On Sunday, April 22, Nora Karakousoglou (DMA ’16) gives a cello master class for the Austin Chamber Music Center’s Adult Academy. The master class begins at 5:00 PM at the Armstrong Community Music School and is free to the public to enjoy. For more information, visit austinchambermusic.org.
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This weekend, on Sunday, March 25, at 2:00pm, at The North Door, Golden Hornet’s 3rd Annual Young Composer Concert presents nine new works from Austin-area youth ranging between ages 9 and 18. Writing the new works under the guidance of professional mentors, each piece will be performed by Tetractys, with Matthew Armbruster (MM ’16) and James Burch (DMA ’16), in between brief interviews with the composers. It will include works inspired by the musical legacy of Leonard Bernstein, in collaboration with Bernstein100Austin.
In memory of young composer Draylen Mason, the concert will be dedicated in his honor. It will include vocal dedications from peers and mentors as well as a performance of his work “Hell Fire,” which was composed for the concert last year, to create a space for reverence amidst the musical community in remembrance of his vibrant demeanor, undeniable talent, and endless potential.
Nine New Works by:
Ayden Machajewski
Fiona Gehrke
Helen Lundy
Melody Richards
Ian Shaw
Sel Hoxie
Katelyn Rodrigues
Cassidy Peña
Reese Niemitz
Golden Hornet is an Austin-based presenting and commissioning organization founded by composer/musician/bandleaders Graham Reynolds and Peter Stopschinski. Since 1999 GHP has premiered over 60 new alt-classical works by more than 50 composers rooted in wildly different musical backgrounds. In 1999 the alt-classical movement barely existed. In 2014 it is thriving in cities around the world. Golden Hornet Project continues to be a vital member and leader of that global community and their commissions and productions strive to synchronize the rock club and the concert hall.
For venue, ticket and more information, visit
www.goldenhornet.org or
www.eventbrite.com.
On March 25 at 7:30pm, Seulki Lee (DMA ’19) appears with the Austin Civic Orchestra, performing the Haydn Concerto No. 2 in D Major for cello and orchestra, Hob. VIIb/2, Op. 101, in Bates Recital Hall. The performance is part of the ACO’s sixth annual “Texas Rising Stars” concert.
Today, Michelle Ferry Williams (BM ’09) and her husband, Clint Williams, welcomed their latest opus, Ezra Todd, to the family, joining sister Adeline and brother Frederick Christian. Ezra was born at 3:19pm, 8 lbs. 9 oz. and 21 1/4 inches long.
#futurelonghorns
#futurecellists
Seulki Lee (DMA ’19) has been awarded a UT College of Fine Arts Graduate School Continuing Fellowship for 2018-19. The award includes a $14,000 stipend, a full-tuition assistance benefit as well as a supplement for basic student medical insurance. The total estimated value of the fellowship is nearly $35,000.
Since Seulki arrived in Austin a year and a half ago, she has already: won the Principal Cello position of the Round Rock Symphony Orchestra; won the Associate Principal Cello position of the Victoria Symphony Orchestra; become a member of the Britten-Pears Orchestra, led by conductor Marin Alsop, performing at Snape Maltings Concert Hall in Suffolk and Royal Festival Hall in London; and become a member of the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra, performing at the Luzerne Concert Hall, the Köln Konzertsaal, and the Hamburg Der Grosse Saal. Seulki also won Second Prize in the Lewisville International Competition for Strings.
The Graduate Fellowship will allow Seulki to focus on one of her life passions, the Six Unaccompanied Cello Suites of Bach. Congratulations, Seulki!
Doug Machiz (MM ’11), with his San Francisco-based Friction Quartet, releases The War Below, a video by acclaimed director Michael McQuilken featuring a movement from the quartet’s 2016 Chamber Music America commission Prospects of a Misplaced Year by composer Andy Akiho:
A beautiful tribute from Francesco Mastromatteo (DMA ’12) to a lost colleague, Prof. Elliott Antokoletz (1942-2017), Professor of Musicology at the UT Butler School of Music…
“April 2011 That morning was a revelation.
I knocked at the office’s door of Prof. Antokoletz with joy, enthusiasm, fear, desire…and my usual uncertainty about pretty much everything. Prof. Antokoletz, the living legend in music history, and after one semester in his class an hero in my personal life, was sitting humming a twelve tone row….the simple ability which made me falling in love with this bigger than life man. “Professor Antokoletz, I am sorry I bother you, but I have few questions about the Moto Perpetuo in Britten first suite for solo cello, if you have a bit of time…” “Of course, I actually do not know this piece, but let me see”. ” Here you go, I found the cells in this movement, but I really do not understand how they relate and the process of growth and if there is an axis of simmetry or not…” In those days in my life everything needed an axis of simmetry, possibly around C/C#….life seemed manageable only this way. Prof. Antokoletz, scribbled down the cells and gave me back the score, then started to hum again, now with those new cells among papers and books everywhere in his tiny, humble, intensely alive studio. He was now writing sixteen notes, one after another, and I had in my hands the score, he started to write with good pacing for almost 20 measures and kept humming at time…then he turned toward me…”What? Why are you looking at me like that?” I think my jaw was on the floor, and with my mouth wide opened ” well….you are writing Britten’s music as…it is”. “Oh really?…” he giggled…”…well that’s pretty good, he is moving around two axis then, 1 and 3, and finally he arrives to 0 in the coda, this is why this Suite is in C, now we only have to find the spots where he did differently from what I am doing and we found…the genius…”. His light blue shirt looked brighter than usual, his eyes where music to me and I suddenly could go and memorize the piece, I could possess it, I could play it, I could be more alive than ever….”Francesco one more thing. Listen…” He moved closer on his chair, ” None of us can be Bartok or Britten, Casals, or Rostropovich, but neither they can be us… as long as we do our best, as we live at our best. We are all unique. Your life is unique, your music is unique, and it is unique as it is. And… in any case and for anybody on this planet, there is nothing better than the last Beeethoven quartets….humanity reached its pick there, except for when I met my wife…of course…. See you tomorrow, great music, this Brittten…” and he kept humming along, turning away with his smile among his cells, his love for Art, his boundless passion for Life. You will be missed, Prof. Antokoletz, every day, every single day. Bartok will learn a lot from you now. I am sure”
Diana Burgess (BM ’15) appears twice at the 2017 Austin Trail of Lights: first, as member of the Mother Falcon String Trio, at the 4th Annual “Night Lights” Preview Party, presented by Lyft, benefitting the Trail of Lights Foundation, on Friday, December 8, at 7pm-10pm; and then, with the entire Mother Falcon band, at the “Cap City Music Night” on Thursday, December 14, at 7pm-10pm.
Longhorn Cellos 