Bemused at the Blanton

I took advantage of Austin’s pleasant springtime weather to visit the Blanton Museum last weekend… and found a greenbelt of 99 trees covered with knitting, right in front of the entrance!

It was all part of the “Knitted Wonderland” that is officially referred to as a “site-specific installation,” designed by textile artist Magda Sayeg, and crafted by over 170 local volunteer knitters. I confess that when I saw it, I’m old enough to be reminded of toe socks. 😉 The bright knits added vivid color to the yet-leafless trees.

The industriously whimsical tree knits matched the current exhibit going on inside the Blanton: Recovering Beauty. I’ve often encountered literature and art that resulted from societal repression and revolution…. but this exhibit reflects the brief period of freedom from oppression that Argentina experienced during the 1990s.

The exhibited items within are delightful, expressive, metaphorical, and deceptively youthful. Some things appear simply decorative; others tell visual stories, and even provide specific tools for perspective, such as peep-holes on viewing boxes. The imagery and layers of meaning reminded me of literature’s greatest short stories: entertaining and appealing on the surface, rendering deeper content upon greater scrutiny.

I highly recommend visiting the Blanton for this wonderful exhibit. It has been one of my favorites! And the trees will be de-nitted March 25th, so swing by on your lunch hour.  You can find more info on the Blanton website.

~ posted by Alison @ KMFA 🙂

KMFA in the news

Last Friday, KVUE’s Martin Bartlett stopped by the radio station, with a specific question in mind: how are local public media stations coping with the threat of federal de-funding, now that the House of Representatives has passed a bill doing just that?

KMFA’s General Manager, Joan Kobayashi, spoke with Bartlett about the different needs of public radio stations, such as rural vs. metro stations, and university licensees compared to community licensees. You can see the resulting broadcast here:

~posted by Alison @ KMFA 🙂

In the KMFA Studios: Matt Haimovitz drops by during SXSW

Dianne chats with Matt about classical music and SXSW

Matt Haimovitz: a musical visionary, cellist extraordinaire, and busy performer at SXSW this week, dropped by the KMFA studios today! He chatted on the air with Dianne Donovan about how classical music is not just a niche of music from prior centuries, but a foundation of music for all genres and future composition.

Short bio: From his debut (at age of 13!) as soloist with Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic, and his first recording for Deutsche Grammophon, Haimovitz is considered a modern cellist virtuoso. In 2000, he made waves with his Bach Listening-Room Tour, wherein Haimovitz took Bach’s beloved cello suites *out* of the concert hall and into clubs across the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.  ….He was the first classical artist to play at New York’s infamous CBGB Club, in a performance filmed by ABC News’ Nightline. He is Professor of Cello at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University in Montreal.

Matt Haimovitz is acclaimed for his visionary approach, groundbreaking collaborations and innovative recording projects. We learned from him today that on March 22nd he will premiere a new cello concerto by Denys Bouliane with the Montreal Symphony and Kent Nagano.

If you missed his on-air interview, you can still listen to it on our website.

~posted by Alison @ KMFA 🙂

Texas Choral Consort offers an oratorio for all seasons

~posted by Dianne Donovan, KMFA mid-day host

Texas Choral Consort’s presentation of Die Jahreszeiten — “The Seasons” — (February 26th & 27th)

If you missed the opportunity to hear Franz Joseph Haydn’s “The Seasons” this past weekend, I’m sorry, really sorry. This masterwork is rarely performed in this part of the world. Although it was written three years after his blockbuster, “The Creation,” it never caught on like its predecessor.

photo credit: Robert Kelly

Much of the neglect rests with what was once an unwieldy English libretto (translated from a German translation/adaptation of an English poem by James Thomson titled, “The Seasons”). Over the centuries, some much-needed changes have improved the original libretto, and for this performance, Artistic Director, Brent Baldwin, deftly selected some of the best texts of the English versions.

photo credit: Robert Kelly

Having never heard this piece live, I wasn’t sure just how the music would “take flight.” Brent Baldwin led his chorus (the un-auditioned chorus, I might add!) to deliver a very strong and joyous performance. The orchestra was superb tackling this challenging piece and the soloists (soprano, Kirsten Watson as Jenny, baritone, Chaz Nailor as Simon and tenor, Jos Milton as Lucas), sang their arias/ensemble pieces with elegant facility and managed some tricky recitatives with great aplomb.

The other star of course, was Haydn. He was in his element here, with dazzling orchestration and some magnificent tone painting (was that a quail I just heard?). The summer sunrise and the shuddering storm scenes were standouts. As well, he provided inside jokes, as only Haydn could do. With the achingly beautiful opening of “Winter,” it was hard not to think of one W.A. Mozart. Also written into the music were moments of clever interplay between the soloists and chorus, and between the singers and the orchestra.

Cheers to the good folks at Texas Choral Consort for these performances, and to Brent Baldwin in particular for programming and delivering this piece.

Learn more about Texas Choral Consort performances and auditions at www.txconsort.org.

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

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.


Behind the scenes of KMFA’s Birthday Drive

What if I told you that you could give a loved one the perfect birthday gift, and that it would last all year long? It’s true! Your gift to KMFA during our Birthday Membership Drive is not just a gift to yourself… you are giving the gift of diverse classical music to your neighbors, your community, and the whole of Central Texas.

We’ve had a fun three days, with lots of wonderful visitors! In case you didn’t make it in to visit us this time, here are some behind-the-scenes photos:

 

 

Thanks again to one and all who have helped us make it to year 44!  Happy Birthday, KMFA!

~ posted by Alison @ KMFA 🙂

“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