Crosstalk: KMFA Announces Middle Sattre’s Sophie Mathieu as 2024 Composer-in-Residence

Sophie Mathieu

KMFA Classical 89.5 announced 2024 composer-in-residence Sophie Mathieu at a Jan. 23 event at the station’s Draylen Mason Music Studio. Launched in 2022, the initiative seeks to diversify the classical music world in honor of late Austin musician Mason. Mathieu, a cellist who earned a master’s degree from the Butler School of Music and also plays in the indie folk band Middle Sattre, will spend a year curating events, leading music workshops, and composing a piece that the Austin Unconducted chamber orchestra will premiere this fall.

KUTX 98.9 FM has played nothing but white noise since Saturday. The station pointed to issues with its over-1,000-foot Bee Cave broadcasting tower, made inaccessible by weather. Engineers plan to place a low-power transmitter on top of the station’s UT-Austin headquarters, but it “could be weeks” until its far-reaching signal is restored. Music continues to stream online at kutx.org.

Mange, a queer hardcore group, announced their breakup in light of last year’s anti-trans state legislation. “We knew eventually we’d have to stop doing music together and move somewhere each of us could actually live,” the band wrote on Instagram. “Kind Clinic had to change how they billed their patients, trans kids are getting forced out and there’s no political force in Texas that’s going to do something about it. So the girls and boy in Mange [are] heading out to more friendly states.” The quartet’s final bow comes Sunday, Jan. 28, at Mohawk with Petra von Kan’t.