Verona Quartet
MAR 3 | MCCULLOUGH THEATRE
MAR 3 | MCCULLOUGH THEATRE
MAR 4 | MCCULLOUGH THEATRE
MAR 5 | DRAYLEN MASON STUDIO AT KMFA
PRESENTING SPONSORS
Thank you for joining us! We’re thrilled to welcome you to experience the best in new performance from around the world as part of the Texas Performing Arts 2022–23 Season.
This season, we’ve made a bold return to presenting international artists, with nine countries represented in the season. We are also amplifying our longstanding commitment to large-scale dance works, with visits from four major companies. Alongside these visiting productions, we wanted to showcase artists who call Austin home. Through our artist-in-residence program, you can take a peek behind the curtain of creativity as interdisciplinary artist and creative director Kenyon Adams, playwright Virginia Grise, and choreographer Deborah Hay develop and present their latest projects. New this season, the youngest audiences can experience adventurous art through our new series of creative performance for families.
The 22/23 Texas Performing Arts Season complements our always-popular Broadway in Austin series and our Texas Welcomes lineup of concerts and comedy. Please sign up for our newsletter and see everything we offer at texasperformingarts.org. New shows are added all the time. We hope you can join us for another performance soon!
Bob Bursey Executive & Artistic DirectorAt Texas Performing Arts, we make sure engagement with the arts extends beyond the stage — a place where students, faculty, and the Central Texas community can connect, gather, and share ideas. Through workshops, discussions, masterclasses, and more, we strive for everyone to be able to feed their artistic spirit.
Our 22/23 Season kicked off in September with a full lineup of inspiring and adventurous performances, which will continue through April. Here are just few highlights of our campus and community activities from this fall. 1
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Dance Theatre of Harlem
FRI, FEB 10
Cécile McLorin Salvant
Leonardo! A Wonderful Show About A Terrible Monster
SAT, FEB 25
FRI, MAR 3
Aizuri Quartet
The Art of Translation SAT, MAR 4
AizuriKids SUN, MAR 5
Cion: Requiem of Ravel’s Boléro
APR 19
Dream House Quartet featuring Katia & Marielle Labèque, Bryce Dessner & David Chalmin
APR 25
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Farfalle
SAT, APR 29 – SUN, APR 30
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Photo by Sandy CarsonTexas Performing Arts’ Hollywood Backdrop Collection has garnered international attention in the past few years, as interest has grown in this important art form. Thanks to generous support from donors, the collection will soon be available to view and explore online.
These assets make up the largest and most extensive educational collection of Hollywood motion picture backdrops in the world.
Assistant Professor of Practice Karen Maness and Professor Emeritus Richard Isackes lovingly documented the history of the film backdrops in their award-winning publication, The Art of the Hollywood Backdrop (Regan Arts 2016). A cache of 68 historic paintings was generously donated to Texas Performing Arts by J.C. Backings and the Art Directors Guild Archives’ Backdrop Recovery Project.
The collection includes backings from iconic and critically acclaimed films such as National Velvet (1944), The Sound of Music (1965), Ben Hur (1959) and North by Northwest (1958). Following national coverage of the project on CBS’ Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley in February 2020 and two subsequent exhibitions hosted on the stage of Bass Concert Hall the following year, the Boca Raton Museum of Art opened Art of the Hollywood Backdrop in April 2022. The exhibition has attracted international media coverage, from the Wall Street Journal to the Times of London.
With generous support from Susan & Robert Morse, Texas Performing Arts is now digitizing the collection to make it even more widely available. A new website will launch and will serve as both digital archive and interactive teaching tool.
“It’s an exciting next step.” says Texas Performing Arts’ Executive and Artistic Director
Bob Bursey. “Sharing the collection digitally will allow us to celebrate these masters of illusion and perspective while inspiring the next generation of artists with access to material never before available.”
The website will showcase the backdrops in high-resolution detail, amplifying and preserving the techniques of backdrop painting and restoration pioneered by Hollywood’s uncredited lead scenic artists. Texas Performing Arts has captured direct instruction from Hollywood’s top motion picture scenic artists Michael Denering, Joe Francuz, and Donald MacDonald for the website.
While student training in these lost techniques continues in Texas Performing Arts’ Fabrication Studios, the digital archive will share detailed instruction for future caretakers how to preserve, stabilize and restore these works as the project continues to expand. The digitization of the collection will also help contextualize the work by connecting the backdrops to the iconic films in which they were featured, reaching audiences around the world.
Mar 3, 2023
McCullough Theatre
Jonathan Ong, Violin
Dorothy Ro, Violin
Abigail Rojansky, Viola
Jonathan Dormand, Cello
Media Sponsor: KMFA-FM
String Quartet No. 4
Jonathan Ong, violin
Dorothy Ro, violin
Abigail Rojansky, viola
Jonathan Dormand, cello
Grażyna Bacewicz
Andante—Allegro molto (1909-1969)
Andante
Allegro giocoso
Ritus Sanitatem WORLD PREMIERE Texu Kim On Inscribing Talismans (b. 1980) On the Mysteries of Stylostixis On Byung-gut
- Intermission-
String Quartet No. 13 in G Major, Op. 106 Antonín Dvořák
Allegro moderato (1841-1904)
Adagio ma non troppo
Molto vivace
Finale: Andante sostenuto—Allegro con fuoco
The co-commissioning and world premiere of Ritus Sanitatem at Texas Performing Arts is generously supported by the Kahng Foundation.
The Verona Quartet is the recipient of Chamber Music America’s 2020 Cleveland Quartet Award. The quartet’s performance has been made possible in part by Chamber Music America and the Cleveland Quartet Award Endowment Fund.
Music has been believed to help maintain and restore mental and physical health at various times and in various cultures. One of the more exemplary instances would be the Korean shamanic healing ritual, Byung-gut. In this practice, a shaman (ordinarily female) dances, recites, chants,
and sings, interacting with a small instrumental ensemble. Here, music plays a central role. Ritus Sanitatem (“rite of healing,” translated from Latin) for string quartet is a journey through several Korean folk-healing traditions in three movements. The first movement is inspired by the inscription of talismans, which I associate with chanting, one of the oldest practices of using music as medicine in
diverse cultures, like in ancient Sanskrit chants of Samaveda.
The second movement addresses acupuncture in that it begins with a sharp pain (related to the injection of needles, though one is not supposed to feel any pain if it is done very well) that eventually gives relief and recovery. The concept of healing by hurting can be found in numerous medical methods and traditions, including modern-day vaccination and crucifixes.
Music plays a significant role in the Korean shaman ritual gut. (Byung-gut is one of its many types.) While exuberant rhythm comes to the fore, like in other shaman music, melodic content is also considered essential in the gut. My piece’s finale exhibits these characteristics and a quotation of the gut, interwoven with passages
that would sound like tarantella, a psychedelic music and dance genre used to treat tarantism in 15th- to 17th- century Italy.
I hope this 17-minute rite gives the audience a chance to reflect on the role of music as medicine, especially after what the world went through in the last couple of years.
Ritus Sanitatem is cocommissioned by the Texas Performing Arts at the University of Texas at Austin with the support of the Kahng Foundation; and for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art in honor of its 2023 centennial with support from the Bill and Mary Meyer Concert Series of the National Museum of Asian Art (Smithsonian). It is dedicated to the Verona Quartet: dear friends Jon, Dorothy, Abby, and JD. – Texu Kim
Acclaimed as an “outstanding ensemble…cohesive yet full of temperament” (The New York Times), the Verona Quartet has firmly established itself amongst the most distinguished ensembles on the chamber music scene today. The group’s singular sense of purpose most recently earned them Chamber Music America’s coveted 2020 Cleveland Quartet Award, and a reputation for its “bold interpretive strength, robust characterization and commanding resonance” (Calgary Herald). The Quartet serves on the faculty of the Oberlin College and Conservatory as the Quartet-in-Residence. In addition to its position at Oberlin, the Quartet holds residencies at Nova Scotia’s Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance and North Carolina’s Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle. As committed advocates of diverse programming, the Verona Quartet curates the UpClose Chamber Music Series on behalf of the COT, electrifying audiences
from concert halls to craft breweries with their “sensational, powerhouse performance[s]” (Classical Voice America).
The Verona Quartet has appeared across four continents, captivating audiences at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center (New York City), Kennedy Center, Library of Congress (Washington, D.C.), Jordan Hall (Boston), Wigmore Hall (U.K.) and Melbourne Recital Hall (Australia), and has performed at festivals including La Jolla Summerfest, Chamber Music Northwest, Caramoor, Alpenglow, and Bravo! Vail, and with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
The 2022-23 season will see the Verona Quartet return to Carnegie Hall and Buffalo Chamber Music Society as well as debut at esteemed series including the Chamber Music Societies of Utica and Williamsburg, Clemson University’s Utsey Chamber Music Series, Feldman Chamber Music Music Society, Friends of Chamber Music Kansas City, and
Howland Chamber Music Circle. The Quartet will also participate in guest artist residencies at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in Singapore, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Texas at Austin.
A string quartet for the 21st century, the Verona Quartet champions the rich breadth of the string quartet repertoire from the time-honored canon through contemporary classics. Notable commissions and premieres include works by composers Julia Adolphe, Corey Dundee and Sebastian Currier as well as Michael Gilbertson’s Pulitzer Prize-nominated Quartet. In addition to the 2023 premiere of a string quartet by Derek David, the Quartet will premiere a new composition by Texu Kim and a work for string quartet and yangqin (Chinese dulcimer) by Cheng Jin Koh, commissioned and highlighted by the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery in recognition of its Centennial. The Verona Quartet’s critically acclaimed debut album, Diffusion, features works of Janacek, Ravel and Szymanowski and was praised by BBC Music Magazine for its “radiant glow” and Cleveland Classical for the “Verona’s technical precision, expressive freedom, and brilliant, dramatic phrasing”. The Quartet’s second album, SHATTER, will showcase works written for the Verona Quartet by American composers Julia Adolphe and Michael Gilbertson as well as Reena Esmail’s Ragamala, in collaboration with Hindustani vocalist Saili Oak.
In addition to promoting contemporary music, the Quartet strives for a dynamic, imaginative approach to collaboration and
programming that champions cross-cultural and interdisciplinary enterprises. The Verona Quartet looks forward to collaborations with pianists Anne-Marie McDermott and David Fung, violist Masumi Rostad, cellist Joshua Roman and world-renowned pipa player Wu Man. Past projects include a live-performance art installation with artist Ana Prvački, performances with dancers from Brooklyn’s Dance Heginbotham, artistic exchanges with traditional Emirati poets in the UAE, and a collaboration with GRAMMYwinning folk trio I’m With Her. Drawing from the mentorship of the celebrated Cleveland, Juilliard and Pacifica Quartets, the Verona Quartet’s rapid rise to international prominence was fueled by top prize wins at the Wigmore Hall, Melbourne, M-Prize and Osaka International Chamber Music Competitions, as well as the 2015 Concert Artists Guild Competition. The ensemble’s “vibrant, intelligent” (The New York Times) performances emanate from the spirit of storytelling; the Quartet believes that this transcends genre and therefore the name “Verona” pays tribute to William Shakespeare, one of the greatest storytellers of all time.
The Verona Quartet are D’Addario Artists and The Violin Channel Artists. To find out more visit the Verona Quartet on Facebook and Instagram @veronaquartet
The Verona Quartet appears by arrangement with Dinin Arts Management & Consulting
punchy bass lines, snappy brass fanfares, and suave... solos”
(San Diego Story), Kim’s music is at times “explosively virtuosic”
(Wall Street Journal) but always uplifting and rewarding for both listeners and performers.
Texu Kim (b.1980) is “one of the most active and visible composers of his generation” (San Francisco Classical Voice), writing music that’s fun, sophisticated, and culturally connected. Drawing on his personal affinity for humor, his background in science, and his fascination with everyday experiences, Kim’s work radiates positivity, offering “major-league cuteness” (Broadway World) while demonstrating “surprising scope.” (San Diego Story) As a Korean-American, Kim explores the localization of imported traditions, incorporating crosscultural elements into his work in “impressive and special” ways so that “many orchestras and conductors around the world are taking an interest in [his] music.” (KPBS) By highlighting the interaction between folk culture and external influences, Kim creates meaningful depth while maintaining a signature playfulness and exuberance that is listener-friendly and engaging. Characterized by “exuberant, colorful washes of sound…
Kim’s work has enjoyed an impressive international performance history from a roster of top orchestras and ensembles, including the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the New World Symphony, the Oakland Symphony, the Oregon Symphony, the San Diego Symphony, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Korea, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, Gyeonggi Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble Modern, Alarm Will Sound, Ensemble Reconsil Vienna, New York Classical Players, Ensemble 212, AsianArt Ensemble Berlin, Ensemble Mise-en, Fear No Music, Ensemble TIMF, Northwestern University New Music Ensemble, Indiana University New Music
Ensemble, C4: Choral Composer/ Conductor Collective, NOTUS, Red Clay Saxophone Quartet, the Verona Quartet, and more. Having served as the Composer-in-Residence of the Korean Symphony Orchestra (2014-18), Kim has appeared at Yeowoorak Festival, Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival, PyeongChang Music Festival and School, Bruckner Festival, SONiC Festival, Mizzou International Composers Festival, June in Buffalo, Aspen Music Festival, SCI National Conferences, Composers
Conference, and Oregon Bach Festival. The Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games and the Piece & Piano Festival featured Kim’s balanced and well-crafted arrangements, which may also be heard on numerous commercial albums. A frequent collaborator with choreographers, filmmakers, and educators, Kim has received awards and honors from the Barlow Prize, American Modern Ensemble, Copland House, SCI/ ASCAP, Civitella Ranieri Foundation, and Isang Yun International Composition Prize, to name a few, in addition to winning a Silver Medal in the 1998 International Chemistry Olympiad (Melbourne, Australia).
Kim’s recent/upcoming projects include the world premiere of fffanfare!! commissioned by the San Francisco Opera in September 2022; performances of Dub-Sanjo by the Korean National Symphony Orchestra during their Europe tour in October 2022; the world premiere of Ritus Sanitatem by the Verona Quartet in March 2023, co-commissioned by Texas Performing Arts at the University of Texas at Austin with support of the Kahng Foundation and the National Museum of Asian Art of
the Smithsonian Institute; and a new sinfonietta commissioned by the Barlow Endowment that will be premiered in 23-24 season by Alarm Will Sound, the London Sinfonietta, the Oakland Symphony, and The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. An assistant professor of music at San Diego State University, Kim formerly taught at Syracuse University, Portland State University, and Lewis & Clark College. Kim is the Artist-of-theYear of the Busan Philharmonic Orchestra and the director of the Korean Symphony Orchestra’s Composers’ Atelier program, educating and commissioning up-and-coming composers; he has also served as co-director of Ensemble 212’s ‘New Music for Young Audience’ series, and acted as a curator and board member for the Korean Cultural Society of Boston’s ‘New Music Symposium.’ Having earned his D.M. from Indiana University and prior degrees from Seoul National University, Kim’s greatest mentors include Unsuk Chin, David Dzubay, Sven-David Sandstrom, Claude Baker, and Sangjick Jun.
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Texas Performing Arts Residencies help Austin-based artists of international renown create new work. The residencies are laboratories for developing projects that will go on to have a tangible impact on American culture.
Award-winning playwright and director Virginia Grise makes work through a political and historical lens. With her collaborator Martha Gonzalez, Grise is developing Riding the Currents of the Wilding Wind. The music-driven performance is based on Helena María Viramontes’ 2007 novel Their Dogs Came with Them.
A legend in postmodern dance whose approach to movement changed how the world makes and views dance. Based in Austin since 1976, Deborah Hay recently established her archive at the Harry Ransom Center at UT Austin. Her latest work is a collaboration with Austinbased composer Graham Reynolds.
An interdisciplinary artist and creative director, Kenyon Adams seeks to reclaim or expand embodied ways of knowing, towards imagining and constructing sustainable futures. He is developing Compline, a ritual performance work with a vocal ensemble inspired by the “night prayer” from the early Christian church.
Mar 4, 2023
Media Sponsor: KMFA-FM
McCullough TheatreEmma Frucht, Violin
Miho Saegusa, Violin
Ayane Kozasa, Viola
Karen Ouzounian, Cello
Lembit Beecher (b. 1980): These Are Not Estonian Flowers (TEXAS PREMIERE)*
Franz Schubert: An Die Musik arr. Jannina Norpoth
Hannah Kendall (b. 1984): Glances / I Don’t Belong Here: (TEXAS PREMIERE)
Franz Schubert: Nacht und Träume arr. Jannina Norpoth
Paul Wiancko (b. 1983): Purple Antelope Sound Squeeze (TEXAS PREMIERE)*
- Intermission-
Franz Schubert: String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, Death and the Maiden
I. Allegro
II. Andante con moto
III. Scherzo: Allegro molto
IV. Presto
The Aizuri Quartet is the recipient of Chamber Music America’s 2022 Cleveland Quartet Award. The quartet’s performance has been made possible in part by Chamber Music America and the Cleveland Quartet Award Endowment Fund.
*Commissioned by the Phillips Collection, written for the Aizuri Quartet
The quartet will also perform a special family program, AizuriKids, at Austin classical radio station KMFA’s Draylen Mason Studio on Sunday, March 5, 2023 at 1:00pm.
The performance of AizuriKids is supported by the Carolyn Bartlett Charitable Foundation.
The Art of Translation is a program born from our curiosity of how composers respond to different artistic mediums and how varied these responses can be. Music by living composers Hannah Kendall, Lembit Beecher, and Paul Wiancko stands next to Franz Schubert’s art songs and string quartet, and each piece takes us on a personal journey of how the composer reacts through the creation of music. The program opens with Lembit Beecher’s These are Not Estonian Flowers, a piece in response to American artist Alma Thomas’s 1968 work Breeze Rustling Through Fall Flowers. At the time of its composition, Beecher’s health prevented him from sitting and composing at his desk for long periods of time. He took his state of being not as an inhibiting factor, but wove it into his composition process. For six weeks, he would look at Thomas’s painting once a day and write a short musical response — sometimes a deep reflection into the art itself and other times a quick glance at the colors before diving right into the music. Beecher then stitched together a final piece that jumps from one response to the next, in a manner reminiscent of the varied textures and layered brushstrokes of Thomas’s painting. The title of Beecher’s quartet comes from his first viewing of the painting, when he saw it as a thumbnail on his computer and thought the artwork resembled an Estonian woven belt pattern from his childhood. Subsequent viewings each led to very different responses, and
he began to think about how personal, varied, and dependent on the moment our experiences of art are. When the music finally settles at the end of the piece, what emerges is an Estonian folk song, initially heard as a fragment at the opening of the piece, but now played in a new way: slowly lyrical and thoughtful. Beecher describes that the process of responding to Alma Thomas’s artwork had given him a different perspective, “as if the painting had encouraged [him] to look at [his] own world with new eyes.”
The first half of this program includes two Schubert songs An die Musik and Nacht und Träume, both arranged by PubliQuartet violinist Jannina Norpoth, and both sandwiched between living composers. Schubert’s music beautifully toggles between realism and the abstract; sometimes it is directly inspired by another piece of art, like how Death and the Maiden draws from Matthias Claudius’s poem Der Tod und das Mädchen, and at other times, it welcomes the listener to be transported through their own interpretation and imagination. The two art songs on this program were placed in their exact spots in hopes that the listener can take a moment to reflect on the three incredible living composers while also basking in the beauty of Schubert-ian melodies, and take the opportunity to absorb and cherish their own response to the concert experience.
Though Schubert’s Death and the Maiden is an expansion of his lied of the same name which in turn takes inspiration from Claudius’ poem, it is also a look into Schubert’s state of being at
the time: he was suffering from syphilis and struggling with the grave realization that he would not recover. Dynamics within the first movement are suppressed as if Schubert is unable to fully accept his fate, and yet the music is full of violent anguish. The second movement (which includes the melody of his lied) opens with a somber chorale, and the variations that follow struggle to decide between minor and major. The final movement feels like a total departure from what came before, a whirlwind of unhinged energy that gallops into eternity. Perhaps this quartet is Schubert’s method of processing death, and as a listener, we are taken on that processing journey in real time, a roller coaster of emotions. With the final maniacal gesture of the last movement, one can imagine that Schubert is throwing tomatoes at the life that had given him so much difficulty, and hopefully writing this quartet provided a form of brief catharsis. Returning to the first half, in her piece Glances/I Don’t Belong Here:, Hannah Kendall takes British-Guyanese artist Ingrid Pollard’s photo series Pastoral Interlude, and draws parallels to her own experiences. Kendall writes that Ingrid’s artwork is “a series of photographs in which her Black British subjects are posed in the Lake District, the epitome of rural Britain; exploring the notion of alienation and ‘otherness’ in such spaces. In a similar way, this collection of seven miniatures are musical snapshots of my most cherished non-urban settings, and the experiences that can accompany each visit.” Within the first couple
seconds of each movement, Kendall immediately transports the listener into her world and her musical language, and the brevity of each movement evokes the snapshot of Hannah’s memories, as well as that feeling of not totally being rooted or belonging.
Paul Wiancko’s Purple Antelope Sound Squeeze is a companion piece to Sam Gilliam’s work Purple Antelope Space Squeeze. Gilliam’s artwork is a collage of uniquely shaped paper (the shapes were made out of molds cast specifically for this work), prints using welded objects, and hand-painted patterns, folded and layered on top of each other. “Purple Antelope Space Squeeze feels to me like a three-dimensional object that has been forced into a two-dimensional space,” writes Wiancko. 13 musical materials were connected, then “ripped apart, reconfigured, and smashed back together.” The result is a hodgepodge of fantastic sounds and aural textures, with a melody that overlays the craggy terrain. Wiancko breaks apart this melody and has each member of the quartet take turns playing fragments, reminiscent of the vibrant and colorful prints that Gilliam specially designed for Purple Antelope Space Squeeze. Wiancko writes, “Listening to Sound Squeeze now, I find myself attempting to cobble together some semblance of some unseen original narrative–the same impulse I had when encountering Sam Gilliam’s Space Squeeze for the first time.” Perhaps that is the point of art… to follow the impulse to make your own story and connection through a work, which ultimately makes you feel and be human.
Gilliam’s thought on experimentation and improvisation is particularly poignant as it best describes the nature of our “The Art of Translation” program, and why we do what we do as artists: “the surface is no longer the final plane of the work. It is instead the beginning of an advance into the theater of life,” (Sam Gilliam and Annie Gawlak, Solids and Veils, Art Journal 50, no. 1).
Purple Antelope Sound Squeeze and These Are Not Estonian Flowers commissioned by The Phillips Collection, where the Sam Gilliam and Alma Thomas works that inspired the compositions are currently on display.
Notes by Aizuri Quartet
The Aizuri Quartet has established a unique position within today’s musical landscape, infusing all of its music-making with infectious energy, joy, and warmth, cultivating curiosity in listeners, and inviting audiences into the concert experience through its innovative programming, and the depth and fire of its performances.
Praised by The Washington Post for “astounding” and “captivating” performances that draw from its notable “meld of intellect, technique and emotions,” the Aizuri Quartet was named the recipient of the 2022 Cleveland Quartet Award by Chamber Music America, and was awarded the Grand Prize at the 2018 M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition along with top prizes at the 2017 Osaka International Chamber Music Competition in Japan and the 2015 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition in
London. The Quartet’s debut album, Blueprinting, featuring new works written for the Aizuri Quartet by five American composers, was released by New Amsterdam Records to critical acclaim (“In a word, stunning” – I Care If You Listen), nominated for a 2019 GRAMMY Award, and named one of NPR Music’s Best Classical Albums of 2018. The Aizuri Quartet’s follow-up to Blueprinting will be released on Azica Records in 2023.
In early 2022 the Aizuri Quartet was named fellows to the Artist Propulsion Lab, a project of WQXR, New York City’s Classical radio station. The Quartet’s fellowship includes live-broadcast performances, radio content, and the release of a new AizuriKids video, featuring music by Elizabeth Cotten, stop-motion animation by Lembit Beecher, and an interview with Rhiannon Giddens.
The 2021/22 season saw notable performances, including concerts with the Milwaukee Symphony
Orchestra conducted by Ken David Masur, in which Aizuri
Quartet performed John Adams’s Absolute Jest. With legendary indie rock band Wilco, Aizuri
Quartet opened five concerts at the United Palace in Harlem and appeared with Wilco on The Tonight Show with Stephen Colbert. Also in 21/22, the quartet premiered David Ludwig’s Organistrum with Anthony McGill and Demarre
McGill at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and unveiled new works by Paul Wiancko and Lembit Beecher at the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C.
The Aizuris view the string quartet as a living art and springboard for community, collaboration, curiosity and experimentation. At the core of its music-making is a virtuosic ability to illuminate a vast range of musical styles through the Aizuri’s eclectic, engaging and thought-provoking programs. The Quartet has drawn praise both for bringing “a technical bravado and emotional power” to bold new commissions, and for its “flawless” (San Diego UnionTribune) performances of the great works of the past. Exemplifying this intrepid spirit, the Aizuri
Quartet curated and performed five adventurous programs as the 20172018 MetLiveArts String Quartetin-Residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, leading The New York Times to applaud Aizuri
Quartet as “genuinely exciting,”
“imaginative,” and “a quartet of expert collaborators.” For this series, the quartet collaborated with spoken word artist Denice
Frohman and shakuhachi player
Kojiro Umezaki, commissioned new works by Kinan Azmeh, Michi
Wiancko and Wang Lu, as well as commissioned new arrangements of vocal music by Hildegard von Bingen and Carlo Gesualdo, which was paired with the music of Conlon Nancarrow, Haydn and Beethoven in a program focused on music created in periods of isolation.
The Aizuris believe in an integrative approach to musicmaking, in which teaching, performing, writing, arranging, curation, and the quartet’s role in the community are all connected. In 2020, the quartet launched AizuriKids, a free, online series of educational videos for children that uses the string quartet as a catalyst for creative learning and features themes such as astronomy, American history, and cooking. These vibrant, whimsical, and interactive videos are lovingly produced by the Aizuris and are paired with activity sheets to inspire further exploration.
The Aizuri Quartet is passionate about nurturing the next generation of artists, and is deeply grateful to have held several residencies that were instrumental in its development: from 2014-2016, the String Quartet in Residence at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, the 2015-2016 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet in Residence at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, and the resident ensemble of the 2014 Ravinia Festival’s Steans Music Institute.
Formed in 2012 and combining four distinctive musical personalities into a powerful collective, the Aizuri Quartet draws its name from “aizuri-e,” a style of predominantly blue Japanese woodblock printing that is noted for its vibrancy and incredible detail.
Bob Bursey
Executive and Artistic Director
Bianca Hooi
Assistant to the Executive and Artistic Director
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Basil Montemayor
Ticketing Manager
Texas Performing Arts is also proud to acknowledge the hundreds of part-time and volunteer staff who play a critical role in presenting our annual season of world-class performing arts events to the Austin community.
Dina Black
Virginia Bosman
Margaret Byron
Nancy Carrales
Sheri Dildy
Janine Dos Remedios
Tony C Garcia
Sam Hallam
Leslie Hawkins
Carlos Hernandez-Heine
Olga Kasma-Carnes
Charlotte Klein
Tamara Klindt
Sharon Kojzarek
Eric Lee
Lara Miller
Mad Poarch
Kimberly Reaves
Jessica Reed
Lee Rodgers
Mary Ruiz
Micah Sall
Alina Almaraz
Leah Austin
Nahla Beltran
Sarah Bhalla
Zoe Bihan
Cassiy Bivens
Ezra-Rose Bolender
Mathaly Carranza
Ciara Casarez
Benjamin Cervantes
Demian Chavez
Shivani Chidambaram
Kathyrn Clark
Audrey Clay
Bridgette Clifford
Maria Dalton
Kaila Delafance
Vio Dorantes
Melissa Elkins
Sarah Elliot
Laine Farber
Carla Garcia
Indigo Giles
Isabelle Gilmore
Gabriel Gomez-Reyes
Trinity Gordon
Alisse Guerra
Joshua Hale
Samuel Hallam
Catherine Heeman
Faith Hilchey
Isabella Hollis
Ari Jamison
Victoria Jefferson
Nereida Jimenez
Haley Johnson
Bindi Kaplan
Lucy Kulzick
Abigail Lantis
Austin Luchak
Gilbert Martinez
Angela Mata
Jonah Maughan
Elias Merlo
Eliza Moldawer
Samantha Moles
Genevieve MonterrosoSyevens
Aria Morgan
Lauren Mural
Hannah Nelson
Gracie Sanders
Hasina Shah
Andrea R Stanfill Castro
Debra Thomas
Kristine Tydlacka
Leah Waheed
Marty Watson
Tonya Woods
Sally Zukonik
Braden Newlun
Lanna Nguyen
Benjamin Nunn
Samuel Oladejo
Humberto Ortega
Leila Rabah
Morgan Randall
Zackary Reed
Bryce Riggle
Natalia Rodenzo
Hayley “Lee” Rodgers
Sabrie Rodriguez
Daniel Ruiz Bustos
Victoria Salazar
Simon Salinas
Hasina Shah
Lance, Shook
Matthew Smith
Nguyen Tang
Jeffrey Tran
Michelle Upham
Isabel Velasquez
Sydney Villaruel
Rylee Vines
Julia Yelvington
Jacob Zamarripa
The Texas Performing Arts Leadership Board is a group of volunteer leaders in the arts, business, and philanthropy. The Board is dedicated to expanding Texas Performing Arts’ world-class programming, positioning the organization as an international leader in the performing arts, and strengthening the bond between the performing arts and the communities we serve.
Board Members
Brian Haley, Chair
Carly Christopher
Jaime Davila
Tamara Dorrance
Dennis Eakin
Deborah Green
Michael Herman
Steve Kahng
Nancy & Angus Littlejohn
Chris Mattsson
Lauren Reid
Marc Seriff
Lisa B. Thompson
Natasa & Michael Valocchi
Texas Performing Arts is a nonprofit supported by generous patrons and donors. We extend a special thank you to the following major supporters:*
$100,000+ Anonymous
Carly & Clayton Christopher
William & Anita Cochran
Dennis Eakin
Deborah Green and Clayton Aynesworth
Caroline & Brian Haley H-E-B Tournament of Champions
Abbey & Mike Herman
Steve Kahng
Angus & Nancy Littlejohn
Julia Marsden
Chris Mattsson
Susan & Robert Morse
Marc & Carolyn Seriff
St. David's Healthcare Texas Capital Bank Tocker Foundation
$50,000–99,999
Carolyn Rice Bartlett Charitable Foundation
Special gratitude to donors who have established endowments at Texas Performing Arts to provide long-term funding for mission-driven projects and programs:
Alex and Dee Massad Endowment Fund Arts Education Endowment
Joann and Gaylord Jentz Endowment for Student Engagement
Kathy Panoff Texas Performing Arts Student Engagement Endowment
Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Concert Hall Endowment
William & Anita Cochran Endowment for Performing Arts Access & Education
Phillip Auth Endowed Dance Fund for Texas Performing Arts
Performing Arts Center Endowment for Performing Excellence
Robert L. Tocker Endowed Excellence Fund for Student Volunteerism
Topfer Endowment for Performing Arts Production
Z. T. Scott Family Endowment for the Performing Arts
*Gifts pledged or received Sep 1, 2021 through Dec 1, 2022
Texas Performing Arts gratefully acknowledges the financial support of our members. Each year, members help fund robust education and engagement initiatives, affordable student tickets, and critical student employment opportunities that make Texas Performing Arts so much more than what you see on our stages.
BENEFACTOR’S CIRCLE
$10,000+ ChemCentric *
Julie and Steve Avery
Joe Batson
Jeff and Katie Berkaw
Dianne and Robert Brode
Virginia and Gilbert Burciaga
Dennis Eakin Kia *
Joanne Guariglia
Gretchen and Lance Kroesch
Julia Marsden
Mary G. Yancy
PRODUCER’S CIRCLE
$3,000–9,999
Anonymous
Drs. Lynn Azuma and Brian Hall
Deepika and Somdipta Basu Roy
Debra Bawcom
Renee Butler and Kay Stowell
Lee Carnes
Edwina P. Carrington
Suzanne and Bill Childs
Colleen Clark
John Coers
Ronda & John Cullen
Legacy Deo
Aubrey and Bobby Epstein
Jim Ferguson and Art Sansone
Frost Bank *
Jorge Garcia
Phil and Lisa Gilbert
Brian Gleason
Brian Hampton
Lisa Harris
Gladys M. Heavilin
Mary Ann and Andrew Heller
Frank N Ikard Jr
Kerry Keller
Kyongmee Kim
Chris and Melissa Knox
Kelley Knutson and Carol Walsh-Knutson
Cathy and James Kratz
Dr. and Mrs. Thomas Loftus
Sue and Gary Lowe
Mary and Lynn Moak
Dec 1, 2022
We regret that limited space does not allow us to list every member. For information on ways to give, please visit texasperformingarts.org/ membership, call the membership office at 512.232.8567, or email us at support@texasperformingarts.org.
*Corporate Circle members
Kari Nations and Michael Gibertini
Jacqueline and Shawn O’Farrell
Wayne Orchid
Janis and Joe Pinnelli
Alicia Pounds
Javier Prado and Family
Debbie and Jim Ramsey
Gina and Don Reese
Chuck Ross and Brian Hencey
Michael Regester
Kenneth Sandoval
Syd Sharples
Robyn and Bret Siers
Laura and David Starks
Shari and Eric Stein
Carole Tower and Matthew St. Louis
Louann and Larry Temple
Claudia and Bill Wilson
Annie Zucker and Michael Regester
$1,500–2,999
Mandy and Heather Andress
Bonnie L. Bain
Addison, Sydney, Kori, and David Baker
Carolyn R. Bartlett
Becky Beaver
Carolyn and Andrew Birge
Grizelda and Tim Black
Casey Blass and Lee Manford
Tahra and Michael Boatright
Kara and Shelby Brown
Peggy and Gary Brown
Kimberly Brown
Shellie and Martin Campos
Barbara Cappa
Kelli and John Carlton
Martha Carr
Carol and Shannon Casey
Sue and Kevin Cloud
Anita and William Cochran
Niccolo and Natasha De Masi
Margaret Denena and Cliff Knowles
Ken Dockser
Susan and David Donaldson
Lyzz Donelson
Barbara Ellis and Alex McAlmon
Kevin Espenlaub and John Hampton
Laura L. Estes and Joyce A. Lauck
Carol and Clint Fletcher
Pamela and David Frager
Sandra Freed
Kelli Furrer
Susan Gammill
Nancy Gary and Ruth Cude
Cheryl and
R. James George, Jr.
Susan and Barry Goodman
Melissa and Rick Gorskie
Karen and Rowland
Greenwade
Sven Griffin
Cheri Gross
Juan M. Guerrero, M.D.
Jeffery Hammerberg
Jennifer and Randall Harris
Gunnar Hellekson
Anne and Thomas Hilbert
David Honeycutt
Amy and Jeffrey Hubert
Jeanine Hudson
Rob Ignatowski and Daniel Pacheco
Admiral and Mrs. B. R. Inman
Victoria Johnson
Gary C. Johnson
Kristie Johnston
Helen Johnston
Maxx Judd and Donn Gauger
K Friese & Associates*
Heather King
Betsy and Matt Kirksey
Sheila Kothmann
Loree and Burney LaChance
Calvin and Donna Lee
Sue and Larry Lewellyn
Mr. and Mrs. George F. Littlejohn
Dracos Locario
Jennifer and Christian Loew
Yadira and Delfino Lorenzo
Peggy Manning
Art Markman
Leslie and Charles Martinez
Richard McCathron
Alexandra and Tom McKeone
Ford McTee
Christine Messina
Jennifer and Jim Misko
Melissa Moloney and Chris Walk
Brenda and John Mosher
Miriam and Jim Mulva
Nall Family
Meri and Don Nelson
Marcia Nelson
Cathy Oliver
OroSolutions *
Terri Pascoe
Connie and Samuel Pate
Michele and Roy Peck
Shari and John Pflueger
Machelle Pharr
Liz and Jon Phelan
Leslie Powell
Sara and Dick Rathgeber
Elinor and Edwin Reese
Richie & Gueringer P.C. *
Alec Rhodes
Alyssa Russell
Susan Schaffer
Steve Schaffer
Nina and Frank Seely
Vijay Sitaram
Aurigo Software Technologies *
Balaji Sreenivasan
Sid Steadman
Lorri Stevenson
Robert Stiles
Bruce Stuckman
Peter and Joan Swartz
Caroline Tang
Caroline, Olivia, and John Taylor
John E. Thompson
Heather and Jeffrey Tramonte
Jonathan Tyner
Erin Vander Leest and Tom Pyle
Sara-Jane and Daniel Watson
Susan and Chris Wilson with Bonita Grumme
Dr. Lucas Wong and Dr. Lisa Go
$600–1,499
Anonymous (8)
Cynthia Abel
Amy Adame
Dwain Aidala
Mark Aitala
Emily Allen and Ron Altizer
Terry Amacher
Page and Neal Amador
Brian Amato
Joann Anderson
Joe Annis
Sandy and Richard Apperley
Christopher Arboleda and Jared Ellis
Cecelia Arvallo
Tony Aventa
Donna and Manuel Ayala
The Ballon Family
Billy Bambrey
Jana and Barry Bandera
Naomi Banks Miller
Elisa Barnes
Joshua Becker
Dr. Steven A. Beebe
James Benson
April Berman
Jay Bhattacharyya
Carolyn and Jon Bible
Denis Blake
Stephanie and Michael Blanck
Amy Bodin
Dave and Nancy Bourell
Robert Bracewell
Steve and Jen Braud
Brook and Gerald Broesche
Janice and Charlie Brown
Scott Brown and Cheri Lafrinea
Christy and William K. Browning
Robert Bush
Robert Butchofsky
Josie and Jim Caballero
Sam Caire
Kelly Canavan
Ms. Susie Capozza
Min Choe
Joann Cocoros
Sharon and Eric Cohan
Barbara Colley
Sarah Compton
Jeanette Cortinas
Mary Crouch
Jennifer and James Cuddeback
Justin D’Abadie
Elaine Daigle
Wilma Dankovich
Lorraine and John Davis
Nhu and Randall DeBastiani
Courtney and Adam Debower
Lisa and Paul Delacruz
Brad Diemer
Kathleen Dignan
Tracy DiLeo
Lucy Ditmore
Jennifer Dixon
Glenn and Britta Dukes
Maria Dwyer
Susan and David Eckelkamp
Michael L. Edwards
James Elacqua
Sheila Ellwood
Reva Enzminger
Jane W. Fountain
Drs. Donald and April Fox
Vivian and James Froncek
Katina and Matthew Gase
Jon and Joanna Geld
Breanna Giannoules
Sharon and Richard Gibbons
Glenn and Nancy Gilkey
Laura and John Gill
Danny and Harriet Gleason
Craig and Becky Griffin
Jana and John Grimes
Martin Grygar and Travis Maese
Dr. Suchitra Gururaj and Joe Carey
Maria Gutierrez and Peter Nutson
Tizzle Bizzle Hallock
Cindy and John Hanly
Amy and Peter Hannan
Darcy and Rick Hardy Family
Laura Harvey
Jane Hatter
Lynda Haynes
John Hernandez
James Hester
Marjorie and David Hunter
Victoria Husband
Jennifer Ice
Kathleen and Jim Jardine
Robert Johnson
Anita and Ralph Jones
Susanna and Michael Khazhinsky
Hugh King
Susan and Richard Klusmann
Jan and Orion Knox
Aileen Krassner Kiehl and Michael Kiehl
John Kump
Dr. Jeffrey Lazar
Karen Leiker
Donn and Jeanette LeVie
Stacy Libby
Luis Lidsky
Jessie Lorenty and Erika Esquivel
Simon Lorne
Richard Maier
Salman Manzur
Dick Marshall
Joyce Martin
Roxanne and Steve Martin
Olivia Martinez
Drs. Victor Martinez and Christopher Rose
Dr. and Mrs. Lawrence Masullo
Stephanie Mayes
Jim and Katie McClarty
Chris McClung
Denise McCullough
Frances Ellen and Paul Metzger
Lynn Meyer and Rick Clemens
Pauline and Alfred Meyerson
James W. Moritz
Nicole and Kent Morrison
Denise Margo Moy
Michelle and Eric Natinsky
Rachel Naugle
Marina Navarrete
Philip Neff
Brian Neidig
Margaret and Brian Nilson
Wynnell Noelke
Lori Nunan Shaw
Dan and Deborah O’Neil
Eric and Allison Olson
Augustine Park
Paulina Pastrana
Kelly Payne
Robert Pender
Karen and Wes Peoples
Cindy Perez
Brian and Adele Peterman
Terra and RJ Peters
Lisa and Kyra Peterson
Nancy and Frank Petrone
Tami Pharr
Allen and Tonya Place
Bonnie and James Pohl
Carla and Steve Portnoy
Wanda Potts
Kate and Scott Powers
Eric Rabbanian
Luis Ramirez
Tracy Rawl
Marquette Maresh Reddam
Dawn and Thomas Rich
Martin Ritchey
Jeanine and Dan Roadhouse
Alan Robinson and Susan Frentz
Laura Robinson
Cesar and Susan Rodriguez
Summer Rydel
Susan E. Salch
Al Sandoval
Julie and Richard Schechter
Diane Selkin
Christine and Anthony Sementelli
Lori Nunan Shaw
Amy Shipherd
Linda Simonson
Dustin Slack
Raymond Smith
Debbie Smolik
Kimberly and David Soloman
Toni and Ted Spalding
Karen Speier
Logan Spence
Richard Stanford
Paul Stone
Geeta and David Suggs
Suresh Sundarababu
Dona and Ali Tabrizi
Matthew Tanzer
Bri Thatcher and Andy
Modrovich
Mackenzie and Burwell
Thompson
Stacy and Michael Toomey
Alice Toungate
Michael Tracy
Gregory Tran
Claudia and Luis Trejo
Brooke Turner and Brian Johnson
Keith Uhls and Dan Hutchison
Saradee and Melvin Waxler
Kenneth R. Webb
Chrissie Welty
Marie and Phil Wendell
Leslie and Dana West
Leslie and Bryan Weston
Nancy Whitworth Spong
Michael Wilen
Mr. and Mrs. Mark J. Williams
Carolyn Williams
Mike Wilson
Tanya Winch
Amy Wong Mok
Kevin Wood
Marian Yeager
Lena Yoo and Gerry P. Cardinal III
Mitch and Jeannette Young
Susan Zane
Texas Performing Arts offers free tickets and related educational materials to area schools and educators designed to inspire the next generation of arts lovers including:
• Youth Performances - free daytime performances for K–12
• Students Experiencing the Arts with their Teachers
• Broadway Experience for Youth
• Teacher Tix @ TPA
The Perfect night in Austin starts with Upscale American bites at Acre 41, or classics from Burger Bar. After the final curtain, escape to Otopia Rooftop, the only rooftop lounge in the Campus District, for lite bites and sunthemed cocktails. Looking for a nightcap? Make your way to Bar AC, a Spanish tapas and wine bar with an outdoor terrace. Finally, enjoy restful sleep in comfortable luxury at The Otis Hotel or AC Hotel.
Texas Performing Arts offers discounted tickets to ensure that any student from any school can enjoy world-class performances. This is only possible through generous support from donors like you. You can give a student the chance to experience the power of the performing arts for just $10. Please donate today!
texasperformingarts.org/support