Beautiful Gifts: From Music & Healing, Ana's Tango by Ana with Camille Schiess
ACG Music & Healing brings human connection, beauty, and expressivity to individuals facing isolation and challenge, through collaboration with a skilled and trained ACG Artist. These services are available to a wide variety of clients through partnerships with more than a dozen social service providers including hospitals, shelters, residential rehabilitation facilities, parental education and family health organizations, and veterans service providers. Learn more about ACG Music & Healing.
Written and recorded as a part of Austin Classical Guitar's Music & Healing Program in partnership with Texas Oncology, this song was created by Ana with Camille Schiess.
"This has been one of the most inspiring sessions I've done. I had a really great time connecting with [Ana] and trying to create something she can dance to and relate to on such a personal level. " - Camille Schiess
https://youtu.be/soxSItHYUbE
Beautiful Gifts: Community Music Making with Tony Mariano
At ACG we often think of special moments as gifts. This holiday season, we’d like to share some of these gifts with you in a series we’re calling Beautiful Gifts.
Beautiful Gift #1
As we look forward to a beautiful concert this weekend, we start to dream of the next semester in our community ensembles and reflect on the magical experiences we’ve had in these programs.
“The ACG ensemble is literally one of the reasons we moved to Austin.” Chamber Ensemble member Alexina Derkaz told us just yesterday. She and the rest of the group have been working hard toward Sunday’s performance.
“Guitar was a huge part of my childhood up through college, but fell to the wayside until I found ACG. Now I get to play new and exciting music alongside exceptional musicians. THE ELEMENTS performance last spring was a heart-pounding, grandiose, and joyful experience: the huge audience, how hard we worked, the theatricality of the piece…our preparation for our new piece, PRESENCE, is already filled with anticipation and excitement. Being in the rehearsals just feels soalive.I know that I’ve landed somewhere special.”
We had the opportunity to speak with Director of Community Education, Tony Mariano, about what makes these ensembles so special.
Tony expresses, “Folks who join our ensembles can look forward to building a close community of amazing people here in Austin, Texas. We meet weekly to learn and rehearse incredible music, preparing for performances throughout our community. Together, we extend our art form to share the pure joy of music making with everyone around us.”
Ensembles hold space for deep connections between our members and with music itself. It gives a safe space to collaborate, communicate, and trust one another in a significant way as we work towards a common goal of creating something beautiful and powerful to share with others.
Tony shares, “The connections people make in these ensembles are deep and energizing to see. There is challenge, determination, so much success and celebration, and the relationships that are made under those conditions are wonderful to be a part of.
I enjoy seeing people reach past where they thought they could ever make music. I love seeing people who love music push themselves to be true artists. And more than anything, I love the smiles on everyone’s faces, young and old, when they’ve just finished a performance, once they realize “wow… I did it!”. Those moments will stick with me forever.
Ensembles are the places where I found the most joy in my music making. I began studying guitar in an ensemble, and every place music has brought me ever since I’ve searched for opportunities to make music with others. To connect with others on a deeply expressive and musical level is energizing in a way that I don’t experience many other places. And I’m so deeply grateful for those opportunities.”
We’re excited to share an opportunity opening up for anyone interested in joining one of these ensembles.
In late January, we will be starting up a South Austin ensemble! If you are interested in interviewing for a spot or would like to learn more about it, just email us at [email protected]
Let’s create beautiful music together!
Learn more about our Classes & Ensembles here.
Thank You: From Jorge Caballero
It’s November, the month of gratitude, and we thought we’d celebrate our deep gratitude to you with some reflections shared by members of our precious community.
We dream of a world where music is here for everyone, connecting us, inspiring us, and bringing joy and meaning wherever it goes. Click here to learn more about supporting ACG.
We'd like to close out our month-long Thanksgiving-inspired gratitude series with a beautiful letter we just received from our dear friend, and spectacular virtuoso, Jorge Caballero.
Here’s Jorge’s letter:
Dear Austin Classical Guitar,
Music is divine. In whatever form it may appear, it speaks to us in ways words cannot. It touches us. It finds in the nooks and crannies of our private existence the forgotten memories of the lives we once lived.
That is the elemental lesson I learned growing up with musician parents. There was also another one: the gift for music is a gift that must be shared.
My mother would tell stories of the songs she sang; how they came to be. With my older brother and me sitting at the dinner table, she would speak of them, and in addition, she would sing them. She would sing at all times. While doing chores, in a car on our way somewhere, at any place, she would sing. In family reunions during holidays, she would sing without reservation. Never mind she was a celebrity. If the get-together was with people she loved, she would sing, and my father would accompany her on the guitar.
The last time I saw her do this was nine years ago. My parents made the long trip from Peru to Canada to meet my future in-laws. We shared a delicious meal, and after, as I had seen my mother do many times before, she spoke, giving thanks for the lovely welcome, and then, in the most natural way, as a metaphysical expression of her thanksgiving, she sang. At some point, I looked over at my future mother-in-law, with tears welling in her eyes. My future father-in-law was also touched. Even without knowing the Spanish words of my mother’s songs, they were moved. My mom had shared her gift, and it had touched them deeply.
I think about this facet of my mother often. My mom had a unique gift for music. And she shared it freely with those she loved. I can only hope to do the same: my own metaphysical thanksgiving.
As the holiday season is upon us, and with it, the time to remember that for which we are thankful, I’d like to express my gratitude to everyone who has given me the opportunity to share the gift of music with them.
To the wonderful people of Austin Classical Guitar, no grand expression of thanks would be high enough to convey the magnificent work you have done for so many years to share the beauty of music with humanity; and I am forever grateful to have been a part of this experience in my own history as an artist. My life is better because of it.
With my best wishes for happy holidays,
Jorge Caballero
Watch: Jorge Caballero Live at The Rosette (Liszt Piano Sonata)
Thank You: From a Graduate
It’s November, the month of gratitude, and we thought we’d celebrate our deep gratitude to you with some reflections shared by members of our precious community.
We dream of a world where music is here for everyone, connecting us, inspiring us, and bringing joy and meaning wherever it goes. Click here to learn more about supporting ACG for Giving Tuesday.
It’s Thanksgiving week and we wanted to share a reflection from Alex Lew, as part of our series thanking you for the difference you make at ACG. We met Alex in middle school, he went on to do amazing things with music, and now he’s back as a member of the ACG team. It’s all possible thanks to friends like you. Here’s Alex’s letter:
Dear Austin Classical Guitar,
I can’t express enough gratitude for the influence that you all have had on my life. It’s been 14 years and counting and I couldn’t imagine my trajectory without the presence of this organization.
I first met ACG through the guitar program at Lamar Middle School and I fell in love with the instrument. Not only did you all have a hand in introducing me to the classical guitar, you offered me guidance and opportunities that made me realize how special this instrument is. ACG performance opportunities led to my interest in becoming a professional guitarist, and had me devote my years in college to studying the instrument. I learned so much about musicality and developed a love of teaching and spreading the joy of musicking, just as you did for me.
I believe it's the people that operate ACG that make the organization truly special. Everyone involved is passionate about the mission of changing lives through music and their enthusiasm for the guitar is infectious. I strive to reflect that passion as a musician and teacher.
I’m grateful to be able to contribute to ACG since returning to Austin following my studies in classical guitar performance at Yale. Working with students in ACGYO has been especially fulfilling considering I was a part of the ensemble during the first year it developed ten years ago! The skills I developed playing alongside other talented musicians was invaluable to my classical guitar journey and I remember being inspired after every rehearsal. Now, as the Assistant Director, I strive to offer the same valuable guidance I received to the next generation.
Thank you ACG, for being present from my childhood to adulthood,
Alex Lew
Thank You: From Tony Mariano & Milca
It’s November, the month of gratitude, and we thought we’d celebrate our deep gratitude to you with some reflections shared by members of our precious community.
We dream of a world where music is here for everyone, connecting us, inspiring us, and bringing joy and meaning wherever it goes. Click here to learn more about supporting ACG for Giving Tuesday.
We wanted to continue our month of gratitude to you with a reflection shared by our Director of Community Education, Tony Mariano, who visited recently with this year's Javier Niño Scholarship recipient, Milca.
Tony and Milca's words are a beautiful reminder of the power music has as a medium for meaningful connection.
Here is Tony's letter:
Thank you to our ACG community,
Your support runs so deep.
You are changing the course of young people's lives in powerful ways, and I feel grateful to be out in the field witnessing it first-hand every day. Music can bring so much to someone’s life, and because of you we have the amazing chance to bring its gifts to thousands of incredible young people across our community.
Today I’d like to tell you a little bit about one student in particular. She's a junior at Northeast High School, she’s this year’s Javier Niño Scholarship winner, and her name is Milca.
Milca began playing guitar in school two years ago. She never expected to get as deeply involved with guitar as she has, but she felt a strong connection to it right away. And with a musician for a father, it just felt right.
Thanks to friends like you, Milca was able to take private lessons with one of our ACG Teaching Artists; training that led to her winning this scholarship along with many other wonderful opportunities.
I first saw Milca perform at one of our Student Spotlight events at The Rosette last year. She was nervous, but was also inspired by the beautiful space. She described the feeling of overcoming that fear to share her art with others as “magical”.
And sharing that magic, through her words, is the reason I’m writing this letter to you today. We were talking last week, and Milca told me:
“Music is one of the most beautiful types of art, it can change your life. When you play music, you have a new home that you can go to whenever you want. I’m grateful for this opportunity that I could never have had if I was still in my country. It’s a chance to grow as a musician, something I would have never had before.
“Music has become a very big part of my life. When I feel hopeless or overwhelmed, I can go to it and forget about everything else. It’s comforting to know that I can always go back to it whenever I want.”
I am grateful for young people like Milca who will grow to be agents of positive change in this world. Through her art and kindness, she will make this world a better place.
As I left my conversation with Milca, I turned to her and asked if she had any last thoughts, and she told me “I’m thankful for my dad, for helping bring music to my life.”
I can’t think of anything more touching than that.
I am grateful for you, our community, for riding alongside ACG in this pursuit to affect significant change in the lives of people like Milca.
I can’t wait for you all to meet her and hear her beautiful music!
Thank you,
Tony Mariano
Director of Community Education
Thank You: From a Young Guitarist
It’s November, the month of gratitude, and we thought we’d celebrate our deep gratitude to you with some reflections shared by members of our precious community.
We dream of a world where music is here for everyone, connecting us, inspiring us, and bringing joy and meaning wherever it goes. Click here to learn more about supporting ACG for Giving Tuesday.
Our first letter is from Teddy McCoy, member of the ACG Youth Orchestra. A marvelous young artist, Teddy has contributed his talent to many exciting projects like last season’s centerpiece Home: The Elements, and Spy Kids with Robert Rodriguez.
Teddy’s words are a beautiful reminder of the power of music and friendship, and we thank you for helping make it all possible. Here’s Teddy’s letter:
Dear ACG Community,
I can remember my first rehearsal in the youth orchestra. Clear as day. I would summarize the experience with the following: First, I played terribly. I don’t believe I got a note in time. Second, Joe looked rather worried and asked in the middle of rehearsal if I was doing all right. I confess, that night, in my privacy, I cried. I feared being hated. I thought I was doomed to a cycle of disappointing others and plain failure.
But the weeks proved my judgment wrong. What I found was, the people playing around me, with me, wanted us all to play as beautifully as we possibly could. I have learned that we, the youth orchestra, and all of ACG, are a wonderfully united group. United in the creation of beautiful things.
I am deeply thankful for this and wish all who are intertwined with ACG to know, though I believe they are already aware, there is no action nobler than to aid music in seeping through to the world.
My foremost gratitude,
Teddy
From Matt Hinsley: How We Make Change
We dream of a world where music is here for everyone, connecting us, inspiring us, and bringing joy and meaning wherever it goes. We are having our Fall fund drive here at ACG and it’s because of our community and supporters that we are able to share stories like this. Click here to learn more about supporting ACG.
How do we make change?
It’s all about people. As I reach the start of my twenty-eighth year with ACG this simple truth is clearer to me than ever before.
We’ll invest just over $1.6 million in our community programming this season, and today as we enter the final weeks of our Fall Fund Drive, I wanted to share a few thoughts about what we’re investing in, and why.
At ACG we make positive change in the world through a combination of two things: beauty + kindness.
Beauty is like our organizing principle. It’s the reason we get together, for a concert or class or rehearsal. In the aim of making beautiful things – and this extends to art, food, and the Rosette itself – we find our medium for togetherness, our reason to gather and wonder and celebrate. Kindness, however, is the magical force that lifts and inspires us. Kindness is why we return year after year, its why we give, its why thousands of kids courageously apply themselves and take chances, day after day in our classes.
We’ll spend close to $500,000 on our artistic productions this season, but really that’s an investment in people. We’ll hire composers, arrangers, performers, sound and lighting technicians, and the managers and caterers needed to make it all work.
I began doing this when I was 20 years old, and ringing in my ears at the time was the caring conventional wisdom that you can’t make money as an artist. I set out to change that. When you read about artists struggling with housing and healthcare as they play for tips, I’m proud to say that’s not what happens at ACG. We’ve grown from having no articulated budget, to become the largest classical guitar talent buyer in the history of our nation. And that means consistent, meaningful employment for a lot of people.
And we’ll spend nearly a million dollars on our education and healing programs, which is an investment in the amazing teachers, directors, healers and performers who build our school programs, run our community ensembles, and bring music to places where it’s urgently needed.
It’s in this space of nurturing, that the role of kindness is profound. There’s a secret sauce at the heart of ACG education. Yes, we teach music literacy and skills to play guitar, but there’s a reason our systems have spread all across the nation and beyond. There’s a reason close to 4,000 kids are playing guitar in our central Texas school programs each day. There’s a reason we have 13 years of peerless success engaging incarcerated youth. We devised a whole theory and training system, actually, that you can learn about here. But the main thing to know today is that it’s all about kindness. And kindness, is all about people.
Where does our funding come from? Well, that’s all about people and kindness, too. About two-thirds of ACG revenue is contributed, and that comes from a combination of foundation sources and from individuals like you who believe in us. The other third comes from “earned revenue” – things like ticket sales, Rosette rentals, workshop and ensemble registrations, and schools that pay for our curriculum systems and training.
I’m incredibly proud of our team and I’m incredibly grateful to our many friends like you who make it all possible. Each week I hear about students in our scholarship programs who are overcoming challenges with just a little bit of support, I hear about struggling teachers in our nationwide network who are improving thanks to the patient coaching of our experts, I hear from artists near and far who are hoping to get involved in our thoughtfully designed artworks, and I hear from community leaders who want advice about building similar organizations wherever they live. All these things happen because of a combination of beauty + kindness, delivered by people who care, and who are paid professionally to do the intricate work they’re uniquely qualified to do.
Thank you for helping make it all possible. Thank you for believing in us, and in the power of music to do good in the world. If you have any questions at all about how we do what we do, the big plans we have for the future, or how you might be able to get more involved, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected]
In gratitude,
Matt Hinsley, Executive Director
ACG Youth Orchestra's 10 Year Anniversary!
Austin Classical Guitar Youth orchestra is celebrating its tenth year with a tour to Spain! We’re raising funds to make sure all the members can go, and to help make ACGYO the best it can be. If you’d like to make a gift, you can donate here.
What a wonderful journey we’ve had so far at ACG Youth Orchestra! We’ve commissioned and premiered new works, performed in Austin’s major venues, made beautiful recordings, toured across Texas and beyond, and collaborated with other students, professionals, and even stars like Clarice Assad, David Russell, and Pepe Romero!
This year, in addition to beautiful performances and the premiere of a major new work by celebrated composer Reena Esmail, ACGYO is going on tour in June to Spain. We’re raising funds so that every member can make the trip.
We welcome your support! You can donate here, or, if you would like to get involved as a sponsor or business partner, email [email protected] and we’ll talk!. Either way, we’ll make sure to invite you to special ACGYO performances this season, keep you informed on all things related to our trip to Spain, and send special thanks from our super-talented young members along the way.
ABOUT ACG: In addition to our amazing concerts and the opening of our new theater in Hyde Park, The Rosette, our Education division has had the incredibly rare opportunity to add an entirely new for-credit course subject to American public schools. What started in one school in 2001, has grown to every Austin ISD school, 45 schools districts in Texas, and 40 US states, including Texas’s first and only for-credit daily performing arts classes for incarcerated youth (now in five facilities), and the world’s first lifelong learning system in braille for blind and visually impaired learners. If you’d like to learn more about this cause, you might enjoy reading our most recent Education Report.
Thank you for helping us make the world a better place through music!
Music & Healing: Yellow Paper Birds by Eden Pearl with Shayna Sands
ACG Music & Healing brings human connection, beauty, and expressivity to individuals facing isolation and challenge, through collaboration with a skilled and trained ACG Artist. These services are available to a wide variety of clients through partnerships with more than a dozen social service providers including hospitals, shelters, residential rehabilitation facilities, parental education and family health organizations, and veterans service providers. Learn more about ACG Music & Healing.
Yellow Paper Birds is a beautiful song about keeping hope with you so you can fight towards a better future. Crafted with heartfelt words and melody by Eden Pearl (vocals), with Shayna Sands on guitar.
It was written and recorded in partnership with Foundation Communities.
"We started out as a guitar workshop but one day during a smaller group, we tried our hand at writing. Eden had a very brilliantly creative mind and took to it right away. She said she had written parts of songs and poems before. Within a few sessions she had the main concept and lyrics along with a beautiful melody. We were in the process of learning to play and sing simultaneously in the class. I added some chords to fit her cool vibe and it worked :) It was a lovely process that also blossomed into a mentorship and friendship. She has taught me a few things about singing too!" - Shayna Sands
Special Thanks to ACG Production Director Todd Waldron for both video and audio capture and engineering.
Filmed at The Rosette, March 2023.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uMy-Mh3zSg
Fall Fund Drive: Francisco De La Rosa
We dream of a world where music is here for everyone, connecting us, inspiring us, and bringing joy and meaning wherever it goes. We are having our Fall fund drive here at ACG and it’s because of our community and supporters that we are able to share stories like this. Click here to learn more about supporting ACG.
This week we had the pleasure of delving into the inspiring full circle journey of one of our teaching artists, Francisco De La Rosa. We got to explore the path that led him to become dedicated to sharing the beauty of classical guitar with others and we’re so grateful to be able to share his story with you.
As a young child, Francisco was always drawn to guitars. He shares his early experiences with the instrument,
“When I was five years old I received my first guitar after I begged my parents to buy me a toy guitar from a street vendor at the border crossing of Juarez and El Paso, on our way back from visiting family in Mexico. By ten years old I had outgrown that guitar, and I received my first full size acoustic guitar as a birthday gift. I taught myself by ear until I was 15, at which point I received the privilege of learning Classical guitar at Akins High school in Austin.”
Francisco became involved with ACG as a student at Akins and began performing and volunteering at events in 2009! Upon graduating university at Texas State in 2021, he became a teaching artist in our programs. Francisco shares,
“The amazing experiences I had as a guitar student at Akins is what inspired me to become a teacher myself. Dr. Travis Marcum and Jeremy Osborne had such a positive and inspiring influence on me, that I dreamt of doing the same for future generations of guitarists. Now, I teach at multiple schools. This year I am teaching private lessons at Crockett High school, Travis High school, and Covington Middle school. I also teach guitar ensembles at Bowie high school and occasionally at Gardner Betts and Williamson County Juvenile Justice centers. I am also the director of the ACG Community Ensemble guitar choir.”
We’re so grateful that the experiences in our programs could inspire students to come full circle and teach the programs they were once a part of. Francisco shares a little bit about some of these full circle moments for him,
“Last year, the ensemble I had been teaching at Bowie earned sweepstakes at the guitar concert and sight reading and seeing their response was so awesome. They were so ecstatic because they realized their hard work paid off! This experience was so cool as a former student and now teacher, because it reminded me how I felt at that age and how hard these students work. I feel at times as busy teachers, we may forget how meaningful and joyful these experiences are for them but it was so cool to see.”
Francisco is a wonderful educator and we are fortunate to have him on our team! During our conversation he dove into what he loved about teaching and somethings he’s looking forward to. He said,
“As a teacher, I most enjoy how happy students get when they learn a new piece of music. Occasionally, there are times in my lessons with students where I take a break from teaching classical and will teach them riffs from metal bands like Metallica or Black Sabbath. They get so excited to learn these songs, but even more excited when I show them how it connects to what they have learned in their classical training and how that can apply to rock and pop and hip hop and even writing their own music!
I see myself continuing to inspire the community through music in the future. As a teaching artist with ACG, I’ve had the honor of doing this at so many schools and I’m grateful for the opportunity. A few goals I’ve set for this year are to take some of my groups to the Texas State University Classical Guitar ensemble festival hosted by Professor Cruz, directing the middle school region concert, and on a personal level I am hoping to return to doing what I love the most, which is performing. I am getting a rock group together in which I play guitar and sing, and I am also hoping to start up a classical guitar quartet for fun!”
We’re so excited to see Francisco continue to thrive as a successful musician and educator. We could not be more grateful for his journey with ACG and all the opportunities we have to connect with such beautiful people such as him.
We are so grateful to our community for supporting the programs that bring us these relationships and transformative experiences. Thank you for supporting the heart of our organization, ACG Education.
