Bobae Lee (DMA ’23), with her Risus Quartet, has won the Senior Strings Division gold medal and Grand Prize at the 48th Annual Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Founded in Seoul in 2020, the Risus Quartet comprises of violinists Haeni Lee and Jieun Yoo, violist Mary Eunkyung Chang and cellist Bobae Lee. The UT Butler School based ensemble will receive US$13,500 plus a number of important domestic and international performance opportunities. Congratulations to Bobae, and a big thank you to their coaches, Professors Daniel Ching and Sandy Yamamoto!

For more information, visit the violinchannel.com.

This weekend, Austin Camerata, with Artistic Director Daniel Kopp (MM ’18), presents “Fire and Fiddles” outdoors at the Neill-Cochran House Museum! This program includes works by Jessie Montgomery, the Danish String Quartet, Paul Wiancko, and Wynton Marsalis.

Four performance times are available:
Friday, May 7 at 7pm and 9pm
Saturday, May 8 at 4:30pm and 6:30pm

For ticket and more information visit austincamerata.com.

Earlier today, on Easter Sunday, Bobae Lee (DMA ’23) performed Jacques Offenbach’s Les Larmes de Jacqueline (Jacqueline’s Tears), Op. 76, No. 2, with the Hanshin Philharmonic Orchestra in Seochogu, Seoul, South Korea. What at wonderful sight to see people attending live concerts again!

More about Bobae…

Congratulations to Deborah Seale (BM in Music Studies ’16), on the birth of her first opus, Quinn Elaine Matthews earlier this morning!

More about Deborah….

Diana Burgess (BM ’15) is featured guest today on Johnny Goudie’s podcast how did i get here chatting aobut her new solo album, You Run, in which Diana sings and plays all the instruments: cello, tenor guitar, tenor banjo, waterphone and percussion. Listen to the entire conversation at PodBean.

Diana Burgess (BM ’15) appears prominently as cellist and vocalist in Curtis McMurtry’s newest album, Toothless Messiah, out on February 5th at Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify Music and YouTube Music.

More info…

Francesco Mastromatteo (DMA ’12) has been named “Fiduciario” (Associate Director) of the Residency of Rodi Garganico of Conservatorio “Umberto Giordano” in Foggia, the second largest province in Italy. Congratulations, Francesco!

For more information, visit www.conservatoriofoggia.it.

This past weekend, Austin Camerata presented its first Music Trivia Night via YouTube Premiere. Artistic Director Daniel Kopp (MM ’18), Cory Blais (MM ’19) and others performed pop, hip-hop, jazz, rock, classical, country, and broadway…

Friction Quartet Debuts New Works for C4NM

by Jessica Balik

Any creative undertaking is bounded by certain constraints, such as the time you have to finish it or the fixed size of your canvas. You can argue whether these constraints impede or enhance creativity. Indisputably, though, our current times provide plenty of them: Musicians cannot rehearse in groups while individually sheltering in place, for example, and even when musicians play together over a video conferencing platform, the vagaries of internet connectivity can cause parts that should happen simultaneously to align imperfectly.

But on Saturday, Nov. 28, San Francisco’s Center for New Music (C4NM) presented four new works for string quartet — by Davide Verotta, Shawne Anell Workman, Monica Chew, and Allan Crossman — that were created with virtual-performance restrictions in mind. The Friction Quartet, with each member playing from their own home, streamed this intrepid program called “Composing in the Time of the Pandemic.”

Read the full review….

Catch Dylan Rieck’s (MM ’09) concert debut of original music for solo cello, all composed during the 2020 pandemic. This concert is made possible with the generous support of Shierry Nicholsen and Michael Schultheis. The digital concert with interactive chat premieres on YouTube on Sunday, November 22, 2020, at 4:30pm PT…