The Second Street Dreams Audio Network

It’s quite an autumn of music for the entire family.  The Austin Symphony Orchestra is filling up the Long Center this fall with music from a variety of genres. Music Director Peter Bay says they will be busy performing classical pieces, of course, and a few movie events with a live soundtrack.  Coming up soon though is the Austin Symphony’s Halloween Children’s Concert.  Get your costumes ready!!

Chorus Austin is celebrating a big milestone this year.  It’s the choir’s 60th anniversary.  Ryan Heller, the conductor and artistic director of Chorus Austin says the all-volunteer choir is thriving. He’s designed their 60th season with all sorts of collaborations with local performing groups.  That includes their annual Messiah singalong in December.

You would think that a “special” classical music program would be all about the music. You’d be wrong if you’re talking about one particular program for high school aged female classical musicians.  The Fortissima program at Colburn School in Los Angeles is aiming for something completely different. Artistic Director and Violinist Jannina Norpoth says they aim to teach their charges how to make it...

The volunteers of the Austin Civic Orchestra are keeping the orchestra thriving. They’re starting the season with a new music director.  Dr. Veronica Salinas of San Antonio has curated a fall season of music that includes works they’ve never done before and she’s collaborating with other performing arts organizations. 

Two of Austin’s most distinguished performing arts organizations are opening their seasons on the same weekend. The upcoming 2024 season of Austin Classical Guitar could be called a musical United Nations.  Classical Guitarists from all over the world are on the schedule.  Matt Hinsley, executive director of Austin Classical Guitar says he and artistic director Joe Williams were looking express th...

After the rush of Labor Day and the hectic days of a new school year, it might be time to socialize with some chamber music or perhaps some jazz.  In our annual series of seasons ahead, ATX Chamber Music and Jazz is offering a social experience. Co-founders and Artistic Directors Geoffrey Herd and Anna Petrova say they give patrons the time to socialize with drinks and hors d'oeuvres before listen...

In just a few weeks performing arts groups will unveil the first shows of the 2024 Fall season.  There are many more in Central Texas than there used to be, so you have more than a few choices.  We’re starting with the Fall 2024 season ahead for the Central Texas Philharmonic led by Music Director Stefan Sanders.  

It was the age of the audience at a classical music concert that lit a fire under David Fogel.  He seems to have invented another genre of classical and orchestral music.  The Symphonina.  A short symphony just right for the younger set and older ears too. 

This is the August 2024 edition of Classical Music In Color focusing variously on New Album releases, Opportunities, Events and Milestones. There's the Sphinx SOPA, Black Violin Foundation,  Grants, and Castle Of Our Skins Give Black.  

After reading numerous articles about our shorter than short attention spans, I’ve decided to split this, the August 2024 Classical Music in Color into two parts. The first part is an interview with 85 year old composer Mary D. Watkins who’s about to premiere her latest opera “Is This America” about the Mississippi Civil Rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer.  Find out more about Watkins and Hamer by goi...

Imagine what it’s like to actually be doing the job you love so much.  It’s a feeling that Sophie Mathieu knows well.  She’s KMFA’s Draylen Mason Composer In Residence for 2024.  Mathieu, a cellist, with a Masters from the Butler School of Music, is also the first local composer who’s been chosen for the program. Since the announcement in January, she’s been taking part in educational events, publ...

It was a back to back win for Texans at this year’s Jimmy Awards.  These are the National High School Musical Theatre Awards that recognize the best high school-age musical theater talents in America.  It was held in June on Broadway in New York. This year, it was Damson Chola Jr. from Cleburne, Texas, matching his win with last year’s winner Langston Lee from Leander, Texas.

Stephen Lias always has music on his mind. He’s the Dean's Circle Endowed Professor Of Composition at Stephen F Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas.  Lias is also an outdoor kind of guy.  Over the years, he’s composed music for a variety of national parks either on commission or just because.  Now he’s been named Washington State’s Mount Rainier National Park’s first-ever composer in res...

What a sad and joyful time it is for the friends of the late composer Matt Dibble.  This English lad was only 40 when he died in 2021 from complications from a covid vaccine.  He left behind 48 tracks which became the album: Preludes and Fugues that he kept secret until hours before his death.  His good friend Jon Hargreaves helped crowdfund the necessary funds to record the album with the pianist...

It’s been a busy and awarding season for some young emerging Black American classical musicians.  Two were the recipients of The Avery Fisher Career Grant Award.  Another won the Emerging Black Composers competition from the San Francisco Symphony, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. We also honor an early music musician whose career spanned more than 25 years.

New York City can have quite an effect on you and so can Multiple Sclerosis.  Grammy winning composer Jeff Beal (House of Cards) deals with both in his new album:  The New York Etudes.  These solo piano works are somewhat of a departure from his compositions for TV and Film and that’s the way he wanted it. Beal says The New York Etudes is like a quiet place to land and recharge after a long day or...

Imagine that you are a non-profit organization in need of an infusion of music or a performance of a different type in your program.  The Texas Commission on the Arts has come to the rescue.  They’ve released their Texas Touring Roster for the next two years.  It means if you hire the performers on the list to perform, in Texas, the TCA will help you pay for it. One such group, Montopolis has bene...

Historical fiction has a new look and a new sound in the Netflix series Bridgerton.  Season 3 is running now with the same type of music of prior seasons. That is,  classical, orchestral versions of pop hits in a modern take on the music of England’s Regency era in the early 19th century.

So, your child is leaving home for a summer of music, travel, learning and fun? In the case of Noah Semsar, it’s to play with Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America. Semsar, who plays the trumpet, is a graduate of Atkins High School, and is the only Austin resident among 12 Texans chosen to be in the orchestra. He'll join about 100 others from all over the country...

Many classical artists are now releasing the works they composed during the pandemic. Composer Richard Danielpour is one of them.  He’s released a new album: Songs in Three Languages, sung by Soprano Hila Plitmann.  One section of the album pays tribute to Danielpour’s Father who wrote love poems to his wife. Then there’s the opera he composed called The Grand Hotel Tartarus.   

There’s no place like home.  A familiar line from a familiar movie and so very true.  The Miro Quartet, The University of Texas Faculty String Quartet In Residence with an international reputation and a GRAMMY nomination, honed in on the theme with their latest album Home. They illustrated the essence of Home  with a video of their performance of Over The Rainbow.  Daniel Ching, one of the foundin...

There’s a program coming up live and online in New York that is all about babies and music.  It’s from Carnegie Hall’s The Lullaby Project.  This is a concert of many of the songs composed by new parents with the help of professional musicians.  Austin Classical Guitar was involved in this program, helping local parents express their emotions about their very young children.  Tiffany Or-tiz, the D...

Something special happens when two African American classical musicians come together to perform a work about the Black experience in America.  Anthony McGill, the first Black Principal Clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic, has been on a tour of sorts with Pulitzer Prize winning composer Anthony Davis. McGill performs Davis’s reality-based work, You Have The Right To Remain Silent.  In this ed...

Imagine what it must be like to have someone give you a free trip to the arts camp you’ve always wanted to attend. That happened to 15 high school students all over Texas via the Young Masters Program of the Texas Commission on the Arts and the Texas Cultural Trust.    

Something bright and refreshing graced the stage at the Long Center a few weeks ago.  It was the Heller Awards for Young Artists .  It honors the best high school musical productions from this school year. Two students are headed to the national competition, the Jimmys in New York next month.  Ginger Morris, who runs the Hellers, is hoping more schools take part next year.