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About OPERA America
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Ambassador Travel Programs
Become an OPERA America Ambassador Circle member and receive invitations
for U.S. and international group travel featuring performances, lectures, panel discussions and special events with artists and fellow patrons. These exclusive travel opportunities are offered to donors who make an annual gift to OPERA America of $1,000 or more.
OPERA America’s Ambassador trips are a popular way to see new and interesting productions while exchanging ideas and best practices with trustees from opera companies across the country. The Ambassador travel program also provides the opportunity to make new friends and renew acquaintances among opera fans like you.
The Santa Fe Opera
Ambassador Circle Activities: August 17 – 20, 2010
You are cordially invited to join us for an Ambassador Circle trip to beautiful Santa Fe and Taos, New Mexico, from August 17 – 20, 2010.
The highlight of the trip is Santa Fe Opera, of course! Three very different performances await us — Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann, Britten’s Albert Herring and Life is a Dream by Lewis Spratlan which is receiving its world premiere at Santa Fe this season. A backstage tour and pre-concert talk and dinner will enhance the opera experience, and from the open-air theater you will witness the unforgettable beauty of the New Mexico landscape.
The itinerary features several museum visits, restaurants chosen for their locally and internationally inspired cuisines and an excursion to Taos with exquisite landscapes along the way. You will have some free time to wander along nearby Canyon Road to view the international art galleries. A Santa Fe visit is a truly special, memorable and for opera lovers, cherished experience.
Getting from the International Sunport Airport in Albuquerque to The Eldorado Hotel where we will be staying should be convenient. Santa Fe is only one hour northeast via rental car or shuttle bus. You will be pleased to learn that direct flights to Santa Fe were recently introduced by American Airlines from several hub cities. Logistical information is attached along with the full itinerary of events we have planned.
OPERA America has arranged a special rate, available only until July 18, 2010 at The Eldorado Hotel and Spa.
Please return registration form by May 17, 2010 by e-mail, mail or by fax to:
Jonah Nigh, Assistant Director of Development
OPERA America
330 Seventh Avenue, 16th Floor
New York, NY 10001
Telephone: 212-796-8620, ext. 222
Fax: 212-796-8631
E-mail: JNigh@operaamerica.org
Ambassador Circle Itinerary
Tuesday, August 17
3:00 p.m.: Check in at the Eldorado Hotel
The Eldorado Hotel & Spa is one of Santa Fe’s most awarded and critically lauded hotels. Conveniently located in the central plaza, many of the delights of the city are within walking distance. During your stay, you are invited to bask in the Eldorado’s luxurious amenities, such as a natural Native American-influenced therapeutic spa with an herbal Eucalyptus steam room and a rooftop pool.
4:30 p.m.: Meet in the lobby of the Eldorado
We will assemble in the hotel lobby, meet fellow travelers and be driven to En Cantado Resort for dinner. Located in a beautiful and recently opened resort about 30 minutes outside Santa Fe, the restaurant offers outstanding fresh seasonal cuisine in an intimate setting with stunning mountain views. Charles MacKay, general director of The Santa Fe Opera, will join us for dinner as our special guest.
8:30 p.m.: The Santa Fe Opera: The Tales of Hoffmann
Following dinner, we head to Santa Fe Opera. Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann is based on the fantastical tales of author E.T.A. Hoffmann, a seminal figure in the German Romantic era, who is also the central character in the opera. Director Christopher Alden comments, “The new production will evoke that era and the reaction to the rapid advance of industrialization, which was at the root of the Romantic Movement. The battle between the artist Hoffmann and the industrialist Lindorf over possession of that glittering prize, opera star Stella, will be played out in a dreamily transforming drawing room of the time, populated by the fanciful figures of Hoffmann's excitable imagination.” This is the company’s first production of the composer’s operatic masterwork. Paul Groves performs in the title role and Erin Wall sings all four heroines. Stephen Lord makes his Santa Fe conducting debut. Our private coach will escort the group back to the Eldorado following the performance.
Wednesday, August 18
10:00 a.m.: Museum of Spanish Colonial Art
With over 3,000 objects, the collections are the most comprehensive compilation of Spanish Colonial art of their kind, dating from the Middle Ages to the New Millennium. Among the various media featured are santos (painted and sculpted images of saints,) textiles, tinwork, silverwork, goldwork, ironwork, straw appliqué, ceramics, furniture, books and more. All combined, the collections represent the artistic history and ongoing evolution of Hispano culture in New Mexico while firmly establishing its important place within the global arts landscape. The Museum of Spanish Colonial Art is housed in a building that is part of the legacy of the acclaimed late architect John Gaw Meem.
Noon — 1:30 p.m.: Lunch at Restaurant Martin
Chef Rios has been repeatedly honored for his innovative and pleasing combinations of flavors, colors and presentation. His unique style emphasizes fresh, local produce and organic meats and poultry, and reflects not only Southwestern and Asian influences but also his classical training in French technique. Featured in the 2008 season of Iron Chef America, Rios is the only New Mexico chef to have won the Robert Mondavi Culinary Award of Excellence. Chef Rios has been named Chef of the Year by the City of Santa Fe, has been named Chef of the Year twice each by the State of New Mexico and the New Mexico Lodging Association, and was featured in the Bon Appétit Magazine cover story "The American Restaurant: Our Favorite Places."
4:30 — 5:15 p.m.: Conversation with Lewis Spratlan
Marc A. Scorca will lead a conversation with Lewis Spratlan, composer of Life is a Dream, which will explore his life, musical influences and inspiration for the new work. There will be time for questions and answers following the interview.
5:30 p.m.: Dinner at The Compound
Chef Mark Kiffin, James Beard Foundation's Best Chef of the Southwest 2005, revitalized The Compound Restaurant, a renowned restaurant at the cultural center of Santa Fe. The Compound, remembered for its distinctive style and elegance since the 1960s, has been rejuvenated with the energy and excitement that made it a leading destination in its early years. The Compound has been recreated with a modern menu layering bold flavors based on historic culinary traditions. A recognized leader in Southwestern cuisine, Kiffin has chosen to create and focus his menu around the true regional ingredients brought to the Southwest United States by the Spaniards.
8:30 p.m.: The Santa Fe Opera: Albert Herring
Albert Herring, Britten’s 1947 chamber opera, is a comedy in three acts. It concerns a small English town whose big civic celebration is the annual May Day Festival and the inevitable complications that arise. Its endearing characters are archetypes that can be found throughout English literature. Britten’s music is reminiscent of Gilbert and Sullivan, with echoes of Richard Strauss. There is even a quote from Tristan and Isolde in Act II. It is said that Britten’s contemporaries saw in the title character a satirical self-portrait of the composer himself. Alek Shrader is Albert Herring; Sir Andrew Davis makes his Santa Fe Opera conducting debut. Our private coach will escort the group back to the Eldorado following the performance.
Thursday, August 19
The morning is free to wander around Santa Fe on your own.
9:30 a.m.: Optional visit to Georgia O’Keefe Studio in Abiquiu for a private tour (A private coach will be provided for those who register for this event.)
The Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation conducts limited private tours of Miss O’Keeffe’s house and studio which show how landscape and environment shaped the artist’s works during her residence from 1949 to 1984.
1:00 — 2:30 p.m.: Lunch at Santacafé
We will reassemble for lunch at a casually elegant fine dining icon of Santa Fe since 1983. Santacafé specializes in serving unique American cuisine with a southwestern flair. According to The New York Times, “A restaurant to love, offering perhaps the best combination of inspired food and attractive surroundings in the city.”
2:45 — 3:45 p.m.: Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian
The Wheelwright Museum collects objects and archives pertaining to the arts and cultures of the Navajo, the Rio Grande Pueblos and other native peoples of New Mexico. Recent acquisitions include major collections of southwestern baskets, Cochiti figurines, and modern Navajo and Pueblo jewelry. The Museum specializes in genres that other institutions have overlooked, e.g. Navajo folk art and “tourist” silver.
4:45 p.m.: The Santa Fe Opera: Backstage tour, pre-performance lecture and buffet dinner
Guided by a member of The Santa Fe Opera production staff, we will take a 45-minute tour of the backstage, including the costume shop, prop shop and production areas. This exclusive peek behind-the-scenes will surely enhance your enjoyment of the week’s three operas. The buffet dinner, attended by SFO patrons, is served at 6:00 p.m., with a lecture on the evening’s opera given during dessert.
8:30 p.m.: The Santa Fe Opera: Life is a Dream
Lewis Spratlan’s Life is a Dream, with a libretto by James Maraniss, has had a long journey to its Santa Fe production. Written from 1975 to 1978, the opera was commissioned by the New Haven Opera Theatre, but because of the company’s demise it was never performed. The second act of this three-act work was first performed in 2000, in a concert version, at Amherst College and Harvard University, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Music that year. The Santa Fe Opera performances mark the world premiere of the complete opera. Roger Honeywell sings the role of Segismundo. Leonard Slatkin makes his Santa Fe conducting debut. Our private coach will escort the group back to the Eldorado following the performance.
Friday, August 20
9:00 a.m.: Depart for an excursion to Taos
The round-trip drive offers exciting scenery including the Rio Grand Gorge. “Nestled in the snow-peaked Sangre de Cristo Mountains, this small town has a big reputation. Isolated Taos boasts — with a pleasant but ever-so-disinterested tone — a long history of luring artists with its fabled clear light, a stunning multistory adobe pueblo and a magnificent mountain setting. It’s an eccentric place, full of bohemians and mainstream dropouts, alternative-energy aficionados, fine chefs, acculturated B&B owners and old-time Hispanic families who still farm hay fields. It’s rural and worldly, a place where grazing horses and a disproportionate number of artists hold equal sway.” (From the Lonely Planet Guide Book.)
Upon arrival in Taos, we will visit the Taos Pueblo, the only living Native American community designated both a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and a National Historic Landmark. The multi-storied adobe buildings have been continuously inhabited for over 1,000 years.
1:00 — 2:30 p.m.: Lunch at de la Tierra
The AAA Four-Diamond award-winning De la Tierra restaurant at El Monte Sagrado is graced not only by world-class cuisine, but by stunning architecture and décor. Chef John Cox’s whimsical interpretation of global dishes has been nationally recognized by groups such as The James Beard Foundation and Art Culinaire.
After lunch, we return to Santa Fe taking a different route to provide as much of the beautiful surroundings as possible. August 20 and 21 are Indian Market days in Santa Fe, and you may want to do some shopping.
7:15 p.m.: Farewell Dinner at the home of Dorothy and Plato Karayanis
We are invited for an intimate dinner at the beautiful home of Dorothy and Plato Karayanis. Mr. Karayanis is currently a board member of The Santa Fe Opera, and is former general director of The Dallas Opera and a past board chairman of OPERA America. This will be a memorable opportunity to commune in a relaxed setting, far from the crowd, in the company of our very gracious hosts along with your new and/or reacquainted friends you have enjoyed being with for this special Santa Fe adventure. Afterward, the private coach will escort us back to the Eldorado Hotel.
Saturday, August 21
Checkout from hotel for your departure from Santa Fe airport or return to Albuquerque via your arranged mode of transportation.
Transportation to and from Albuquerque:
Shuttles depart from and arrive at The Eldorado Hotel on a regular schedule. Two shuttle services are available, the Santa Fe Shuttle/Herrera and Sandia Shuttle Express. Both shuttles are reasonably priced, at $38 and $43 respectively, for round-trip service.
Please visit this Web page for the shuttle service schedule: http://www.eldoradohotel.com/santa_fe/transportation.htm
- Santa Fe/Herrera
Local phone: 505-243-2300
Toll Free phone: 888-833-2300
- Sandia Shuttle Express
Local phone: 505-474-5696
Toll Free phone: 888-775-5696
Should you choose to travel to Santa Fe via rental car instead, the following are a few listings of places located inside the Albuquerque Sunport Airport:
- Alamo Rent-A-Car
Toll Free phone: 800-GO-ALAMO (800-462-5266)
- Avis (Auto Rental)
Toll Free phone: 800-331-1212
- Hertz Corporation
Toll Free phone: 800-654-3131
- Enterprise Rent-A-Car
Toll Free phone: 800-736-8222
- Budget Rent A Car of New Mexico, Inc.
Toll Free phone: 800-527-0700
Click here to access the order form.
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