Please bear with The Good Musician for jumping out of chronological order–came across this tidbit when organizing trip brochures (yes, I collect all that stuff–the arts administrator Web/print schizoid database mind).
Notenspur Music Trail opens fall 2008. It’s a 4.7 km signposted walking trail through musical wonderland. Sort of a pilgrimage to experience the […]
Budapest is an old dowager, still grand, but crumbling about the edges. Many old palaces, homes, and historical buildings have been sold to other countries in order to support the country’s administration and government.
If the general municipal buildings are a bit shabby, the cathedrals and churches are kept in excellent repair and more likely to […]
Castle Hill, Budapest, Hungary. The largest spire is the Basilica of St. Mattias, one of the venues where AVAE was privileged to perform.
A bit of background
The Danube River separates Buda (west, Castle Hill) and Pest (east, government and commerce). Built in the first century B.C. by Celts, the Romans occupied the town as the […]
Photo by The Good Musician
The Austin Vocal Arts Ensemble (AVAE) recently completed a ten day concert tour of Central Europe. Under the direction of Dr. Kenneth Sheppard, twenty some-odd singers and various kids, moms, and significant others flew from Houston to Budapest, Hungary, with a short layover in London Heathrow Airport. Destinations included Szent Endre, […]
Lois Perkins Chapel, on the Southwestern University campus, was a little bit of heaven for serious music lovers last Friday evening. An enraptured audience participated in a Cathedral Evensong service much like Felix Mendelssohn would have experienced. Bishop Joe Wilson celebrated with a slightly abridged version of the 1853 Anglican Book of Common Prayer, and […]
Image details: Mendelssohn served by picapp.com
Neighboring Georgetown is building a nationally recognized mega-festival of the arts. The Georgetown Festival of the Arts is an exemplar of community involvement producing a highly educational, thoroughly interactive, fun place to be for all ages. Kids can explore an instrumental petting zoo, learn the history of the dulcimer, and […]
If The Good Musician were to travel due north from Budapest, she would cross the Polish border and explore Warsaw, birthplace of Anton Rubenstein. I was privileged to hear him in a 1963 concert, a high school graduation gift from my parents.
Actually, I was thinking of Bo Diddley, saying a fond farewell to […]
The Good Musician travelog talked about Hungarian and Czech composers. Here are some of the astounding churches and cathedrals where those composers wrote and made music, and where Chorus Austin will perform this summer. I’ve been browsing the concert schedules, and it looks like there will be lots of fantastic music while we’re there.
Budapest […]
Next stop, Prague–capitol of the Czech Republic. Rich in ancient church music tradition, documented from the Sixth Century, this is a hotspot of Central European music. Bohuslav Martinu, Antonin Dvorak (sorry, don’t know diacritical marks yet), Leos Janacek, and Bedrich Smetana are composers you’ve likely run across, Romantic and 20th Century exemplars.
You can download Czech […]
Jacobi Handl (Lat. Jacobus Gallus Carniolus), 1550-1591, is perhaps the best known Slovenian composer. Writing primarily masses and motets (374 of those mamas), he worked with a printer in Prague to ensure his compositions were printed before his death. Pretty remarkable in any period.
Here is a fascinating Web site that gives a run-down on […]
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