Edmund Connolly will perform this season with the prestigious Santa Fe Desert Chorale – a 24-voice group comprised of top professionals from around the country. The group will give eight performances in December in Santa Fe, as well as one in Albuquerque on December 12. “This year celebrates Hispanic composers, so the winter festival will feature seasonal music with this flavor,” Edmund says.
“I’m learning a new repertoire and working with Director Joshua Habermann. The learning and observing will feed back directly into what I do at the Academy. It’s a kind of professional development – skills I’ll pass along to my students here. I’ll be doing the learning rather than the teaching… new music, new skills, new ideas.
“The Academy encourages performing arts teachers to be performers. We’ve been encouraged to take professional opportunities, and that makes a difference to the student experience.”
A baritone, Edmund has taught at the Academy since 2013 and serves as assistant organist-choir director at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John. “When I lived in London for a decade,” he says, “most of my work was as a professional soloist and choral singer. It’s exciting to get to sing with a group from all over the country and make those contacts at a high level.”
