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MUSIC | ALBUQUERQUE

Maxine Thévenot to lead 213-member choir, 65-piece orchestra in conducting debut at historic NYC venue

Thévenot will lead a performance of 20th-century French composer Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem, opus 9

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When the Albuquerque-based conductor, Maxine Thévenot, arrives at Carnegie Hall this month, she’ll be packing two batons.

“They were both handcrafted here in New Mexico by a gentleman named Hovey Corbin, who’s a fellow colleague and a wonderful musician,” Thévenot said. “… I chose this red one because I thought it might go nicely with Carnegie Hall.”

Thévenot is familiar with the red velvet chairs and red carpets of the hallowed Manhattan venue, having performed there many times as an organist for college graduation ceremonies. But Sunday, June 28, will mark her Carnegie Hall debut as a conductor.

“People who know me well, and a lot of my choristers, (know that) I don’t often conduct with a baton. I find it can get in the way sometimes of what I want to communicate, and I can better communicate with my fingertips,” Thévenot said. “So, it’s a question, whether or not I’ll actually use these.”

Thévenot will lead a 65-member orchestra and a chorus of 213 in a performance of 20th-century French composer Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem, opus 9.

“The task ahead of me in a few very short weeks is to put together the choir and make them an ensemble,” Thévenot said. “Luckily for me, the orchestra that I’ll have in front of me is an orchestra that plays together a lot, the New England Chamber Ensemble. Although I don’t know them, I suspect they’ll be very good, and that they’ll be able to adapt to my requests and needs really easily.”

The 213-member chorus is the largest Thévenot has ever conducted. Around 50 or 60 of them are coming from New Mexico, she said, including about 40 high school-aged students, some of whom she has worked with previously. Others are coming from all over the U.S.

“In two rehearsals, I have to put 213 people’s minds and hearts together. Then, in one rehearsal, I have to put them together with the orchestra,” Thévenot said. “It’s not a lot of time for a 40-minute piece.”

In Albuquerque, Thévenot serves as the organist and director of cathedral music at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John. She is also the founding director of Polyphony: Voices of New Mexico, the state’s first professional resident vocal ensemble.

Thévenot said she fell in love with Duruflé’s music at a young age.

“His harmonic language is just beautiful. It’s all based on Gregorian chant, and I love Gregorian chant,” she said. “His music is just literally perfect.”

In the 1990s, while backpacking across France, Thévenot made a special trip to Saint-Étienne-du-Mont, the Parisian church where Duruflé served as the organist and music director from 1929 until his death in 1986.

“I got there just before noonday Mass. It’s the ’90s, so I’m wearing ripped jeans, and I’ve got this massive backpack on,” Thévenot said. “… I end up sitting next to this elderly lady, and she’s looking at me in that (judgmental) way. She’s very well dressed, like an older Parisian woman would be.”

Despite the chilly reception, Thévenot said she began jabbering to the woman in broken French about how excited she was to be in Duruflé’s church.

“As I’m telling her all this, in my hindbrain, there’s something that goes, ‘Oh my God, I’m talking to Maurice Duruflé’s widow!’” Thévenot said.

Madame Duruflé did not warm up to her. Nevertheless, Thévenot left feeling inspired by the chance encounter and even more connected to her beloved composer.

Now, three decades later, Thévenot feels honored to be conducting Duruflé’s Requiem at Carnegie Hall.

“Growing up as a French Roman Catholic, it is deeply meaningful for me to be doing this kind of music at this point in my musical career,” she said.

She believes sacred music, such as Duruflé’s, can bring about spiritual experiences that go beyond words.

“I think for me, as an interpreter of music, my job is to elevate the listener to a place where they feel transported — where they feel like they are just so close to that thin veil between them and their God, or between them and that thing that is considered sacred,” Thévenot said. “That’s something I strive for all the time, to try to transport people — and move them.”

Logan Royce Beitmen is an arts writer for the ϼ. He covers visual art, music, fashion, theater and more. Reach him at lbeitmen@abqjournal.com or on Instagram at .