Chamber music ensemble performs in El Paso, Las Cruces

The chamber music ensemble Camerata del Sol will perform Johannes Brahms’ String Sextet Op. 18, free to the public, in El Paso and Las Cruces this month.

Camerata del Sol was founded in 2017 by violinists Daniel Vega-Albela and Amalia Zeitlin as a company “committed to enriching the cultural landscape of the region by bringing rare and exceptional chamber music performance to local communities at minimal cost and nurturing emerging talents through its multi-tiered educational programming,” as stated in a news release.

Vega-Albela is a professor of violin and chamber music at New Mexico State University and the ensemble’s artistic director. Zeitlin — a master’s graduate from NMSU herself — is the principal second violinist of the El Paso Symphony and the executive director of Camerata del Sol.

The other four musicians comprising the sextet are: James Carney, principal cellist of the El Paso Symphony and a founding member of Camerata del Sol; Julio Campos, a founding company member and a former NMSU faculty member; Elisabeth Greene, a company member and a violist with the Las Cruces Symphony; and Isaac Reynaga, a master’s student and graduate assistant at NMSU as well as a cellist with the El Paso Symphony.

The performances are both Sunday matinees, the first at the University of Texas at El Paso’s Fox Fine Arts Center at 2:30 p.m. May 19; and the second at 3 p.m. on May 26 at the First Presbyterian Church of Las Cruces.

Admission to the concerts is free, but reservations are recommended via the ensemble’s website: CamerataDelSol.org/upcoming-events. A suggested donation of $10 applies to the Las Cruces performance.

The Las Cruces event will offer a silent auction, per a news release, as well as a “sneak peek” at Camerata del Sol’s 2024-25 season and a raffle for two tickets to the Santa Fe Opera.