Chorus Austin is celebrating a big milestone this year. It’s the choir’s 60th anniversary.
Ryan Heller, the conductor and artistic director of Chorus Austin says the all-volunteer choir is thriving. He’s designed their 60th season with all sorts of collaborations with Austin’s performing arts organizations. That includes their annual Messiah singalong in December.
You would think that a “special” classical music program would be all about the music. You’d be wrong if you’re talking about one particular program for high school aged female classical musicians. The Fortissima program at Colburn School in Los Angeles is aiming for something completely different.
Artistic Director and Violinist Jannina Norpoth says they aim to teach their charges how to make it in the world they want to pursue. One student, Tess Reed, says this was the best experience ever.
In just a few weeks performing arts groups will unveil the first shows of the 2024 Fall season. There are many more in Central Texas than there used to be, so you have more than a few choices.
We’re starting with the Fall 2024 season for The Central Texas Philharmonic led by Music Director Stefan Sanders.
It was the age of the audience at a classical music concert that lit a fire under David Fogel.
He seems to have invented another genre of classical and orchestral music. The Symphonina. A short symphony just right for the younger set and older ears too.
Imagine what it’s like to actually be doing the job you love so much.
It’s a feeling that Sophie Mathieu knows well. She’s KMFA’s Draylen Mason Composer In Residence for 2024.
Mathieu, a cellist, with a Masters from the Butler School of Music, is also the first local composer who’s been chosen for the program. Since the announcement in January, she’s been taking part in educational events, public and private workshops of her work with Austin Unconducted and various other activities. This is in addition to working on her new piece. Sophie is pretty sure she’’ll call it “Night Poem” when it premieres on September 22nd.
Stephen Lias always has music on his mind. He’s the Dean’s Circle Endowed Professor Of Composition at Stephen F Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. Lias is also an outdoor kind of guy. Over the years, he’s composed music for a variety of national parks either on commission or just because. Now he’s been named Washington State’s Mount Rainier National Park’s first-ever composer in residence. His composition will celebrate the 125th anniversary of the park but won’t premiere until 2026.
New York City can have quite an effect on you and so can Multiple Sclerosis. Grammy winning composer Jeff Beal (House of Cards) deals with both in his new album: The New York Etudes. These solo piano works are somewhat of a departure from his compositions for TV and Film and that’s the way he wanted it. Beal says The New York Etudes is like a quiet place to land and recharge after a long day or the last few years.
Many classical artists are now releasing some of the works they composed during the pandemic. Composer Richard Danielpour is one of them. He’s released a new album: Songs in Three Languages, sung by Soprano Hila Plitmann. One section of the album pays tribute to Danielpour’s Father who wrote love poems to his wife. Then there’s the opera he composed called The Grand Hotel Tartarus.
There’s no place like home. A familiar line from a familiar movie and so very true. The Miro Quartet, The University of Texas String Quartet In Residence with an international reputation and a GRAMMY nomination, honed in on the theme with their latest album Home. They illustrated the essence of Home with a video of their performance of Over The Rainbow.
Daniel Ching, one of the founding members of the group says Home is a love letter to and appreciation of all the things they call home.
The Sphinx Organization, the group that’s been fostering diversity in classical music since 1996, has a new programming chief. Andre Dowell is new to the job but not to the Sphinx organization. In his new job, he says he wants Sphinx to keep moving forward in diversifying the classical music community via the organization’s many programs.
Colour of Music Festival – Chamber Music Quartet & Quintet with Elizabeth Hill
Applications for the Seventeenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition