Santa Fe offers a very spirited and diverse music scene that hosts numerous music festivals throughout the year. During our trip we visited the Lensic Performing Arts Center and also the Santa Fe Opera. Dating back to 1931 the Lensic Theater is located on west San Francisco Street in the historic district of Santa Fe. The architecture is Spanish Renaissance. Its name is actually the initials of one of the builders, John Greer's 6 grandchildren. In the Theaters early days it hosted movies and entertainers from vaudeville. By the end of the 20th century it was outdated and in need of restoration. The center began to raise money for the restoration. Late in 2000 the National Trust for Historic Preservation identified the Lensic as an official project to preserve historic buildings. In April of 2001 the renovation was completed. Today the Lensic Theater is the venue for the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra and regularly hosts many classical music festivals.
We decided we also wanted to attend an opera if there was one being performed while we were in Santa Fe. To our good fortune Rigoletto was going on. The open aired Crosby Theater located about 7 miles north of Santa Fe began hosting operatic performances in 1968. It replaced the original venue which dated back to 1957 that was destroyed by fire. The Theater being open aired had magnificent views of the Jemez mountains to the west and also the Sangre de Cristo mountains to the east. The theater seats more than 2100 persons and also has standing room for just over 100 people. The unique curves in the large roof helps to reflect the sounds from the state to the audience. The size and shape of the roof collects rain water that is used to maintain the opera grounds. We arrived a bit early to look around the area and were amazed at the number of people in the parking lots tailgating before the performance began. Unlike when my son and I would tailgate before a football game we observed many people enjoying wine and cheese before going in. We had made an early dinner reservation so tailgating wasn't in our plans but it looked like a very pleasant way to begin your evening at the opera, not to be confused with the Marx Brothers film, "A night at the Opera". After checking out the venue we went to our seats as the opera was about to begin. Rigoletto is an Italian Opera that has 3 acts. Of course it was performed in Italian. There were small screens in front of our seats that presented us the story in English subtitles. I admit that this was our first opera and it was a very tragic story. By the third act I was having trouble keeping my eyes open and I honestly believe that was because I had one too many Prickly Pear Margaritas at dinner. I can also honestly say that given the opportunity to attend another opera there I would definitely go, although I wouldn't have quite as much alcohol before the performance. The overall experience was wonderful and is one that should not be missed. The happy couple attending the Santa Fe Opera Santa Fe is considered to be one of the world's great art centers. We found a very rich blend of traditional to contemporary works of art in the many museums and galleries we visited. We especially wanted to visit Canyon Road which is home to more than 100 galleries, shops, boutiques and even restaurants all located on a roughly 1/2 mile stretch of the road. Various images along Canyon Road The diversity of the many pieces we saw was truly amazing. The artists were not just local but come from other parts of the U.S. and even from other countries as well. It was interesting and fun to walk around and appreciated all the artist's creations.
Santa Fe boasts more than 200 art galleries and over a dozen museums. Santa Fe also hosts annual art markets. The Santa Fe Indian Market which is held every year over a weekend in August, is Santa Fe's largest and most prestigious event, with more than 1,200 artists from over 100 tribes from across the country. Santa Fe has much to offer everyone from the art novice to the true aficionado.
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