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KMFA Music Director Sara Hessel wins prestigious Gracie Award®!

photo credit: Todd V. Wolfson

The Alliance for Women in Media (AWM) has announced the 2011 winners of the annual Gracie Awards®, and Classical 89.5, KMFA’s own Sara Hessel is among them! Ms. Hessel is a 2011 Gracie Award winner for her program, Michael Nyman: Motion and Emotion, produced and broadcast from the studios of KMFA. [You might remember the blog entry with links to hear the interview portion of the program.]

“In producing Michael Nyman: Motion and Emotion, I hoped to draw attention to the full scope of his activities as a composer, beyond his famous score for The Piano. His music is so immediately appealing, and his musical language manages to be contemporary and timeless all at once,” says Ms. Hessel. “It’s an incredible honor that this program was chosen by the Alliance for Women in Media to be the recipient of a Gracie Award!”

The Gracie Award promotes programming created for women, by women and about women, as well as individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the industry. Ms. Hessel won in the Outstanding Portrait/Biography category, and will accept her award at the annual Gracies Luncheon on Wednesday, May 25th, 2011 at Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.

Sara Hessel earned her master’s degree in historical musicology from the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands in 1999. She has been employed as Music Director of KMFA-FM, Classical 89.5 in Austin, Texas since 2005. As producer and host of KMFA’s Ancient Voices, she has interviewed numerous early-music superstars, including Dame Emma Kirkby, Ton Koopman, Gustav Leonhardt, Jordi Savall and Anonymous 4. Ancient Voices was named a Critics Pick in the Austin Chronicle’s “Best of Austin” issue in 2010.

KMFA’s General Manager Joan Kobayashi says, “KMFA is proud to be part of the production and broadcast of this important programming, and congratulates Ms. Hessel for receiving this well-deserved award.”

The Gracie Awards benefits the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation, a charitable non-profit. For more information about the Gracie Awards, please visit www.thegracies.org.

~posted by Alison @ KMFA 🙂

Staccato Highlights: Black History Month

~ posted by Judlyne Lilly Gibson, KMFA Saturday afternoon host

If you’ve listened to Staccato this month, you’ve been hearing some of the best African-American students studying classical music in the Austin area and perhaps in the country. I wanted to highlight these students in observance of Black History Month and to dispel some myths about Blacks and Classical Music.

What I found surprising and refreshing is that one of my own mis-perceptions rapidly faded away after speaking to these students.

Javier Stuppard, Huston-Tillotson College

Daniel Fears, Javier Stuppard and Meredith Riley were all asked how they felt about being African-American in what is still considered to be the domain of White Americans. Yes, they noticed they were either the only one, or one of a few in their classes and performance groups, but that’s where it ended. Once the music starts, they say, there’s no difference, no hesitation, no sense of exclusion. They don’t really even think about it.

This is the 21st century after all, and for someone like me, who grew up during the Civil Rights Movement and the turbulent Sixties, this was another indication that (as former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice put it) history has a long tail. That the often violent struggles of 40 to 50 years ago are bearing fruit. Ask Mezzo-Soprano Barbara Smith Conrad about that. She was the UT student who in 1957 was refused a role in an opera because of her race. She’s returned to UT several times to bask in the glow of appreciation and honor.

This is not to say we’ve reached nirvana. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education published a study from 2002 along with a National Endowment for the Arts survey that found that African-Americans with a college degree were three times less likely as whites to attend a classical music performance, the opera, or the ballet. Whites are five times as likely as blacks to be involved in the performance of classical music. Whites are twice as likely as blacks to sing opera or to act in a musical play.

Meredith Riley, violinist at U.T. Austin

In preparation for this series, I contacted most if not all of the universities in the Austin area in search of African-American classical music majors. The largest response, not surprisingly, came from the University of Texas at Austin, but one response from one university was very telling. This university, which I will not name, told me their one African American student was very good at musical theatre. Still, progress is being made, exemplified by the students I interviewed and the existence of a few African-American opera companies and organizations dedicated to increasing diversity in classical music.

You can hear excerpts from these interviews this month on Staccato, which airs at various times on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays on KMFA. Longer versions of most pieces can be found on the Staccato page at SecondStreetDreams.com

~posted by Judlyne Lilly Gibson, KMFA host of Saturday Matinee, and producer of Staccato. Saturday Matinee airs from noon until 6 every week. This includes the Metropolitan Opera Broadcasts.

Fleurs-de-LYS: from highbrow to hoe-down

~ posted by Sara Hessel, KMFA Music Director

Last weekend, I took a joy ride around the world in under two hours, and had lots of great company on the journey! Actually, I didn’t travel any farther than St. Michael’s Episcopal Church on Hwy. 360, but the music I heard left me feeling like I had smelled exotic flowers in Asia, danced the night away in Slovakia, watched a seductive scarf dance in Turkey, and enjoyed a rousing Central Texas hoe-down! (Oh, and Telemann was there, too!)

It was all part of a concert given by Fleurs-de-LYS- violinist Laurie Young Stevens and Friends, presenting Musica Globus, as part of Texas Early Music Project’s concert season. Laurie and her special guests put together a program which, despite being made up of dozens of short pieces from many different countries, meshed and flowed together beautifully. Interspersed with folk songs and dances of various lands were pieces by Georg Philipp Telemann that were inspired by the very same folk traditions. The result was a rollicking good time resulting in some serious pew-boogyin’ on the part of the audience!

Violinist Miloš Valent shared his formidable experience with the folk traditions of Eastern Europe, along with his staggering musical skills and his delightful, larger-than-life personality. Recorder player Paul Leenhouts was a joy to hear, as always! He dazzled the audience with his virtuosity, and kept us wondering which member of his musical menagerie we’d get to hear next! (Pungi been, anyone?)

As an encore, the group treated us to a rousing rendition of “Orange Blossom Special”, with Laurie showing her versatility—she’s a musician who is equally comfortable playing intricate Baroque sonatas as she is treating her audience to an impromptu Texas-style hoe-down!

On my way out of the concert I stopped to chat with a fellow audience member who mused: “What would Telemann have thought of this? I bet he would have liked it!” I agreed and added, “I bet he’d have wished he’d thought of it himself!”

Sara Hessel is KMFA’s Music Director, as well as producer and host of Ancient Voices. Tune in on Sundays, 9am and 4pm, to enjoy Ancient Voices, right here on KMFA, 89.5.


“The Italian Girl” visits the KMFA Studio

~posted by Dianne Donovan, host of Classical Austin

It’s always a lot of fun when I have guests in from Austin Lyric Opera on the Classical Austin show. This time, we previewed the Austin Lyric Opera’s production of Rossini’s Italian Girl In Algiers. We discussed the opera, Rossini, and the challenges of singing/conducting. The show aired on Wednesday, January 26th, 8pm. There was more to our interview than we could fit into one hour on Classical Austin, so if you missed any of the show, or you would like to hear more of the interview, check out the archived version on our website.

GUESTS: Sandra Piques Eddy is a dazzling mezzo who will be starring as Isabella (The “Italian Girl”). Austin audiences got to see and hear this dynamo in recent productions of The Barber of Seville and Cenerentola. Bass-baritone, Peter Strummer (Taddeo) has impressed Austin audiences with his warm voice and characterizations, in Don Pasquale, The Barber of Seville and other productions. Maestro Richard Buckley (ALO Conductor) continues to help bring richly inspired performances from both the singers and the orchestra.

Performance Dates: Jan. 29, Feb. 2, 4, & 6, 2011

More Info: austinlyricopera.org, sandrapiqueseddy.com, peterstrummer.com

~posted by Dianne Donovan, mid-day host, and producer of Classical Austin

American Boychoir visits Austin

A wonderful guest stopped by the studio today — Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, the Director of the American Boychoir, whose home is based in Princeton, New Jersey.

The American Boychoir is regarded as the United States’ premier concert boys’ choir. Under the leadership of Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, The American Boychoir offers audiences a unique blend of musical sophistication, effervescent spirit, and ensemble virtuosity. Boys in grades 4 through 8, reflecting the ethnic, religious and cultural diversity of the United States, come from across the country and around the world to pursue a rigorous musical and academic curriculum at the school. And they’re in town right now, for an event  *tonight* in collaboration with The Austin Girl’s Choir, led by Sara Burden-McClure.

You may have heard Fernando Malvar-Ruiz’s on-air conversation with Rich Upton this afternoon… he had some great insights on the quality and types of music that they perform and record, as well as a modern perspective on teaching young boys the choral arts. If you missed the interview, you can hear it again on our website: click here.

~posted by Alison @ KMFA 🙂

Listening to the Festival of Carols from…. Antarctica?!


(posted by Joan Kobayashi, KMFA General Manager)

This is a beautiful note accompanied by beautiful pictures I just had to share. To imagine listening to our programming with that backdrop . . . well, there aren’t really words to describe it.

~Joan

********************************************************
Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2010 1:48 PM
To: Joan Kobayashi
Subject: Enjoyment and pledge

Dear Joan:

I am a University of Texas Research Professor from Austin, sitting in a laboratory at the United States base McMurdo Station in Antarctica, listening to KMFA on what is December 23 for us (on New Zealand time at ~180 degrees west longitude, a day ahead and 5 hours behind Austin).

This is to let you know how much I appreciate the KMFA programming and your colleagues’ presentation of it – not least here surrounded by the magnificent scenery of the active Mount Erebus volcano and the majestic Royal Society Range of the Transantarctic Mountains.

 

I attached some images to let you see the type of setting in which your music is being enjoyed, as we try to decipher the signals of ice mass change in Antarctica and hence of global sea-level change.

Best wishes to you and your colleagues for the Holiday Season.

~Ian

*****************************************************

Thank you, Ian. We’re so glad that the work we do enriches the experience of the work that you do.  Again, thank you for the gift of your words and pictures.  Wishing you a most beautiful Christmas and New Year.

Warmly,
Joan

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.