ACG Blog

HOME CONCERT TOUR

A collaboration between Albuquerque Academy, Austin Classical Guitar and Guitar New Mexico Youth Guitar Ensembles.

Guitars galore! Inspired by places, memories and experiences that evoke a sense of home, this unique endeavor will bring together around 40 High School classical guitar students to perform recently written works for guitar ensemble.

If you are near Albuquerque, New Mexico – join us for an amazing afternoon with these talented and dedicated young musicians!

Saturday March 11th, 3pm

Outpost Performance Space 210 Yale Blvd SE, Albuquerque, NM 87106

Tickets: $3-5 Info and tickets are available here

Sunday March 12th, 5pm

Albuquerque Academy Simms Auditorium – 6400 Wyoming Blvd NE Albuquerque, NM

Free and Open to the public

A note from ACG Executive Director Matt Hinsley:

Talking with Shannon Belcher about the place music holds in her life, in her memories, and in her relationship with her mother was such a moving experience for me. If her story and generosity inspire you too, I hope you’ll consider making a contribution to our Spring 2023 Music & Healing Fund Drive. Shannon will match every dollar contributed up to $10,000. You can donate online here.

Throughout the month of March we will be shining a light on ACG Music & Healing. On Thursday, March 9th, our free, monthly ACGtalks breakfast series will focus on our work in this area. Then, on March 25-26, we will present a concert of some of the most memorable songs created by Music & Healing artists and participants over the years. The concert is called We’ve Always Known, and we’ve never done anything like it. I hope you’ll join us! 

As always, I welcome you to contact me any time for any reason. Thank you.

For many years, Shannon Belcher attended ACG concerts with her mom Paula. Some of Shannon’s fondest early memories revolve around a classical guitar festival in Carmel, California, when Paula first introduced her to the art form. Shannon’s father, Paula’s husband Glenn, was a fighter pilot who went Missing In Action during the Vietnam War. Paula and Shannon would stay close, classical guitar weaving in and out of their lives, all the way until Paula passed away last summer.

Shannon has just pledged a generous matching gift of $10,000 to ACG Music & Healing in honor of her parents, and I sat down with her to talk about why. 

“I wanted to give this gift for so many reasons,” she told me. “The work you do at Dell Children’s Hospital, with veterans, with the juvenile justice population. Through ACG I’ve seen music give huge gifts to people that change their lives. And I’ve experienced it myself many times, including the sense of peace and healing that came to me when ACG musicians hosted and performed for Mom’s memorial service at The Rosette.”

A career data and financial systems analyst, Shannon joined the Board of Directors of Austin Classical Guitar in September 2019. As a patron of the organization for more than a decade by that time, Shannon was already deeply familiar with ACG Music & Healing.

“Mom and I attended the presentations you would do before concerts. I remember, in particular, a song called Miles To Go, written by a woman with a chronic cancer diagnosis. It was so moving, with lyrics about her drive to and from MD Anderson in Houston. 

“We were introduced to that song only shortly before mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, so its meaning only grew for us. And now, as it turns out, I’m about to move to a place in Bastrop on that very road she described in the song.”

I asked Shannon about impact she hopes her gift will bring to ACG Music & Healing participants. She told me,

“In Mom’s last few days, you came to play for her. Mom was in that twilight stage, still there, body aware, but eyes closed. You played for us, and Mom intentionally changed her grasp on my hand. She was there, she was communicating. This was a good thing.”

“I believe Music & Healing can give people a core of peace. I think that core of peace can bring about many things, perhaps focus and discipline to take difficult steps, perhaps a release from physical or psychological pain, perhaps resilience that will keep them from self-destructive behavior. What ACG does is not soporific, it’s not escapist, it addresses the pain through expression, and that makes a huge difference. It really goes back to the mission of ACG: to inspire individuals in our community through experiences of deep personal significance.”

Our season theme is HOME. We will dive into the natural world, culture, and human connection, and we’re inviting you to participate all along the way! Join us on February 18 at the gorgeous Austin ISD Performing Arts Center for the centerpiece of our season. Learn more here. We would like to thank atsec information security for their generous sponsorship of Marek’s residency and our home project. 

We’re so excited to celebrate Home next weekend at the gorgeous Austin ISD Performing Arts Center! 

We will be blown away by ACG Artist-in-Residence, Marek Pasieczny’s big beautiful composition, called The Elements. He’ll be joined by percussion super-talent Thomas Burritt and Grammy-nominated cellist Bion Tsang, as well as a guitar orchestra of over 80 players of all ages led by Joe Williams. We’ll even have breathtaking video projections of Texas landscape by photographer Barry Stone!

This week we had the opportunity to connect with visual artist Barry Stone!  

Barry got his MFA from the University of Texas and has taught photography at the International Center of Photography and the Pratt Institute in New York! He has been teaching in the School of Art and Design at Texas State University since 2007. As an artist, Barry creates his own photo books and has had his work shown internationally. He has also been represented by Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery in New York since 2005. 

This concert is inspired by home. Home means a lot of different things to different people. Barry shared what Home means to him,

“Geographer Yi Fu Tuan has written that home is a ‘nurturing shelter…where life begins and ends.’ In this sense home is a physical place, a kind of duration, as well as something felt. I feel that rings true.”

We connected with Barry while he was at Shield Ranch making improvisational guitar field recordings and photographs for his web-based project, Porch Swing Orchestra. Barry shared, 

“Also touring the property was ACG board member, Stacia, who when I said I wasn’t classically trained, said, “I know some folks that are!!” and she put me in touch with Matt and Joe. Joe met me at my show of Lost Pines at Lora Reynolds Gallery where we had a lovely conversation and floated the idea of incorporating the images into the HOME project. My daughter and I came to hear Marek play and preview some of the show and were blown away. This is going to be such an amazing and ambitious piece. I am so excited and humbled to play a part in this important world premiere.

When Marek completed the score, Joe helped me map it out. We talked about moods and pacing and I was able to test some of the imagery on the system at the gorgeous AISD PAC. I think it looks super exciting!”

In Barry’s latest book and exhibition, Lost Pines, he combined photographs taken over a 10-year span in the wake and recovery of the Bastrop County Complex Fire. Barry shared a bit about this project,

“These images serve as a kind of envelope enclosing a group of pictures I recently discovered in an old undeveloped roll of film taken of the inside of my grandad’s trailer which tragically caught fire and took his life in 2002. The work also includes polaroids rescued from the detritus my grandad made in and around his home in Magnolia, Texas. The work contains many cycles of life, the end of one life, and the return of the pine forest.

I am heavily invested in the history of photography but equally interested in exploring new avenues. The images from Lost Pines are black and white and owe much of their formal construction to 19th Century photographers like Gustave Le Gray and Carleton Watkins. In some of the images, however, I open the digital file of the photograph with a code editing program used by programmers and scramble the code of the file to create generative aberrations or glitches. These glitched works render the forest in a kind of melting burn.”

We couldn’t be more grateful to connect and collaborate with so many talented local artists. We’ll be able to see some of the images from Lost Pines at our celebratory concert on February 18! Find tickets here. Learn more about Barry Stone and his artwork here. 

Playing music for other people is one of the most special and rewarding things we can do as musicians. But for so many of us, performing for an audience can seem daunting and unreachable, which can keep us from even trying. In our Performing 101 Workshop, we will demystify the art of performing and develop comfort with this incredible skill so that we can feel confident sharing our music with others. Learn more here. 

We are so grateful to have the space and opportunity to host guitar classes and workshops in our new home, The Rosette. We have a few classes and workshops beginning in February! 

One of these classes being offered is Evan Taucher’s Performing 101 Workshop.

This week we had the chance to speak with Tami Rohn, a previous attendee of Evan’s Workshop.

Tami has been a musician her whole life, beginning with the piano at seven years old. She became connected with ACG in 2010 and has been participating in our community ensembles for years! Tami shared, 

“I have a hearing loss in both ears that has progressively gotten worse over time.  I’m the youngest of 4 and my siblings all play the piano.  When I was 7 years old I asked to take piano lessons, much to the surprise of my parents.  I have always loved music and 

my hearing loss has not stopped me from enjoying playing as well as listening to it.  I asked for a folk guitar when I was a teenager and taught myself to play.  One year when I was in college I had the summer off and decided to take a fun class, which was “Classical Guitar.”  That started a deep interest in learning more and I even attended my first Classical Guitar Concert soon after.  There’s something amazing in holding a guitar and not only playing and hearing the music, but feeling the deep vibrations resonate through the wood and into my body.  

I no longer have the folk guitar but at that time I had a cheap, Martin Classical Guitar that I started with.  The director (Tony Mariano is my 3rd director) was very patient with me as I had to really work on learning the guitar and learning to play with the ensemble. That particular guitar did not work well for my hearing loss and I discovered by the end of the season that I needed to upgrade, which I did.  From then the journey began with ACG and a deep desire to continue to play and master the instrument continued.”

Though Tami is musically inclined in many ways, she still had a desire to continue her growth. She shared, 

“I had been looking for ways to better myself as a musician and when Tony offered an Open Mic night in May 2022, I participated and actually played a piece, from memory, in front of an audience.  That alone did wonders for my confidence and fueled my desire to improve myself as a musician.  Evan’s first workshop was the “Technique Workshop”.  I knew that would be the perfect workshop and I quickly registered for it.  I also participated in his “Fretboard Mastery Workshop” and “Performance 101 Workshop”.  From each workshop I felt that I was learning the skills to become a better Classical Guitar musician.  Evan is very patient, thoughtful and highly encouraging.

I think that out of all of the workshops I enjoyed Performance 101 the most.  I learned a lot from Fretboard Mastery and that was the most challenging workshop for me, but Evan gave us the skills and confidence to continue practicing even after the workshop was finished.  The Performance 101 was fabulous as we each picked a piece that we learned and played for each other as if we were truly a Master Guitarist performing in a Grand Concert Hall.  That was fun, creative and I enjoyed hearing feedback not only for myself but also for my fellow workshop members. I highly recommend these workshops for anyone that wants to improve as a Classical Guitarist.”

It brings us so much joy to connect with our community and with ourselves through music. These classes are open to anyone no matter their musical background! We have beginner, intermediate, and advanced courses. Learn more about each of them here.

2022 has been such a beautiful and productive time for ACG! Each December, we pause to reflect on the last 12 months and put together a list of some of our favorite moments. We are so grateful to have so much growth, opportunity, and magic happening year after year. We hope you enjoy reading this year’s Top 10 list as much as we enjoyed putting it together!

If something you see here touches your heart or brings you joy, we hope you’ll consider making a gift to ACG today. We have set an ambitious goal of raising $250,000 by December 31st. Your gift will turn into services and resources that support guitar education programs in more than 50 local schools and five juvenile justice centers, Music & Healing collaborations in medical centers and shelters, and the personnel and equipment we need to help our new home, The Rosette, become a shining cultural beacon for our entire community.

Donate now on our support page or by texting GIVEACG to 44321.

And without further ado…our top 10 for 2022!

#10 HOME: Marek & Bion

Our Artist-in-Residence, Marek Pasieczny, is working with over eighty guitarists of all ages, across Texas, alongside incredible musicians Bion Tsang and Thomas Burritt, to make a monumental tribute to our planet that we’ll premiere on February 18.

Marek spent November in Austin, and did all sorts of amazing things (blog series) culminating in a marvelous set of concerts with Bion Tsang at The Rosette! Special thanks to atsec information security for their ongoing support of ACG’s Artist-in-Residence program.

#9 The Lodger

This Summer we released Alfred Hitchcock’s 1927 silent thriller, The Lodger, with a lush and evocative new musical score composed by ACG Artistic Director Joe Williams, in partnership with Alamo Drafthouse and Criterion! 

Tim League, Alamo’s Founder and Executive Chairman, recommended the film to us several years ago. Joe watched it countless times, fell in love with the story, the characters, and the cinematic mastery, and spent months writing a carefully detailed, beautiful, and haunting ninety-minute piece of music for four guitars and cello that compliments Hitchcock’s masterpiece perfectly. Now it’s available streaming worldwide!

Watch Matt Hinsley interview Joe and Tim here, or click below to stream the movie!

#8 Music & Healing: I Am Strong

ACG Music & Healing brings human connection, beauty, and expressivity to individuals facing isolation and challenge, through collaboration with a skilled and trained ACG Artist. 

One of our participants, Misty, wrote this fall: “I think it’s so awesome to be able to turn something that sometimes seems like a death sentence into a beautiful piece of hope.”

Each song is unique and moving. We invite you to listen to I Am Strong, written and performed by a young woman at Red Oak Hope along with Music & Healing Artist Claire Puckett. It took our breath away. 

#7 Students Doing Amazing Things

We’ve been blown away by the sheer talent, dedication, leadership, and passion from students in our education programs. Their gifts are on full display during the Student Spotlight concerts we host at The Rosette – here’s a playlist! We’re also super proud of this year’s Javier Nino Scholarship winners – you can meet them here. 

Last April, 41 ensembles from schools across central Texas played for judges as part of the Concert & Sight Reading event we help organize each spring. Two weeks prior to this year’s competition, the director of the Bowie High School guitar program had to take leave unexpectedly. When we heard this news, we expected Bowie to withdraw from the event. That didn’t happen. Besa Carney, a freshman(!) at Bowie, decided she would pick up the conducting baton and lead her class to Sweepstakes! Here she is conducting her peers like a seasoned pro. Amazing!

#6 Season Finale : Caballero Plays Phillips

ACG commissioned our very own Justice Phillips to compose a new piece for Jorge Cabballero to perform as part of our 21-22 Season Finale last May. You may know Justice as ACG’s Patron Services Director, but he’s also a marvelous guitarist and composer.  The piece is called Coming Out Party and in a reflection, Justice shared that “The experience of working with Jorge has helped me grow as a composer and musician!” 

#5 Juvenile Justice: ‘It’s Amazing’

Hector Aguilar is our new Director of Juvenile Justice Services, and he’s doing a remarkable job!

One of our Phoenix House students was recently approved to come perform at The Rosette. It was his very first time performing for anyone. He played his two pieces beautifully, and afterward shared what his experience with the guitar, and with Hector, means to him.

“It’s amazing. It truly changed my life. It does a lot for me. It gives me peace and it gives me happiness. I love this art of playing the guitar. It’s just beautiful. I’m really grateful for you. I’m thankful to have you as my teacher. You’ve done a lot for me. And no matter how many times I thank you, it’s never going to be as much as I mean it.”

#4 Teacher Summit: Where I’m From

This year’s teacher summit exceeded our expectations and lifted our spirits in remarkable ways. For the finale, teachers wrote personal poems, learned and practiced Travis Marcums piece “Where I’m From” and then gave a breathtaking performance. 

Learn more about the inspiration for this project in this blog written by Joshua Friedman, who is a new member of the ACG Development and GuitarCurriculum teams!

#3 Clarice Assad: Do What’s In Your Heart 

At ACG we bring our community together through creative collaborations and connections with artists because we believe music and kindness, together, make the world better. 

Last season triple Grammy-nominee Clarice Assad was our Artist-in-Residence. She made magic, and we captured it in this mini-documentary featuring 50 amazing young Austin artists, Jorge Caballero, the Mirò Quartet and a brand new piece called Mosaic Variations. Enjoy!

#2 ACG Education

Click this image and read this extraordinary letter from AISD Fine Arts Director Phillip Taylor, and you’ll see why ACG Education, something that started as a dream in one AISD school 21 years ago, is this year’s #2. So proud. So grateful.

#1 The Rosette!

In 2022 we opened our first home. The Rosette is a warm, beautiful, and welcoming space, and we look forward to sharing it with you for many years to come. It’s got its own website, and you can take a one-minute virtual tour here. Our deepest thanks go to Alamo Drafthouse founders Tim & Karrie League, without whom The Rosette could not exist.

Here’s one of our favorite Rosette concerts from 2022: Yamandu Costa! 

Thank You!

Everything we do at ACG is possible because of people who share our beliefs and choose to support our work. We would like to recognize the following individuals and institutions for their exceptional generosity during the past 12 months:   

3M Foundation, Ameriprise Financial, Ken Amstutz & Martha Carapetyan, Applied Materials Foundation, John & Diana Argersinger, Patrice Arnold, Arnold Foundation, in honor of Lazan Pargaman, atsec information security, Austin Thyroid & Endocrinology, A Gift in Honor of Glenn A. Belcher, A Gift in Honor of Paula F. Belcher , Shannon Belcher, Sandra S. Bosley, Kelley Bowen, Dan Bullock & Annette Carlozzi, The Family of Lynne Hsu Xavier, Megyn L. Busse, MD, Sarah & Ernest Butler, Pietro J. Caporusso, Edwina Carrington, Mike Chesser, Francisco & Graciela Cigarroa, City of Austin, Dr. Richard & Martha Coons, Corporate Environmental Solutions, The D’Addario Foundation, David & Christy Dauphin, Tres Davis & Paul Rogers, Stacia & Walt DeBill, Dr. Joaquin Delgado, Vince & Donna Lee DiLoreto, Bob Duke & Judith Jellison, Lucy & Bill Farland, Michael & Carol Fields, John & Miwa Flaherty, Ford Foundation, Kendal & Ken Gladish, Google, Laura Gutierrez-Witt, H-E-B, Ed & Janet Hess, Jacqueline Fox & Frank Hoffman, Richard N. Jernigan, Jewish Communal Fund, Jim & Marion Jirsa, Jim & Jennifer Judkins, Kaman Foundation, Elaine & Michael Kasper, Patrick Keel, Kristopher & Carey Kepler of Crossfit Central, Kodosky Foundation, Marty Kopra & Tom Gretzinger, Bob & Mary Pat Kozdemba, Karrie & Tim League, Debra Lewis, Long Foundation, Richard Mattingly, Katherine & Reid McCoy, Louise Epstein & John Henry McDonald, Carson & Michele McKowen, Mercedes-Benz of Austin, Bill Metz, Meyer Levy Charitable Trust, Mike Levy, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Delia & Ryan Mitchell, Kathleen Monahan & Mike Mullen, Patricia Ann Morrison, MFS Fund at the North Georgia Community Foundation, Christa Pandey, Lazan & Bill Pargaman, Lloyd & Ferrell Pond, Kyle Pratt & Linda Longoria, Kerry & Carole Price, Rich & Caryn Puccio, Marcia Raff, The Raley Family, Raj & Sally Randeri, Drs. Simone Scumpia & Ion Ratiu, Rea Charitable Trust, Rick & Valeri Reeder, Peach & Cynthia Reynolds, Jacqueline Rixen, Robert Rodriguez, Ruth J. Rubio, Shanti Foundation for Intercultural Understanding, Stark Martin Charitable Trust, Judith Stich, Still Water Foundation, Alexis Takvorian, Texas Bar Foundation, Texas Commission on the Arts, Texas Women for the Arts, Tom Green & Company Engineers, Inc., TIAA, Russ & Janey Trowbridge, Brian & Virginia Urban, Webber Family Foundation, Maria Wells, White Lilacs Fund at Austin Community Foundation, Duwain Whitis & Barbara Vinson, Catherine & David Wildermuth, Suzanne & Marc Winkelman, Jack & Vanessa Wolfe, Leslie & David Wolff Family Foundation, Greg Wooldridge & Lynne Dobson, Wright Family Foundation, Zack Zamora

Bonus Item

In our last concert of 2022, something beautiful happened. ACG’s Matt Hinsley, Angelica Campbell, and Justice Phillips did a special rendition of one of the world’s most beloved songs. Enjoy!