The Second Street Dreams Audio Network

Who needs a conductor? Not Austin Unconducted . It’s a string ensemble that works with its members to choose the music they’ll play in any given concert. Co-founder Luis Bellorin and the rest of the group is preparing now for their season finale concert. It’ll be at the Draylen Mason at Austin's classical music radio station KMFA 89.5 on April 6th.

Pianos have been with us since 1700 and there are thousands if not millions of compositions using those 88 keys. PIANO DAY , which is officially March 29th, is being celebrated in events all over the world, with at least one in the Austin area . But what about the instrument itself? Steinway VP Matthew Bird talks about the advancements in piano technology including a back to the future player pian...

We don’t often hear about classical composers from Africa. The Boston based performing arts organization, Castle Of Our Skins is changing that with their first album . It features pianist Samantha Ege . Trent Johnson says he is thriving in his job as Organist and Assistant Director of Music of the Unitarian Church of All Souls in New York City. He has a concert coming up at his other job in New Je...

The Catalyst Quartet has done it again. They’ve released Volume 3 of their Uncovered Series . The Uncovered series is a musical exposition of some of the underplayed nor recorded works of composers of color. Volume 3 features the musc of composers William Grant Still, Coleridge Taylor Perkinson and Pulitzer Prize Winner George Walker.

The very popular String Quartet Smackdown from Golden Hornet crowned the 2023 winner a couple of weeks ago. This NCAA style competition played to a full house as they voted for “Grey”, the composition of Evan Blache , a music student at Texas State University. Blache also sings with several choirs in Central Texas and is an Insight Fellow in Conspirare .

The Desoto Independent School District, near Dallas, has landed a big win. Pamela Dawson, the choir teacher at Desoto High School is this year’s winner of the Grammy Music Educator Award . Dawson talks about being honored with this award and her excitement of going to the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. She’ll be a big part of the 2023 Grammy in the Schools Fest starting Monday, March 6th.

To hear Michelle Schumann tell it, there’s nothing more refreshing than listening to young classical musicians in competition. Schumann is the Artistic Director of the Austin Chamber Music Center. She and her team are preparing for the upcoming Coltman Competition . It features high school and college musicians performing for prize money, prestige and other essential goodies.

Surprises were in store for a music historian, Loren Ludwig , when he found out that a leader in the Civil Rights Movement was also a singer of Early Music. Bayard Rustin. There’s a radio show in syndication that’s about us and for everybody else. Gateways Radio with Garrett McQueen. Soprano Jessye Norman gets a posthumous release of “new” materials. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Fellowship Progr...

Did the toll of the pandemic on your life drive you to listen to more music than ever? The answer is yes according to the Engaging with Music Report from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. While POP music is still the number one preference among the 44 thousand music lovers surveyed, classical music and opera were no slouches. Streaming services were so popular, one new com...

Is Music your life or Is it just a side chick? Two people, with totally different points of view, answer that question in this January 2023 edition of Classical Music In Color. Violinists and producer Rachel Barton Pine, keeps playing the music of those yet unheard. Her latest album Violin Concertos by Black Composers Through The Centuries is actually an altered 25th anniversary edition of that al...

Classical music programmers are doing something different these days. Although male classical composers are still at the top when it comes to performances, Bachtrack’s 2022 Classical Music Repor t has some very good news for women composers and orchestral music overall. Robyn Bramhall of Women’s Philharmonic Advocacy says the pandemic is just one reason for the change.

This Christmas season is probably the first one in a couple of years, at least, where the entire family is all in one place. On this Staccato we ponder the many emotions this holiday season brings through poetry and music.

Composer Molly Joyce calls her latest album “ Perspective ” an “Intimate, Up Close Perspective on Disability” Joyce joins her compositions with the true feelings and words of those who maneuver through an “able” world every day. She is a graduate of Juilliard, Royal Conservatory in The Hague, Yale, alumnus of the YoungArts Foundation, and holds an Advanced Certificate in Disability Studies from Ci...

So what do you get for the person who loves classical music of all types but you can’t figure out what to get? Some suggestions are Ralph Vaughn Williams: The Collector’s Edition. Concert for Ukraine and a children’s book, The Little Song that Wanted To Be A Symphony , written and composed by William Grant Still.

Get ready for fresh content once again from Met Opera Radio. Live performances will once again run on KMFA starting December 10th. This season is a mix of the old, the new and the revered. There’s also an audio live stream and The Met: Live At Home.

With the holidays upon us and vacations afoot, there might be time to watch some movies of a classical nature. There’s a new Magic Flute film and its soundtrack. Conspirare has posted its Hear Me Out concerts with the Miró Quartet. Then there’s the filmed opera Black Lodge, a mind bending musical piece by Composer David T. Little.

How long has it been since you played the instrument you loved way back when? The Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition allows those who love playing the piano but need a “real” job, to flex their fingers over the keys in a near professional setting. The winner this year is a software engineer from San Francisco, Jon Lee.

Sometimes a childhood dream becomes a reality of sorts. Matthew Detrick Founder, Artistic & Executive Director of the Apollo Chamber Players of Houston says his love of all things space resulted in the group’s latest album Moonstrike. It features decidedly different versions of the North American experience.

This particular Classical Music in Color is truly just that. Several albums are out now featuring the music of Black composers. Listen for new albums from William Grant Still, Coleridge-Taylor and a live performance of George Walker’s music. Finally, Afton Battle is leaving the Fort Worth Opera after only 2 years as General and Artistic Director.

There’s nothing like returning home after finding success in the wider world. Navy MU1 David Kapral is about to experience that feeling. The Trombonist is now a member of the US Navy Band Commodores after a big start in the marching band at Dripping Springs High School. The band will be performing in the Austin area in November, including at Kapral’s old high school.

There’s encouraging news from the Institute for Composer Diversity. An increasing number of orchestras and other classical groups are performing works by women and BIPOC composers. A new vocal competition has been created without all the rules that keep some people out. A classical guitarist wins the Sphinx Mpower Grant seeking to expose more Black women classical guitar composers. An African-Amer...

Have you been to the opera lately? Or even purchased tickets for an upcoming performance? If your answer is no, the people at World Opera Day on Tuesday, October 25th are hoping you will jump on social media to see what you are missing. There are deals to be had at Austin Opera as well as in Dallas. OperaVision is offering a free online six nation performance of an opera from Ukrainian composer Bo...

How often do orchestras, chamber groups or similar organizations get an offer like this? Women’s Philharmonic Advocacy is once again offering performance grants. These grants would cover expenses for performing classical compositions by women and other groups within that sphere. Liane Curtis, President of Women Philharmonic Advocacy says they are attempting to widen the canon.

In just a few weeks, performing arts groups in central Texas will open their doors for new and fresh and live performances. Austin Classical Guitar is like many of them, excited to offer a full season of music without the heavy burden of health related matters.

As classes start at Georgetown University in Washington, DC this month, there is an album composed by composition professor Carlos Simon called Requiem For The Enslaved on the Decca label. It is in honor and in reparations for the slaves sold by the Washington, DC university in 1838 to fund the school. Simon is a very busy composer. He’s working on a piece for the Minnesota Orchestra, with a libre...