NMPhil’s Third Coffee Concert of the Season Features Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals

The program will offer a vibrant blend of Baroque brilliance, French courtly charm, and playful orchestral fantasy designed to awaken both mind and spirit.

The New Mexico Philharmonic invites audiences to begin their day with elegance, imagination, and a touch of whimsy at the third Coffee Concert of the season on March 13. The program will offer a vibrant blend of Baroque brilliance, French courtly charm, and playful orchestral fantasy designed to awaken both mind and spirit.

This thoughtfully curated morning performance will open with Johann Sebastian Bach’s Concerto for Two Keyboards in C Major, BWV 1061, a work celebrated for its sparkling interplay between soloists. Rather than treating the keyboards as rivals, Bach will allow them to converse — trading phrases, echoing ideas, and building intricate layers of counterpoint that feel both mathematically precise and joyfully spontaneous. The result will be music that dances with energy while showcasing the technical mastery of the performers.

From there, the program will shift into the refined world of French Baroque ballet through a suite derived from Jean-Baptiste Lully’s Le triomphe de l’amour. Originally composed to celebrate royal splendor and the many facets of love, the music will bring stately rhythms, elegant ornamentation, and expressive nuance to the sanctuary. Listeners can expect a sonic portrait of Versailles-style grandeur, where grace and drama coexist in perfect balance. Even without staging or choreography, the music alone will evoke images of lavish costumes, formal gardens, and theatrical pageantry.

The concert will conclude with one of classical music’s most beloved crowd-pleasers: Camille Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals. This whimsical suite will transform the orchestra into a musical zoo, capturing the personalities of lions, swans, elephants, birds, and even a few mischievous human performers. Playful humor will run throughout the piece, from lumbering bass lines to sparkling piano passages that dart like fish through water. For seasoned concertgoers, it's a reminder of music’s capacity for wit and wonder; for newcomers, it serves as an inviting gateway into the world of orchestral sound. The work’s charm and accessibility will make it especially appealing to families, students, and anyone who believes classical music should be as entertaining as it is enriching.

Leading the performance will be GRAMMY® Award-winning conductor Roberto Minczuk, whose international reputation continues to bring distinction to New Mexico’s cultural landscape. Since he was appointed Music Director in 2017, Minczuk has elevated the orchestra’s artistic profile while maintaining a strong connection to community audiences. His concurrent leadership of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra as Music Director Laureate and the Theatro Municipal Orchestra of São Paulo underscores his global influence, as does his role as Conductor Emeritus of the Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira.

Recent seasons will have seen Minczuk conducting a remarkable range of repertoire across the world, from a complete Mahler symphony cycle in Canada to major operatic productions in Brazil. His guest appearances will include engagements with organizations such as the Cincinnati Opera, the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, and the Daejeon Philharmonic. He will also continue collaborations with European and American ensembles, including the Orchestre National de Lille and the New York City Ballet, reflecting a career that bridges continents and musical traditions.

Earlier milestones will have included performances with the Israel Symphony Orchestra and Argentina’s renowned Teatro Colón, where he conducted both the resident Orquesta Estable del Teatro Colón and the Teatro Colón Philharmonic. Such experience will inform his approach in Albuquerque, where audiences have come to expect interpretations that are both technically polished and emotionally compelling.

Coffee Concerts have become a cherished tradition for the Philharmonic, offering a relaxed daytime alternative to evening performances. The earlier start time will allow attendees to enjoy world-class music without navigating nighttime schedules. The welcoming atmosphere will encourage newcomers to experience orchestral music for the first time.

Single tickets for the concert will range from $31.11 to $53.11, with students admitted for $10 or free with a Sound Card, making the event accessible to a broad cross-section of the community. Tickets will be available through the Philharmonic website, and advance online purchase will be strongly recommended due to limited seating.