Guitars Under the Stars and Classical Cactus!
We couldn't be more excited for tomorrow's Guitars Under the Stars, which, we are pleased to announce, is sold out! This year's headlining artist is Eliot Fisk, a brilliant and captivating musician. Please stay tuned for a review of what we know will be glittering evening!
Coming up on Thursday the 16th is another installment of Classical Cactus with Kithara Duo and Joe Williams! This is the first Austin appearance for Kithara Duo – Olga Amelkina-Vera and Fernand Vera – and we’re thrilled to be presenting them at the Cactus. In addition to being a great guitar player, Olga is also a very talented composer who is this year's winner of our Guitars Galore Ensemble Composition Competition! Prior to their 9PM appearance, Austin composer and guitarist Joe Williams will open the show at 8. Notably, Williams was the composer of the amazing guitar orchestra and string quartet piece, “Austin Pictures”, we presented on October 1st with the Miro Quartet and Peter Bay! Get Tickets Here!
A Conversation with Johannes
Johannes Möller is one of those rare people who lifts you up just by his presence. You don’t even need to talk – just being in the same room and seeing his smile, and feeling his energy, brings a hard-to-describe effervescence and positivity. And nowhere is it more palpable than when you hear him play.
Johannes, of course, won the GFA when we hosted it in Austin in 2010. The GFA – as many know – is the world’s most prestigious interanational competition. Winning it is akin to winning Wimbledon… but on the guitar. And the fact that he won it right here in Austin, makes his return, on the GFA winner’s tour on January 28th, all the sweeter.
Joahnnes is an inventive composer who writes soulful, tuneful, and expressive music. He’ll play a bunch of original selections on the fabulous program he has planned for us (view his program online now).
Recently I asked Johannes to share some thoughts about his upcoming trip back to Austin.
Matthew Hinsley: What does it mean to you to come back to Austin, after winning GFA here in 2010?
Johannes Möller: Winning the GFA competition at the convention in Austin was huge and I will always have a special relation to your city. I dreamt about winning this competition since my early teenage years and I entered it various times in the past. Winning it was significant turning point in my career but also on a personal level as I was able to realize a dream.
MH: Is there any part of Austin you'd love to see, or see again?
JM: It was summer during the convention so I remember the tropical climate, you might not like it yourselves, but coming from Sweden I loved it! One of the highlights was going down to the river and getting mesmerized by the peaceful life of the turtles. However I was mostly at my hotel room practicing that week so I can't wait to see more of Austin this time!
MH: Tell me about Johannes the composer?
JM: My composing and guitar playing have gone hand in hand almost since I first got into music, which is now almost 20 years ago. There have been times when I feel that the two professions have competed between each other. But every year I feel that they support each other more and more, when I am interpreting music I go in depth and learn from the works of the masters of the past and of our time. And being a composer give me continuously new insights which makes my understanding of music deeper and deeper.
MH: Is there anything you'd like our audience to know walking into your concert?
JM: Sit back, enjoy and let the music take over!
MH: Is that your dog in the picture?
JM: Cassi lives with my father, but we feel that she belongs to the whole family!
Johannes Möller - Program
We are ecstatic to have Johannes Möller's concert just around the corner!
His program has several well known and beloved works but for sure, the thing to be most excited about are his own compositions. Johannes writes in a gorgeous, atmospheric, transparently expressive style.
To whet your appetite, here is a video online of him performing the first selection on his program!
Here, for the first time, is Johannes' full program for his Austin show on the 28th:
Song to the Mother (2009) Johannes Möller (b.1981)
Introduction and Variations K. A. Craeyvanger (1817-1868)
(on a theme from the opera Der Freischütz)
Asturias (Leyenda) from Suite Española Op. 47 Isaac Albéniz (1860-1909)
A star in the sky, a universe within… (2009) Johannes Möller
Intermission
Lamento-Scherzo (2010) Denis Gougeon (b. 1951)
Un Sueño en la Floresta Agustín Barrios-Mangoré (1885-1944)
Poem to a Distant Fire (2010) Johannes Möller
Ananda (2009) Johannes Möller
Johannes Möller, January 28th!
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Fund Drive Goal Reached!
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Fund Drive Goal Reached!
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KLRU Caballero TV Show online!
Last Thursday (12/29/11) was a night I've been waiting for since October... the night the KLRU aired their TV special made about our October 1st Austin Pictures presentation.
If you missed the show you can see part of it online now. Currently posted online is the complete, unbelievable, acrobatic, performance of Pictures at an Exhibition by Jorge Caballero from that evening.
Wow.
The playing is miraculous. I loved being in the audience, but watching it here as captured by the wizards at KLRU is amazing too, because you can get so close to the artist. The sound capture is incredible, too, Caballero's unbelievable meticulous attention to color, volume, intensity and so much more, really comes through.
I talked with Jorge for a while Thursday night and he, too, was really pleased with the show. I hopw you love it as much as we did.
KUT Education Story Online
This incredible story aired on Monday, December 26th.
I was so incredibly proud to hear, captured on the radio, insight into the amazing work our Director of Education, Travis Marcum, is doing at Gardner Betts of the Travis County Juvenile Justice System.
The story is a substantial one, just over 5 minutes long. But I strongly encourage you to check it out - it will lift your spirits!
Austin Pictures Revisited!
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Eliot Fisk, A Letter from Matthew Hinsley
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