It’s the Festival of Carols!

Christmas composure

Our annual Festival of Carols started today… and it always surprises me how contemplative, serene, and joyfully evocative the selections are. It’s not just holiday music, it’s winter music.

KMFA’s primetime announcers (Jeffrey, Dianne, Rich, and Sara) all carefully select the playlists for their own shifts. The pieces range from 13th-century chants to playful Sondheim renditions. Instruments vary from bells to strings to choral voices. It’s such a wonderful reprieve from the canned commercial tracks we hear ad nauseum in grocery stores, shopping malls, and on television.

So, if you’re feeling a bit jaded by holiday overexposure, I recommend KMFA’s Festival of Carols, from Monday, Dec. 22nd through Thursday, Dec. 25th. It truly does bring comfort and joy.

~Alison Cowden, Office Manager

Texas Choral Consort rocks the house… errr… church

Each year December is jammed packed with holiday parties, performances, and gatherings.  It’s tough to choose what to attend and what to skip.  I had a jammed packed weekend (it seems everyone I know was born in December) but I’m so delighted that I took some time to attend Texas Choral Consort’s Carols & Lullabies last Saturday night.

 

The program consisted of some familiar and some not so familiar holiday tunes.  Benjamin Britten’s “Ceremony of Carols” was performed with vigor and oomph ending the first half of the concert on a perfect note.

 

The real gem of this concert, however, was Conrad Susa’s “Carols and Lullabies: Christmas in the Southwest” where lullabies and seasonal songs were played from the south west corners of the world.  Several songs were sung in variations of Spanish.  My favorite without a doubt was the Nigerian song that ended that collection.  Conductor Brent Baldwin asked audience members to take our keys out and provide a little added percussion to the group.  As always Texas Choral Consort provided a quality, upstanding performance while remaining fun and interesting. Can’t wait to see what they perform next holiday season!

 

Judy Watts, Development Associate

Upcoming LIVE broadcast: ALO’s Cinderella!

We are so thrilled about the upcoming Austin Lyric Opera event: Cinderella !

Cinderella!

KMFA is broadcasting the event *live* this Saturday night, and even though we’ve done a couple of live broadcasts this year, every event is uniquely exciting!

This morning we welcomed two guests on the air: Kevin Patterson (Director of the Austin Lyric Opera) and Lauren Rico (visiting from NYC, where she understudies for Margaret Juntwait at the Metropolitan Opera). They were so enthusiastic and insightful about Saturday’s upcoming performance that I went straight to the ALO website to read more about it: www.AustinLyricOpera.org.

KMFA’s Production Manager, Jeffrey Blair, and our Production Associate, Phil Pollack, coordinate preliminary preparations with the engineers at the Long Center, testing all kinds of broadcast equipment and Internet functionality. Tonight, after their regular workday is over, they’ll trek over to the dress rehearsal, plugging into microphone arrays and tweaking the broadcast sound quality. I don’t understand half the technical stuff that they work on, but we’re SO glad to have their help!

So, if you can’t attend this wonderful performance in person, be sure and tune in this Saturday evening at 7pm. Lauren Rico and our own Dianne Donovan will be hosting the “pre-game” interviews right there in The Long Center lobby… and we’ll be glued to our radios!

~posted by Alison @ KMFA 🙂

The last night in Paris!

KMFA’s La Belle France tour could not have ended on a better note. Stunning. Mesmerizing. Fantastique!

Saturday we were treated to the opening night of the Paris Ballet’s Les Enfants Du Paradise .  Immediately we were thrown in the world of Garance and her fickle heart’s choices of suitors.  At times it was difficult to tell where the ballet started and where it ended as several of the dancers/actors performed from the audience.  At intermission the dancers did a mini performance in the main hall of the Palais Garnier.  The building was entertaining in itself, dripping with gold and velvet ornaments from ceiling to floor.

After the splendid ballet performance (which I will never forget) we all walked across the street to the Cafe de la Paix and our tastebuds were treated to equally as appetising foods. 

It’s only been a day but already I miss Paris, the Louvre, the Ballet, cafe au lait, Dianne Donovan’s great explanations of the concerts, our tour guide James’s incredible wealth of knowledge, and most of all the 17 very cool and eclectic folks who signed up for KMFA’s first ever trip.

Au revoir (for now)!
Judy Watts

p.s. pictures to come soon.

And now… the City of Lights!

Just a quick hello (the internet connection is scarce here).  Hello comrades! Good news! The KMFA La Belle France tour has made its way to the Paris, France.  The group arrived by high speed train Tuesday afternoon.  So many great landmarks seen and events attended in the past two days.

Wednesday we attended the Opera and it was the first time for at least two of our trip goers to ever see an opera! Rigoletto in Paris is a great introduction I would say.  : )

And more more more to come!

To be continued…

Judy Watts, Development Associate

La Belle France in Provence!

Bon Jour KMFA blog readers!

Today’s posting is a special greetings all the way from Avignon, France.  KMFA’s first international tour ever – La Belle France is well underway in southern France.  A group of 16 KMFA listeners and Dianne Donovan and myself traveled to France to enjoy the sights, sounds, tastes, and pleasures. 

We have successfully eaten our way from small village to village in the Provence area.  In fact just today we toured an olive grove and learned the process from tree to table.  We learned that France produces .02% of the world’s olives.  And the particular grove we toured today produces some of the country’s top quality olives for olive oil and table olives.  Yum!

Afterward, we were taken to Cabro D’Or a relais chateau French restaurant in the middle of countryside.  Two hours and four courses later we continued on our way to view some Roman ruins and see Van Gogh’s inspirations in Arles.      

Judy & Dianne

Eliot Fisk in the KMFA Studios

Eliot Fisk

Eliot Fisk

Today Eliot Fisk stopped by KMFA to chat with me about his upcoming concert.  He was a delight to talk to, and his knowledge of music seemed boundless.  Being able to fill in the entire concert after Angel Romero had to cancel under doctor’s orders, is a real testament to the skill and depth that Eliot Fisk has.  In the interview he talks about some of the works that he will be performing as well as where he gets some of his musical and spiritual inspiration.

Mr. Fisk will perform Saturday, October 4th at the Northwest Hills United Methodist Church.  Tickets can be purchased through the Austin Classical Guitar Society  by calling 300-ACGS.

Visit the KMFA homepage: www.kmfa.org to check out the interview!

Jeffrey Blair, Announcer

Thank Heavens for Volunteers!

Volunteers make it happen

Volunteers make it happen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello Friends of KMFA!

We have just wrapped up our Fall Membership Drive, and one thing I am constantly reminded of is how very helpful our volunteers are! Not only do they provide necessary services (with minimal guidance or instruction), but they are also advocates of our wonderful station. They consider KMFA a sanctuary of classical music, and they offer their time and expertise in return. We couldn’t do it without them. They are great friends of this community effort to support a local, classical radio station!

So, I’d like to salute every one of our fine volunteers, and thank you for all your excellent efforts on our behalf! You have our gratitude and admiration.

~Alison,
Office Manager, Volunteer Coordinator, and KMFA Member

Tarik O’Regan in the KMFA Studios

We always enjoy having visitors in the station, and earlier this week we had a special treat when British composer Tarik O’Regan dropped by to promote Conspirare’s new CD: Threshold of Night. (For any of you who haven’t listened to Threshold of Night yet, it’s a great CD and I highly recommend it.)

 

Tarik gave insight into one of his compositions Tal Vez Tenemos Tiempo, how his work has changed since moving to the U.S., and spoke about his work on an upcoming opera to be debuted in 2010.

 

Dianne Donovan chats with Tarik O'Regan

Dianne Donovan chats with Tarik O'Regan

 

For more information about Threshold of Night, visit: www.thresholdofnight.com

 

Judy Watts

Development Associate