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Around the Town Performances

Festival Choirs will present 30 minute performances for community organizations, institutions, and schools throughout the Austin area.  Concurrently, the festival presenters will travel to local schools and choir programs to offer master classes and special presentations.

Conspirare Open Rehearsal

Big Sing

Festival Choirs and guests will join together for an exciting first-night exchange of shared music, multi-media images, rehearsing, introductions, and fellowship.

Join the Festival musicians in a relaxed and causal meet-and-greet.

9am-9:30am

9:45am-10:45am

Crossing the Divide: Translate
Acclaimed as a brilliant and inspiring pianist, composer and master teacher, Rob Kapilow is hailed for his Lincoln Center musical series, “What makes it great?” and “Family Musik”.  Kapilow is known for unraveling the mysteries of classical music while imparting its joy and wonder to audiences of all ages and backgrounds.  Conspirare will be the workshop choir.

11:00am-12:00pm

Crossing Cultural and Stylistic Borders
Experience the passion and inspiration of Joseph Jennings, musical director of Chanticleer, as he shares his knowledge of the American Spiritual and the heart of its musical expression.  Mr. Jennings will be joined in this presentation by the Texas Tech University Choir.

1:30pm-2:30pm

Uncovering Beauty
Internationally-known conductor and clinician Weston Noble will lead a session which is both practical and inspirational in sharing methods of how to reveal and uncover the beauty in a work of choral art.  Mr. Noble will be joined by The University of Texas at Austin Concert Chorale.

2:45pm-3:45pm

Music: A Human Universal
Cultural and environmental differences yield disparate modes of expression.  But however different we seem, human universals unite us at the core.  Each of us has the capacity to connect with different types of music, making what we have in common more important than what separates us.  Mark Shapiro, widely acclaimed director of the award-winning Cantori di New York, will draw on settings by Barber, Bernstein and others, and he will discuss how music can light the way.

4pm-5pm

Exploring the Divide between Composer, Performance, and Audience
Composer Stephen Paulus has been hailed as “…a bright, fluent inventor with a ready lyric gift.”  Mr. Paulus works with Conspirare on his new work, commissioned for this festival.  During this session, he shares his insights into the piece and his compositional process.

6:30pm-8:00pm

8:15pm-10:15pm

Massed Choir Open Rehearsal #1

Join the Festival Choirs and singers from the Austin community to form a Massed Choir which will perform on Sunday at the completion of the festival.  The repertoire will include a world premiere of Salut Au Monde by John Muehleisen, a work set to texts of Walt Whitman which was commissioned for this gala performance.

What Makes it Great?
Rob Kapilow will lead us on an exciting musical journey exploring the Reincarnations of Samuel Barber. Conspirare will be the workshop choir.

Henry Leck Music Educator Workshop
Henry Leck, internationally-recognized authority on youth choirs and the boy’s changing voice, shares his knowledge as he works with the Conspirare Children’s Choir.

11:00am-12:15pm

Crossing the Divide Between Performer & Audience through Vulnerability & Intimacy
Weston Noble will share effective tools and important considerations when working toward deep and effective communication in choral performances.

Concert

Festival Choirs, including St. Stephen’s Madrigal Singers and The University of Texas at Austin Concert Chorale, each present 25-minute performances featuring an exciting and diverse array of American choral repertoire.

4pm-6pm

Massed Choir Rehearsal #2

Join the Festival Choirs and singers from the Austin community who are forming a Massed Choir for the second rehearsal in preparation for the final gala concert.  Led by Craig Hella Johnson and guest conductors.

8pm-10pm

Conspirare presents the world premiere of an important new work, Poemas de Amor, by Stephen Paulus, commissioned for this festival.  The concert will also include the world premiere performance of the complete choral cycle Leaves of Grass composed by Dan Welcher.  This showcase performance will feature selected jewels from the American repertoire, including folk songs, spirituals and music of Samuel Barber and Eric Whitacre.

A reception will immediately follow in the Fellowship Hall. Light refreshments will be served.

Massed Choir Dress Rehearsal

Closing Gala Concert

Closing the festival, a massed choir of 600 singers perform together in one collective voice.  This concert will feature the world premiere of a new commissioned composition by John Muehleisen and a diverse program of inspiring American vocal music.  Led by Craig Hella Johnson and other guest artists.