Monthly Archives: December 2010

A classical Christmas: Festival of Carols!

Today is the first day of Festival of Carols, an annual KMFA tradition. It’s four days of holiday programming that includes a truly incredible and majestic compilation of seasonal music, spanning dates that go back hundreds of years. It really is an eclectic assortment, some of which is recognizable in the form of modern carols…. but there’s even more music that is steeped in historical culture and rarely heard, certainly not at the shopping mall or in office buildings. They are delicate and sparkling and contemplative and joyful. Many of these precious recordings are out of print; we’re very lucky to have them, and to be able to share them with listeners. Sometimes I wish that these pieces weren’t confined to the Christmas season!

Think you know your traditional Christmas music pretty well? Here’s a fun link to a short Christmas Puzzler that I found on an NPR blog. See if you can get a perfect score!  🙂

From all of us at KMFA, we sincerely wish you a Christmas holiday of peace, comfort, and joy.

~posted by Alison @ KMFA 🙂

The Sounding Joy: Texas Choral Consort’s Christmas event

A couple of Saturday’s ago, I seized the opportunity to attend Texas Choral Consort’s traditional Christmas performance. This year’s event was called “The Sounding Joy.”  KMFA’s own Dianne Donovan introduced the event, and many KMFA friends were in the audience.

For me, the TCC Christmas concert marks the first day of the Christmas season! And this year, two of my KMFA colleagues had enrolled in this year’s performance, which included an array of festive seasonal offerings: Rutter’s Gloria, Pinkham’s Christmas Cantata, and On this Day, a Christmas Cantata by U.T. composer Donald Grantham (who was actually in the audience!). They were accompanied by some of Austin’s finest brass players as well.

I confess, I am so sentimental about the sing-along offerings that I enjoyed them the most….and whomever I was sitting next to was really a good alto.  🙂 The organ music was a delightful accompaniment,  offering just a bit more timbre than would have occurred with a piano, and at a very modest volume, so as to showcase the singers’ voices.

Thanks go out to TCC fan, Robert Kelly, who provided me with these excellent photos… click on any of the photos if you’d like to view more at his online gallery.

I am already looking forward to next year’s event!

~posted by Alison @ KMFA 🙂

Austin Civic Orchestra /Austin Symphonic Band at their Long Center Debut

~posted by Carmel O’Donovan, KMFA announcer

We’ve known the Austin Civic Orchestra and Austin Symphonic Band for many years, and so it was that on Sunday, November 21st, I had the honor of introducing their performance in the Michael and Susan Dell Hall at the Long Center for the Performing Arts.

Living, as we do, in the Music Capital of the World, it is easy to become a little blasé. We have such a wealth of music styles and veritable multitude of venues. And yet, time after time, I find myself transported by what I hear and see. That Sunday afternoon was another extraordinary event for me. It was truly an afternoon of “firsts,” and I was delighted to enjoy it in the company of KMFA’s General Manager, Joan Kobayashi, along with long-time KMFA supporter, Doug Shands. It was the first combined concert of these two talented ensembles to be held at the Long Center.

I confess that going on stage to make my introduction was a little nerve-wracking, since the Long Center’s auditorium was close to full with an audience comprising close to two thousand. The groups were greeted with a warm welcome, and such was the quality of their performances that it’s hard to believe that both groups are populated with volunteer musicians. They devote hours of their time to practice and rehearsal, and I know that in the build-up to this event, they must have burned the candle at both ends. From a spectator’s position I can testify that it was all worth it. Both groups sounded simply amazing!

It was also the first time a woman had conducted a symphony at the Long Center! That woman was Dr. Lois Ferrari. She is the talented and energetic Music Director of Austin Civic Orchestra. She did not know that she was to be given an award at the end of ACO’s performance. I did! It was a lovely secret to carry and I was delighted when the time came to call her back onto the stage for the presentation. She was thrilled and a little emotional and it was wonderful to be a witness to the warmth of the orchestra toward her.

We also enjoyed the premier performance of the complete work “Spangled Heavens,” written by Donald Grantham. He is the Frank C Erwin Jr. Professor of Composition at U.T., and we had the pleasure of hearing his introduction to his piece. I was sitting next to him during the recital. That was a pretty big first for me – listening to music while sitting next to the man who wrote it was inspirational.

 

The concert opened with Peter Bay, Music Director and Conductor of the Austin Symphony, conducting the Overture to Verdi’s La Forza del Destino with enthusiam and passion. Jessica Mathaes, Austin Symphony Orchestra’s Concertmaster, performed a movement from Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor. Such was the caliber of her execution that the crowd demanded (and got) a peppy encore! There were jewels such as this throughout the performances, and I urge you to be sure to watch out for the next time these groups come together.

(photos courtesy of the ASB website — click here to view many more great pictures from this event!)

~Carmel O’Donovan is a part-time announcer on KMFA 89.5; you can read more about Carmel and all our Music Hosts on our website.