Classical
A Latin Carnival of Music
Fri-Sat, Feb 19-20, 8pm, Bass Concert Hall
The 41st Grammy Awards will recognize 1998's best musicians at the end of this month in Los Angeles, and Sharon Isbin will be there with bated breath. The 41-year-old Isbin, considered one of the finest classical guitarists in the world after a professional career that started when she was 17, will be waiting to find out whether her latest CD, Journey to the Amazon, is going to win an award in the first-ever category, Best Classical Crossover Album. With her first Grammy nomination, you can rest assured she won't be sitting in the audience worried about what she's wearing.
However, before you turn on the tube to see if Isbin gets recognized by the music industry, you can see her in person as she performs "A Latin Carnival of Music" alongside Peter Bay and the Austin Symphony Orchestra this weekend at Bass Concert Hall. With the same Flamenco flair that characterizes Journey to the Amazon, Isbin's all-Latin performance will include Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez and Villa-Lobos' Bachiana Brasileria No.4, two lively and romantic concertos written for the guitar. Along with Chavez's Sinfonia India and de Falla's Suites No. 1 and No. 2 from The Three-Cornered Hat, the evening promises to showcase Isbin's unique style and elegant finger work, a technique that has been likened to "watching a spider spin a web." Plus if you haven't seen Maestro Bay at the helm of the ASO, this is as good a chance as any to check out the young conductor. Now that we've got Grammy hype surrounding the city's classical engagements some three weeks before South by Southwest, that "Live Music Capital of the World" moniker has never been more accurate. -- Sam Martin
UT Jazz Orchestra, Jeff Hellmer, director. Fri, Feb 19, 8pm, at Bates Recital Hall, 25th &
E. Campus Dr. $3.
Kathleen Walsdorf & Erin Walsdorf, violin/cello, Non-degree recital. Sun, Feb 21, 2pm, at Recital Studio, MRH Rm 2.608, 25th & E. Campus Dr. Free.
Jamie Desautels, violin. Doctor of Musical Arts II recital. Mon, Feb 22, 8pm, at Bates Recital Hall, 25th & E. Campus Dr. Free.
Rose Taylor, mezzo soprano, Tim Lovelace, piano. Faculty artists recital. Featuring songs by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Gorecki, Debussy, and American Songs. Mon, Feb 22, 8pm, at Jessen Auditorium, Rainey Hall on 21st Street opposite Dobie Mall. Free.
Ezra Johnson, euphonium. Junior recital. Tue, Feb 23, 4:30pm, at Recital Studio, MRH Rm 2.608, 25th & E. Campus Dr. Free.
US Marine Band, Guest Artist concert. Tue,
Feb 23, 7:30pm, at Bates Recital Hall, 25th &
E. Campus Dr.
Wind Ensemble, with Barbara Conrad, mezzo-soprano; Jerry Junkin, director. Wed, Feb 24, 8pm, at Bates Recital Hall, 25th & E. Campus Dr. Free.
Matthew Dunne, guitar. Doctor of Musical Arts II recital. Wed, Feb 24, 8pm, at Recital Studio, MRH room 2.608, 25th & E. Campus Dr. Free.
Kevin Vigneau, oboe. Guest Artist recital. Thu, Feb 25, 5:30pm, at Recital Studio, MRH Rm 2.608, 25th & E. Campus Dr. Free.
UT Opera Theatre presents Bandanna, by Daron Aric Hagen. Robert DeSimone, director. Thu, Feb 25, 8pm, at McCullough Theatre. $12/$9 w/UT ID. 471-1444.
Recorded listings of upcoming events:
471-5401.
SOUTWEST TEXAS STATE UNIVERSTIY This San Marcos school regularly offers notable musical events. This week:
Southwest Texas Symphony Orchestra Children's Concert. Fri, Feb 19, 7pm, at Evans Auditorium.
Timothy Woolsey, piano. Faculty Artist recital. Mon, Feb 22, 8pm, at the Music Recital Hall.
Wind Octet. Tue, Feb 23, at the Music Recital Hall.
All performances are on the SWTSU campus, San Marcos.
EAST/WEST FESTIVAL '99 Cultural diversity is celebrated through music and poetry from cultures across the globe. Cosmic Intuition Productions sponsors this international affair, taking place at UT's Art Building Auditorium, features native flutist Mario Garza, Indian instrumentalist Oliver Rajmani, Chinese ur-hu master Zong Ti Lin and accordionist Helen Lin, rhythm and rhyme from the Cosmic Drummers with Eartha Colson and NOOK, reggae from the Killer Bees, Latin American music by Centzontle, and words from Taneka Bazemore and Tammy Gomez. FINAL NIGHT! Fri, Feb 19, 7:30pm, at the Art Building, UT campus. Free. 604-4405.
The AUSTIN SYMPHONY The city's premier purveyors of orchestral music continue their 1998-99 season "world tour" with stops in various Latin locales. For ASO's "A Latin Carnival," new music director Peter Bay has selected works by composers from Brazil, Mexico, and Spain, most of them drawn from the very fruitful period of the 1930s. Foremost on the bill is Joaquín Rodrigo's delicate Concierto Aranjuez, a work for guitar and orchestra for which ASO has secured the services of current Grammy nominee Sharon Isbin (Journey to the Amazon). Filling out the program are Villa-Lobos' salute to Bach Bachiana Brasilia No. 4; Chavez's celebration of music by the indigenous peoples of Mexico, Sinfonía India; and de Falla's playful Suites No. 1 and 2 from The Three-Cornered Hat. (See box for more info.) TWO PERFORMANCES ONLY!
Feb 19-20, Fri-Sat, 8pm, in Bass Concert Hall, UT campus. $14-30. http://www.austinsymphony.org or 476-6064.
AUSTIN BOYS CHOIR Choral ensemble for young male singers that has been performing for Central Texans for 12 years. On the eve of this year's American Choral Directors convention in Chicago, at which six ABC members will participate as part of the National Honor Boychoir, this accomplished choral group will provide a special program at the LBJ Library. The choir's 1999 repertoire includes Bach cantatas, American folk songs, classical and traditional Anglican music, and music of other cultures. TWO PERFORMANCES ONLY! Sat, Feb 20, 1 & 3pm, in the Great Hall, LBJ Library and Museum, 2313 Red River, UT campus. Free. 478-7829, x297.
TEXAS EARLY MUSIC PROJECT: A Mid-Winter Festival of Music Austin's most comprehensive proponent of medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music, played with the instruments and in the styles of the periods, keep away what little chill we Central Texans may be feeling this winter with a fiery six-week run of concerts starring area specialists in early music. Daniel Johnson, director of UT's Early Music Ensemble and artistic director of the Texas Early Music Project, has lined up programs covering everything from Medieval Celtic harp music to Baroque opera to Renaissance lute duets, with each program so intriguing as to pique the curiosity of even non-devotees like this author. This week, the fest offers lieder and lutes in a pair of programs. First up is the lieder, performed by that rich,velvety baritone you may know from his day job as KUT morning show host, John Aielli, and UT professor piano Nancy Garrett, playing her Graf fortepiano. The following night, Scott Horton of Dallas and Bruce Brogdon of Houston brandish their lutes for a program of solos and duets, with occasional vocal support from soprano Stephanie Prewitt. ONE WEEKEND ONLY! Leider: Sat, Feb 20, 8pm; Lutes: Sun, Feb 21, 7:30pm; both at First English Lutheran Church, 30th & Whitis. $8 ($6 students). http://www.early-music.org, 371-0099 or 454-TIXS.
WILD BASIN WINDS Professional wind quintet founded in 1996 by five friends who had played together in assorted chamber groups and orchestras for more than a decade. As part of the ensemble's second season, it's presenting a concert at Southwestern University. The winds -- featuring Ian Davidson, oboe; Daris Word Hale, bassoon; Tom Hale, horn; Adrienne Inglis, flute; and Ann McCutchan, clarinet -- flavor their program with an intriguing mix of the old and the new: from Ronald Roseman's Renaissance Suite to Paquito D'Rivera's Aires Tropicales from Claude Debussy's Three Pieces From Epigraphes Antiques to Bruce Adolphe's new Night Journey to Nielsen's Woodwind Quintet, Op. 43. ONE PERFORMANCE ONLY! Mon,
Feb 22, 8pm, in the Alma Thomas Theatre, SU campus, Georgetown. Free. 491-6317.
ST. DAVID's LENTEN ORGAN SERIES: Philip Baker Free lunchtime concert series featuring guest organists observing Lent through music for this grand instrument. A hot lunch is served after the half-hour program ($4); free parking available. Wed, Feb 24: Philip Baker performs a program of "Killer Bs," with works by Bach, Britten, Buxtehude, and Baker. Wed-nesdays, 12:05pm, at St. David's Episcopal Church, Seventh & San Jacinto. 472-1196.
THE NOONDAY CONCERT SERIES Free weekly concert performances by a diverse range of local musicians, classical and otherwise. Lunch follows the half-hour program ($3). Thu, Feb 25: piano duets by Felicity Coltman and Heather Coltman. Thursdays, noon, at Central Presbyterian Church, Eighth & Brazos. 472-2445.
