SMU-in-Taos presents: ‘The French Connection’

DALLAS (SMU)—Students from SMU’s Meadows Wind Ensemble will perform works with a special connection to France from prominent composers Charles Gounod, Igor Stravinsky and Francis Poulenc at 8:15 p.m. Saturday, July 20 in O’Donnell Auditorium at SMU-in-Taos’ Fort Burgwin campus. The French Connection: A Musical Journey is free and open to the Taos community.

“Words simply cannot express how excited we are to be performing the Ima Leete Hutchison Concert in Taos this summer,” said Jack Delaney, conductor of the Meadows Wind Ensemble and professor of music. “It’s a first for the Meadows Wind Ensemble. We have performed all over the United States and Europe, but this will be our first trip to Taos.”

The concert will feature Gounod’s Petite Symphonie, Stravinsky’s Octuor and Poulenc’s Suite Française. The program will feature a guest performance by SMU professor Larry Palmer as the harpsichord soloist in Suite Française. 

“Poulenc’s music has some of the most unique sounds of the 20th  century and only two of his works include the harpsichord,” Palmer said. “Suite Française is an ensemble piece with 18th-century flavor, and I am looking forward to performing this piece with our students.”

The Ima Leete Hutchison Concert is featured each year at Fort Burgwin during the SMU-in-Taos Cultural Institute, two and a half days of short courses that explore the unique cultural richness, scientific contributions and recreational opportunities of Northern New Mexico. The concert series is made possible by an endowment established in 1989 by William and Patsy Hutchison in honor of his mother.

SMU-in-Taos is located approximately 10 miles south of Taos, New Mexico, in the heart of the Carson National Forest. The Fort Burgwin campus has been an educational center of Southern Methodist University since 1973. A map and directions to the campus are available at www.smu.edu/AboutSMU/Maps/SMU-in-Taos. For more information call 575-758-8322.

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SMU is a nationally ranked private university in Dallas founded 100 years ago. Today, SMU enrolls nearly 11,000 students who benefit from the academic opportunities and international reach of seven degree-granting schools.

SMU-in-Taos has offered courses and research programs enhanced by the bountiful cultural and natural resources of northern New Mexico for almost 40 years.  The scenic campus at Fort Burgwin, on the outskirts of Taos in the Carson National Forest, thrives as a center for academic discovery, experiential learning and scholarly research.

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