HOUSE MEMORIAL 8

49th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2009

INTRODUCED BY

Ben Lujan

A MEMORIAL

RECOGNIZING JANUARY 28, 2009 AS "SANTA FE OPERA DAY" IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.

     WHEREAS, the Santa Fe opera has offered fifty-two years of opera performances in New Mexico, receiving international recognition for its artistic excellence and innovation; and

     WHEREAS, the Santa Fe opera attracts outstanding singers, conductors, directors and creative personnel to New Mexico every summer; and

     WHEREAS, the Santa Fe opera contributes to the continuation of the operatic art form by commissioning new operas and performing American premieres; and

     WHEREAS, the Santa Fe opera's apprentice programs for singers and technicians contribute to the training of one hundred young professionals each year, and over the past fifty-two years have provided opportunities to four thousand two hundred young people to prepare for careers in the arts; and

     WHEREAS, the Santa Fe opera provides performances of the highest caliber to all eighty-five thousand who attend; and

     WHEREAS, the Santa Fe opera attracts visitors from all fifty states and numerous countries to its performances, annually contributing an estimated two hundred two million dollars ($202,000,000) to the economy of the state of New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, the Santa Fe opera currently spends more than seven hundred fifty thousand dollars ($750,000) a year to provide educational and community programs serving more than sixty thousand New Mexicans; and

     WHEREAS, the Santa Fe opera celebrates its change in leadership with the appointment of native New Mexican Charles MacKay to the post of general director;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that January 28, 2009 be recognized as "Santa Fe Opera Day" in the house of representatives.

- 2 -