyone got a clue on how I do that? No prize but plenty of gratitude!

–Tania

Santa Fe Opera Free Insider Days

Free Santa Fe Opera summer talks and backstage tours, and they even throw in the coffee and muffins! Until August 28, 2010.

Did you know about the Santa Fe Opera Insider Days? If you did, why didn’t you tell me? On Saturday mornings this summer you can turn up at Santa Fe Opera – I love that beautiful building high on the hill – and enjoy a free coffee and muffins reception hosted by Opera Guild members, followed by a talk by an Opera staff member, then a backstage tour.

Yep, you’ve got to get up early, but it’ll be worth it for the free Santa Fe Opera Insider Day experience, and of course the views are just gorgeous.  See the list of weekly speakers here.

• When: Saturday mornings till August 28, 2010
• Time: 8:30 am coffee and muffins, 9 am talk then tour
• Where: meet at The Santa Fe Opera Box Office
• Price: FREE!

If you’d rather go on a weekday, regular Santa Fe Opera backstage tours take place each day at 9 am Monday to Saturday until August 28, 2010, with a walk around the costume shop, scene shop and other areas to learn how they put the whole spectacle together. For that you pay $5, children 17 and under go free. Again, you meet at the box offices and you don’t need to book in advance.

Santa Fe Opera directions: it’s located at Exit 168 of US Highway 84/285 seven miles north of Santa Fe.

–Tania

Santa Fe Opera Free Events

The Santa Fe Opera is rolling out a slew of free and cheap events over next couple of weeks, which is music to the ears of opera lovers!

SFO presents the world premiere of “The Letter” on Saturday, July 25 (2009), but even the cheapest tickets — at $81 — might be a little steep for some people. However, you can still enjoy three free or cheap events related to the opera:

• Saturday, 7/25, at 10:00am at the Lensic Theater (211 W. San Francisco St, Santa Fe), “The Letter” composer Paul Moravec, librettist Terry Teachout, and moderator John Kennedy lead a symposium about the opera. FREE admission; general seating.
• Tuesday, 7/28, at 6:30pm in Stieren Orchestra Hall (on the SFO campus), Santa Fe New Music plays Moravec’s The Time Gallery and Tempest Fantasy. $10 general admission tickets.
• Sunday, 8/2, at 4:00pm at Collected Works bookstore (202 Galisteo St, Santa Fe), Jonathan Richards reads the Somerset Maugham short story that inspired the opera. FREE.

Also, unrelated to “The Letter,” the Santa Fe Opera Apprentices perform in three FREE concerts over the next few weeks:

• Sunday, 7/26, at 3:00pm is the Albuquerque Community Concert, Faith Lutheran Church, 10000 Spain Rd NE, Albuquerque.
• Thursday, 7/30, at 11:30pm is the Santa Fe Community Concert, Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis, 131 Cathedral Pl, Santa Fe. In honor of Santa Fe’s 400th anniversary, this performance will feature a program of sacred music.
• Wednesday, 7/29, and Thursday, 8/13, at 6:00pm both days are the “Courtyard Concerts” at Encantado Resort, 198 State Road 592, Santa Fe. No cover, complimentary champagne, cash bar.

The Santa Fe Opera campus is located seven miles north of Santa Fe on the west side of US Highway 84/285.

–Elizabeth Hanes

50% off The Elixir of Love at Santa Fe Opera

Booya! at reader Carissa for shouting out this deal!

SFO is rolling out the deals this summer! Hot on the heels of their 40% off promotion for New Mexico residents, here’s another fantastic offer: 50% off tickets to see the opera Elixir of Love on the 4th of July!

Visit this special login page and enter Promo Code 0901Elixir. You’ll get half price Santa Fe Opera tickets. It’s that easy!

This discount applies to all ticket levels, which means you can get Front Orchestra seats for just $89! Or, if that’s still too rich for you, get Section 9 seating for a mere $41. Here’s a secret: since nearly all of the discounted tickets are sold out, your best chance is to shoot for Section 3 tickets at $51. Affordable price and great seats!

Say it with us: half price SFO tickets. 50% off opera tickets. Half off Santa Fe Opera tickets.

You’ll probably never have another opportunity to experience world-class opera at these prices, so don’t delay. This is the perfect opportunity to exposure your children to a cultural event like no other!

About the opera (from Santa Fe Opera’s promotional material): “The Elixir of Love is certain to be the ‘feel-good’ hit of the Opera’s 2009 season, in the tradition of La Belle Helene, Beatrice and Benedict, and Cinderella. This romantic comedy, about a shy young man who wins his dream girl thanks to a large dose of a ‘miracle elixir,’ features glorious music, a dynamic young cast, and a charming new production.”

The discounted opera tickets apply to the performance on Saturday, July 4 (2009), at 9:00pm only. Forego the fireworks this year and check out a thrill of a different kind!

The Santa Fe Opera is located seven miles north of Santa Fe. Take I-25 north to Exit 168 and follow the signs. More directions and map here.

–Elizabeth Hanes

40% off Santa Fe Opera Tix for NM Residents

If you’ve never attended the Santa Fe Opera before, here’s your chance! Through June 24 only, New Mexico residents can purchase SFO tickets at 40% off.

Four operas are available under this offer:

• The Elixir of Love by Donizetti
• Don Giovanni by Mozart
• The Letter, an Opera Noir
• Alcest by Gluck

Each of these operas runs for five to eight days, so you have a wide range of dates to choose from. It sounds like the SFO is making discounted tickets available in every section, so you can choose your ticket level. However, the discounted Santa Fe Opera tickets are extremely limited, so you should grab yours quickly, before they’re gone.

You can purchase up to 4 of the 40% off SFO tickets. Individual tickets normally run about $30 to $180, which means you can obtain Santa Fe Opera tickets for about $18 to $108 — what a bargain for world-class opera!

The only way to obtain these 40% off Santa Fe Opera tickets is to call 800-280-4654 and mention the “Albuquerque invitation” offer. Remember, this offer expires 6/24/09!

The Santa Fe Opera is located just north of Santa Fe, on US Highway 84/285.

–Elizabeth Hanes

Up to $60 off Santa Fe Opera Tickets

Want to see La Traviata (plus two other operas by the world famous Santa Fe Opera) on the cheap? We’ve got you covered!

For an extremely limited time, SFO is offering “La Traviata Trios.” The deal is this: order tickets for La Traviata plus two other performances and save up to $60 off the price you would pay to see each opera individually. For example: the usual cost for Section 3 seats to three operas would run $306. However, through the La Traviata Trios deal, you can get the whole shebang for just $246.

We’re pretty sure they never say “shebang” in operas.

If you choose tickets in other sections, the overall cost is even lower. Besides La Traviata, the other opera choices included in this deal are: The Elixir of Love, Don Giovanni, The Letter, and Alceste.

But you gotta hurry. This deal is good only through Friday, May 22 (2009) or until the deal sells out! Plus, you can only get this offer by phone, so call 800-280-4654 or 505-986-5900 to purchase your package.

–Elizabeth Hanes

Free Kids Variety Show: Outpost Performance Space

What a great way to spend part of a Saturday afternoon with your kids!

The Outpost Performance Space hosts a Kids Variety Show this Saturday, May 9 (2009), at 1:00pm. Featured acts include a performance by the Santa Fe Opera’s Student-based Opera Program under the direction of Kristin Lore and John Bartlitt, plus a performance by the Outpost African Drumming class, taught by Laryea Addy, and more.

You can even call Outpost at 268-0044 to have them book a slot for your child in their next variety show.

The show is free to all, but please note: all adults must be accompanied by a kid. No exceptions!

Outpost Performance Space is located at 210 Yale SE, just south of UNM. In Albuquerque, natch.

–Elizabeth Hanes

FREE CONCERT: SANTA FE OPERA SPRING TOUR AT THE KIMO THEATRE

Each year, the Santa Fe Opera takes its show on the road. This year, they’re performing 11 free concerts around the southwest, and Albuquerque is lucky to have landed one of them.

This free concert features soprano Ashley Logan, tenor Jon-Michael Ball, and baritone Michael Nyby. These SFO apprentice singers will perform an adaptation of “The Elixir of Love” (an opera for children) during the first half of the program, with the remainder comprised of popular arias and favorite popular songs, such as “Shenandoah.”

This one-night-only free concert will be held Wednesday, April 8, 2009, at 7:30pm. The free tickets will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis at the door, so arrive early.

Free shows at the historic Kimo Theatre are scarcer than hen’s teeth, so don’t miss this opportunity! Even though it’s a school night, it’s the perfect chance to expose your children to opera in a world-class performing environment.

And for our friends reading from elsewhere in New Mexico, these free Santa Fe Opera Concerts will also be held in Farmington (April 5), Alamogordo (April 16), Clovis (April 17), Taos (April 19), Santa Fe (April 20), Socorro (April 23), Hobbs (April 26), and Roswell (April 28).

The Kimo Theatre is located at 423 Central Ave NW, Albuquerque.

–Elizabeth Hanes