A group of 55 people, including nine New Mexico State University alumni and university President Jay Gogue and his wife Susie, traveled to New York City in April to see Kirstin Chavez, ’91, in the leading role of the New York City Opera’s production of Carmen.

Chavez graduated with honors from New Mexico State with a bachelor’s degree in music. She said that before her course work at the university she wanted to perform on Broadway, but changed her mind after being exposed to a variety of music.

Chavez said she always has wanted to be a singer and that people in high school told her she would make a good Carmen. Carmen is a French opera about a strong-willed, charismatic gypsy who challenges her destiny and fights for her freedom, even when faced with her own death. “It’s always been this interesting project I’ve wanted to do,” she said. She has taken flamenco dancing and castanet lessons, as well as studied French for her role as Carmen.

New Mexico State music Professor Jerry Ann Alt, who went on the trip to New York, taught Chavez and became close friends with her while she was a student. “Her goal is to be the best Carmen there has ever been,” she said.

Alt said Chavez was a leader in the music department when the program was just starting and that she is very determined to be a success. She said Chavez’s performance in Carmen was fantastic. “To see that incredible growth has validated my 29 years of teaching,” she said.

Chavez said she still feels a strong connection to New Mexico and New Mexico State. “I’m amazed and thrilled there’s a group of people who want to come and hear me in the New York Opera,” she said before the performance. She said people are not shocked to find she is from a smaller school and that she says she is from New Mexico with great pride.

Even though Chavez has become well known with her operatic talents, she said she avoids arrogance by remembering all of the people who have helped her along the way. She said of the group of people from New Mexico who made the trip to see her in Carmen, “It’s very humbling and wonderful.”

Sarah Wheeler