Jody Ellis “wanted a place where Santa Fe musicians could come together and perform in public, so she co-founded the Santa Fe Community Orchestra,” writes Robert Nott in Sunday’s (2/18) New Mexican (Santa Fe). “Ellis … died of natural causes Wednesday at her home in Santa Fe. She was 92.” She and Anne-Lise Cohen co-founded the orchestra in 1982. “Ellis’ varied background also included a stint as a nurse in the United States Air Force and work as a music educator, composer and cellist. Ellis and her partner and spouse, the late artist Marcia Muth, were honored for their contribution to Santa Fe’s culture by being named Santa Fe Living Treasures in 2006.… An accomplished painter, Ellis gave up pursuing visual arts in favor of learning how to play the cello in the late 1970s … A few years later, she and Cohen started the Santa Fe Chamber Music Orchestra with the goal of providing a venue for amateurs, professionals and those who fell somewhere in between … Before many of the concerts, Ellis would take to the stage to introduce the music…. The community orchestra performed Ellis’ last composition, ‘Espíritu de la Caldera’ [composed with] Jeremy Bleich … last autumn…. The orchestra will honor Ellis at its April 8 concert.”
Posted February 22, 2018
