Tara and Daniel
Tara and Daniel
Tara and Daniel

Music in Schools

Music from Angel Fire is honored to welcome Young Artists—students from conservatories and universities—who reach into K-12 schools in northern New Mexico throughout the year.  

In August of most years, conservatory students from such prestigious places as Juilliard and Curtis (in 2022) visit area schools while they participate in the Music from Angel Fire festival. In other seasons, collegiate musicians from New Mexico universities present similar concerts and mentoring. In 2020 and 2021, the program went virtual.  Because education changed during the pandemic, the Young Artists created online work that helped mentor and teach.  Music from Angel Fire is excited to note that in 2022, the Young Artists will be back in schools and the Music in Schools program will be a hybrid education project, with some K-12 schools reached in person and others able to continue to request virtual educational materials.

The Music in Schools project is supported part by private gifts and the National Endowment for the Arts as well as New Mexico Arts. Music in Schools has taken Young Artists to schools in Angel Fire, Eagle Nest, Cimarron, Española, Pojoaque, Raton, Las Vegas, Los Alamos, and beyond.  If you are interested in bringing the Young Artists to your school or would like to receive virtual materials, please contact Music from Angel Fire at education@musicfromangelfire.org.

For high school and middle school musicians, this is often the highlight of their year, opening their minds to new possibilities of excellence.  Although Music in Schools provides immediate inspiration and benefits to students, Music from Angel Fire recognizes that music helps many first-generation college students win scholarships that pay for their education, in any field of interest, in return for performing with a college band or orchestra.

A Message from a Young Artist

In 2022, the Young Artists are conservatory students from Juilliard and Curtis Institute, who come to Music from Angel Fire from August 18 to September 3.  The Young Artists take leadership roles in the Music in Schools program, visiting K-12 schools in northern New Mexico and creating virtual learning opportunities as they perform side-by-side in the festival concert series next to their mentor teachers.  This remarkable experience is thrilling to observe as an audience member and is unduplicated in New Mexico.

If you have attended any of the Music in Schools programs, you know that as the K-12 students learn about music, the Young Artists discover more about their role as musical mentors.