Here’s the program for Saturday night!
“Austin Pictures” by Joseph Williams II opens the concert. Watch an interview with Joseph now. It’s in five short movements and, similar to how Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition describes ten paintings through music, Williams’ Austin Pictures describes five Austin scenes: The Hill Country, Floating on Lady Bird Lake, The Dance of the Grackles, Violet Crown with Cicadas & Capital City Construction. The piece will be premiered by about 100 guitarists – some from as far away as Albuquerque, Brownsville, and Oklahoma City, with the Miró String Quartet, conducted by Maestro Peter Bay. See an interview with Maestro Peter Bay now.
“Austin Pictures – The Movie” plays immediately following the Williams. Its only 12 minutes long and it’s a gorgeous and inspiring window into the process of the wonderful and talented 11 distinguished young visual artists we commissioned to each paint their own Austin versions of paintings inspired by Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. See the paintings now. The Alamo Drafthouse has helped us with this, and the extensive preview AV we’ve prepared for the evening – watch an interview now with Alamo founder and CEO Tim League about the project.
“Songs and Dances” by Jorge Morel opens Act 2. It’s a beautiful work in two short movements for guitar and string quartet played by our star guitarist of the evening, Jorge Caballero, and the amazing Miró String Quartet. ACGS commissioned Songs and Dances 3 years ago for Caballero’s Axis Quintet.
“Introduction and Fandango” by Luigi Boccherini will be a rousing finish to what will be a brief second act. A much-loved, well-known fun piece, it will be a terrific way to end the second act, and show off the Miró String Quartet. Watch an interview with the Miró String Quartet now where we discuss the Boccherini and Austin Pictures in general.
“Pictures at an Exhibition” by Modest Mussorgsky is Act 3. In a hard-to-imagine performance, Jorge Caballero will perform the entire work on solo guitar. Jorge’s performance is the inspirational centerpiece for the entire Austin Pictures project, and hearing him play the piece is something we’ve been looking forward to for a long time!
Extras
We held a Facebook Picture Challenge and invited community members to submit their own “Austin Pictures” via Facebook in August and September. Those fabulous pictures, along with some of our feature interviews will make up previews beginning at 7:30PM – and will also run during the two intermissions. KLRU will tape the entire evening for TV release! KMFA will broadcast the concert live on the radio. The eleven paintings will be on display at the concert and will be available by ebay auction (9/26-10/3) with proceeds benefitting the Educational Outreach Program of the Austin Classical Guitar Society.