September 2025 As Texas Wesleyan Director of Choral Studies Dr. Bradley Naylor was finishing his doctoral coursework in choral conducting (DMA Yale University, 2013), his faculty mentor Simon Carrington suggested that he audition to be a member of an ensemble that Mr. Carrington had recently guest-conducted in northern New Mexico. Bradley’s subsequent successful audition for the ensemble began his now 16-year journey through some of the finest choral music in the country as a member of the Santa Fe Desert Chorale.

Each summer and winter professional choral artists from around the country travel to Santa Fe where they rehearse and present choral music to audiences in historic churches such as the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis, a 400+ year old parish in the heart of the New Mexican capital. Members of the ensemble connect with and integrate themselves into the community there through outreach programs, spotlight recitals, and homestays with Chorale supporters who become close as friends and family.

In addition to its regular summer and winter seasons, the Desert Chorale often performs in concert tours and for professional choral organizations. In March of 2025, the ensemble was a headlining choir for the national convention of the American Choral Directors Association in Dallas. Texas Wesleyan music students attended the Desert Chorale's joint concert with the Orpheus Chamber Singers at Lovers Lane United Methodist Church in Dallas.

This past summer, the 24-voice choir (Bradley is one of six tenors) recorded a to-be-released album of music that the ensemble had commissioned over the past five years. In the context of choral music, the commissioning process involves identifying a collaborating composer, securing funding to pay for their creation, bringing the composer to Santa Fe to work with the choir and director Joshua Habermann, and then performing and recording the music the composer created.

The upcoming album, recorded in Cristo Rey church in Santa Fe by 11-time GRAMMY award winning producer Blanton Alspaugh, will feature music by Jocelyn Hagen, Reena Esmail, Kile Smith, Shawn Kirchner, and a brand-new large-scale work, “The American Road,” by Shawn Okpebholo. Scheduled for release in 2026 and tentatively titled "Roots and Rivers", the album weaves together many threads of the complex American tapestry: songs about travel and arrival, perseverance and belonging, and the promise of a more beautiful tomorrow. The album will be available for purchase and on streaming platforms.

To learn more about the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, visit their website at www.desertchorale.org or connect with Dr. Bradley Naylor at naylor@txwes.edu.