Lensic Memories
“I always think of the great interaction of the musicians, to bring them together, everyone working together, and we are one big family.” – Cipriano Vigil, one of New Mexico’s greatest folk musicians, on the annual New Mexico roots music festival, Núestra Musica
“We’re partners in crime.” – Jack Loeffler, aural historian and radio producer on his 50-year friendship with Cipriano Vigil
“It was one of those experiences, I was really nervous, but the crowd was with me and I performed well. It was something I will never forget, being on the Lensic stage.” – Danielle Renee Chavez y Romero, La Reina de la Fiesta, 2010
“Our first date was in the Lensic balcony.” – former mayor Larry Delgado, speaking of his wife Angie and the date that led to their marriage of 57 years
“My fondest memory was going with my grandmother to see ‘The Three Amigos’ just after my grandfather passed away. I was only nine years old, and the theater was partially empty and cold. Whenever we go downtown, she’s the one who always remembers that day, and it always brings a big smile to her face.
–Ryan Baca
“My best Lensic memory was this past Christmas season. My husband and I treated my 76-year-old father to Handel’s Messiah with the Symphony and Chorus. He always loved the Messiah and being able to take him and see him so entranced and visibly moved by the performance was the memory of a lifetime. He is still talking about it and what a wonderful performance it was. Thank you for making the Lensic the wonderful place it is today.”
–Lisa M. Rogers
“I came here for the first time in 1988 and would go to the Lensic for movies. I loved sitting in the big leather seats at the back of the theater. Sooo comfortable! I have since been to many productions and still love the theater and what it brings to Santa Fe. One of the more fun productions was watching the ‘Yellow Submarine’ and having many people show up in costumes. I look forward to many more years of wonderful ballet, movies, concerts and speakers.”
–Sue Robuck
“I love the ballet and attended a performance of the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet at The Lensic. The company is so beautiful to watch, but the highlight of the evening was the little girls dressed in their ballet costumes. They were fundraising for their ballet school. The girls greeted concert goers at the door and walked up and down the aisles. It was too adorable. Then, when we gave one little girl a donation, she gasped, smiled and ran away. I can only think how wonderful it is for aspiring ballerinas to see the real professionals on stage . . . all brought to you by The Lensic.” –Sandy Heydt
“When my husband and I first visited Santa Fe twenty-two years ago, we went to a movie at the Lensic and were absolutely charmed by the theater. Then, when the movie was over, we went outside to discover it had snowed and was truly a ‘winter wonderland.’ We made the first footprints in the pristine snow. It was magical. Just one of the first clues that we would someday be moving to such an enchanted city. And we did just that three years later!”
–Freya Diamond
“In 1992, when I was thinking of moving to Santa Fe, The Lensic was one of the reasons that clinched the deal! I went to see a Robert Redford movie ‘A River Runs Through It’–all about the great outdoors in a slightly sleazy theater, as the Lensic was pre-Zeckendorf and Martin. Felt like I was IN a Western. The dust-filled air emerging from the theater, the adobe, the blue skies, the friendliness of the strangers I met–I was hooked, and moved!” –Desirée Mays
“On September 11, 2002, at 8:26 am–exactly one year after 9/11—hundreds of theaters in the U.S. and abroad honored the memory of those lost with concerts of Mozart’s Requiem. At The Lensic, the Santa Fe Symphony, soloists and chorus performed for free. There was a misty rain, inside the theater was packed and outside several hundred people stood braving the weather. I have sung in choirs and choruses all my life, but this was the first time as a chorus tenor I was singing the Requiem not in a concert but as a requiem. Each of us was given the name of a person who died in that horrific attack. Mine was Ariel Louis. His spirit, and all the others whose names we had pinned on our shirts or coats, were deeply embedded inside us and when we finishes ‘in ae-ter-num, qui-a pi-us est” there was total silence, then tears and clapping.
The New Mexican ran the names and hometowns of those who died. Ariel Jacobs was from a town not far from where I once lived. The clerk of that town gave me the name of his widow and I wrote her. She wrote me back. ‘Dear Gerry, thank you for your lovely letter, the program and for remembering Ariel on the anniversary. I, too, am a singer and familiar with Mozart’s Requiem. What a beautiful tribute. Thank you. P.S. – Ari and I have a baby, Gabriel Benjamin, born 9/17/01.'”
–Gerry Hotchkiss
“A week after 9/11, I ushered for the wonderful group Ladysmith Black Mambazo. At the end of their concert, they asked everyone to chant with them ‘Love. Peace. Harmony.’ The entire audience chimed in. The chant went on for minutes, and everyone was wrapped in a surreal feeling of kindness and love for their fellow men and women, regardless of ethnicity or politics. Truly a magical moment.”
–Ann Park