Austin Chamber Music Center Performathon

Mother Falcon (Photo by John Anderson)

Getting a nine-hour fix of live popular music is no problem in Austin. Scarcely a weekend goes by here without some festival or other – rock, folk, punk, Latino, etc. – at which you can soak up sweet sounds from band after band all day long. But how often in these parts can you hear nine hours of classical music live? Not so often, which is just one thing that makes this Sunday's Austin Chamber Music Center Performathon such a treat. You can hear a bounty of our city's finest classical performers (ACMC Artistic Director Michelle Schumann, Austin Classical Guitar Society Executive Director Matthew Hinsley, the Revel chamber group, Artisan String Quartet, Mother Falcon, et al.) one right after the other, all in the acoustically delightful Dell Hall. But it isn't just professional music makers you'll get to hear. More than 240 student chamber musicians will also be playing, youth ages 6-18 who work with the ACMC Academy, Chamber Music in Public Schools program, the Austin Classical Guitar Society, and other programs across the city. Performing at the Dell Hall is something they will remember for the rest of their lives, notes Schumann, who came up with the idea of the Performathon as a way for ACMC to celebrate its 30th anniversary. Having these students and the role of music education in their lives at the heart of this event has diffused a lot of the artistic temperament that one might expect from a mash-up of so many musicians. "But you're promoting something awesome in the community," says Schumann, "and that takes the ego out of the whole thing."

Performathon Schedule

The Austin Chamber Music Center Performathon will take place Sunday, May 1, noon–9pm, at Dell Hall in the Long Center, 701 W. Riverside. Each hour features a different professional ensemble. The schedule is below. For more information, visit www.austinchambermusic.org.

Noon: ACMC faculty quartet

Joseph Smith, violin; Leah Nelson, viola; Julia Cory, cello; Michelle Schumann, piano – "Allegro" from Brahms' Piano Quartet in G Minor

1pm: Revel

Cármelo de los Santos, violin; Matt Diekman, viola; Joel Becktell, cello; Carla McElhaney, piano – "Rondo alla Zingarese" from Brahms' Piano Quartet in G Minor

2pm: Waterloo Sound Conspiracy

Seetha Shivaswamy, flute; Rebecca Haskins, oboe; Rebecca Jordan, clarinet; Chris Pickens, horn; Julia Windle, bassoon – Moltz's Escape From Clockwork

3pm: Line Upon Line Percussion

Adam Bedell, Cullen Faulk, Matthew Teodori – Reich's Drumming Part 1

4pm: 5one2 Brass Quintet

Josh Davies, trumpet; Jared Broussard, trumpet; Patrick Creel, horn; Javier Stuppard, trombone; Martin McCain, bass trombone – selections from Bernstein's West Side Story

5pm: Lyriko Guitar Trio & Hamelin/King Duo

Matthew Hinsley, Steve Kostelnik, Thomas Echols – Bellinati's "Baiao de Gude"; Karla Hamelin, cello; Patches King, piano – "Allegro assai vivace" from Mendelssohn's Cello Sonata No. 2

6pm: Lewis/Myers Duo

Brian Lewis, violin; Roger Myers, viola – "Allegro" from Mozart's Duo for Violin and Viola in G Major

7pm: Members of the Artisan String Quartet

Richard Kilmer, violin; Bruce Williams, viola; Douglas Harvey, cello – "Andante (Theme and Variations)" from Mozart's Divertimento in E-flat

8pm: Balcones Community Orchestra with Michelle Schumann

"Adagio – Allegro vivace" from Beethoven's Symphony No. 4; "Allegro affettuoso" from Schumann's Piano Concerto in A Minor

8:30pm: Mother Falcon