May 08th, 2015

Carrizozo Music is pleased to present Enchantment Trio in a special Mother's Day concert on Sunday, May 10 at 3PM at Trinity United Methodist Church. Enchantment Trio features husband and wife team of Katie Dukes, soprano, and Mike Walker, French horn, accompanied by pianist Mary Ann Ybarra. The program consists of a variety of music: light, comedic and fun, and will include trios, duets and solos. The music spaces centuries, countries and genres including Donizetti, a quick trip through Mozart's Don Giovanni and Gershwin's Three Preludes. A reception and opportunity to meet the musicians will follow the concert.



The group will also perform in the Carrizozo School Old Gym on Monday morning, May 11 at 10AM as part of the Carrizozo Music School Outreach Program. Both concerts are free and open to the public.



To reach the church, turn West at 12th Street, between the 54 Emporium and Roys Ice Cream Parlor. Turn right onto D Ave and go two blocks to the church. Carrizozo School Old Gym is located on 10th Street across from the church. Enter the school by the gazebo.



Carrizozo Music in indebted to the generosity of Tularosa Basin Telephone Company for making these concerts possible.



American soprano Katie Dukes Walker is the Executive Director of Studio Forza, a music and arts organization designed to unleash the power of creativity by bringing entertaining and fun classical music performances to people in an accessible way. She founded Studio Forza in 2012 because she believes if audiences are given the opportunity to hear something masterful in an innovative way in conjunction with a little bit of guidance, it will ignite their love affair with music. With Studio Forza, she performs, teaches, and organizes concerts, often with thematic food pairings, in a party-like atmosphere to welcome new audiences into the richness of the classical music world.

One of her main goals is to bring the world of opera to new audiences and especially to children, as when she premiered the role of Mooch in Mooch the Magnificent with the Reimagining Opera for kids in Bloomington, Indiana in 2012. In addition, she will return for a third season as an Artistic Fellow with Chamber Music Campania in 2014-2015 in Sarasota, FL, performing operatic selections arranged for woodwind quintet and soprano. Ms. Dukes also frequently performs with the Intimate Opera of Indianapolis and Opera Southwest (Albuquerque).  Ms. Dukes’ previous operatic and musical theater credits include Angelica in Suor Angelica, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Beatrice Richman in The Three Fat Women of Antibes, Alida Slade in Roman Fever, Cercatrice 1 in Suor Angelica and Conversa 1 in Suor Angelica, Helen in the The Three Sisters who are not Sisters and the Baker’s Wife in Into the Woods (Junior).

Ms. Dukes has received degrees in vocal performance from the University of Northern Colorado and San José State University. She has participated in summer training programs at the Tyrolean Opera Program in Maurach, Austria, as well as La Musica Lirica International Festival in Novafeltria, Italy. Her teachers include Erie Mills, Andreas Poulimenos, Dr. Diane Bolden-Taylor and Alexandra LoBianco.



Mike Walker is passionate about life, French horn, and music. Mr. Walker is currently the horn professor at the University of New Mexico, hornist with the Fiati 5, New Mexico Winds and theUniversity of New Mexico Brass Quintet. He was the Associate Instructor of Horn at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music (2011-13) and co-founded the community-centered music and arts organization Studio Forza in 2012, of which he is still the artistic director.



Mike feels equally at home in orchestral and chamber ensembles. He often performs as a substitute horn in the New Mexico Philharmonic and Santa Fe Symphony. Previously, he served as the second Horn in the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, and he has performed with the Utah Festival Opera, Bel Canto Institute, Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra, San Jose Wind Symphony, and as a featured soloist with Musica Nova at the Eastman School of Music. Mike also serves as a performing artist with Melos Music, and he regularly collaborates with his wife Katie Dukes, soprano and co-founder of Studio Forza.



Mike holds a BM from San José State University and an MM from the University of Northern Colorado. Mike is currently completing a Doctor of Music in horn, with a minor in music history and natural horn, at Indiana University, where he studies horn with Jeff Nelsen and Dale Clevenger, and natural horn with Rick Seraphinoff.



Pianist Mary Ann Ybarra received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The University of Texas at Austin, her Masters of Music in piano performance from Catholic University of America in Washington, DC and her Bachelors of Music in piano performance from Texas Tech University in Lubbock. After 30 years of private and collegiate teaching, Mary Ann has chosen to capitalize on her passion for musical performance. Her work schedule as a collaborative pianist is quite varied throughout the Albuquerque area and includes work in vocal, operatic and instrumental ensembles.


For more information about any of the concerts please check www.carrizozomusic.org, email carrizozomusic@gmail.com or call Elaine Brannen at 575-648-2757 or Barbara Culbertson at 575-648-2279. Carrizozo Music sponsors a series of classical, summer pops and school outreach concerts with a commitment to providing free quality music to the residents of Lincoln County and surrounding area. Whenever possible these concerts are made available to students of the Carrizozo School System and residents of New Horizons Developmental Center.