Past Events
2023-2024 Series
Music of India
Sunday, October 22, 2023 3pm
Qawwali is a musical tradition from the Indian subcontinent with historical roots that can be traced back to the 13th century. It is a passionate devotional practice in which the concept of 'ISHQ' (love of the divine) is ecstatically expressed through the mystical verses of Sufi poets, sung in Urdu, Farsi, Hindi and Punjabi.
This musical tradition is defined by dynamic vocals and the unique traditional instruments of Pakistan such as the harmonium, tabla and sitar, designed to invoke deep sublime feelings in the audience by utilizing powerful rhythms combined with ancient lyrics.
Ustad Ghulam, Farid Nizami and his disciple Faraz Nizami are keeping alive a musical heritage with knowledge that was passed down from their ancestors from Pakistan and India. Ghulam and Faraz are 17th and 18th-generation musicians respectively, and they are descendants of an incredibly rich musical heritage called the Seniya Gharana.
Ustad Nizami has performed for the Pakistani National Council for the Arts for over 25 years, in addition to performing for Pakistani heads of State, three US presidents, Saudi King Abdullah, Jordan King Hussein, Nelson Mandela, Queen Elizabeth, and Princess Diana. In 2008 he came to the United States as a Fulbright Scholar to teach music at the University of Texas, and in 2009 founded The Nizami School of Sufi Music in Austin.
Music of the African Diaspora
Featuring William Nyaho Chapman, piano
Sunday, March 24, 2024 3pm
William Chapman Nyaho earned his degrees from St. Peter’s College, Oxford University, the Eastman School of Music and the University of Texas at Austin. He also studied at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève, Switzerland. Chapman Nyaho currently serves as Vice-President for DEI at Music Teachers National Association. He is on the faculty at Pacific Lutheran University and runs his private piano studio in Seattle. Washington. He is also on the summer faculty of Interlochen Center for the Arts. As an active solo recitalist, a member of the Nyaho/Garcia Duo, a chamber musician and lecturer, his passion is advocating music by composers of African descent.
As an advocate for music of Africa and its diaspora, Chapman Nyaho’s publications include a five-volume anthology Piano Music of Africa and the African Diaspora published by Oxford University Press in recognition of which he received the 2022 MTNA-Frances Clark Keyboard Pedagogy Award. His solo piano recordings include Senku: Piano Music by Composers of African Descent, Asa: Piano Music by Composers of African Descent and Kete: Piano Music of Africa and the African Diaspora. His Nyaho/Garcia Duo recordings include Aaron Copland: Music for Two Pianos and the recently released Five by Four on MSR Classics label.
Music of Indonesia
Featuring Martin Kesuma, piano
Sunday, April 21 3pm
A native of Jakarta, Indonesia, Martin Kesuma is an award-winning concert pianist. Martin made his debut as a soloist at the age of 17 with the Texas State Symphony Orchestra. Since then, he has performed with several orchestras, including the Central Texas Philharmonic, the Round Rock Symphony, the University of Texas University Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Indonesia, and more. Additionally, he has been invited to perform at prestigious venues and festivals including the Weill Recital Hall of the Carnegie Hall, Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Trianon Theater in San Jose, Texas State International Piano Festival in San Marcos, Piano at Peabody at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, and the St. Giacomo Music Festival in Bologna.
A graduate of Texas State University (classes of Washington Garcia and Jason Kwak), Martin continued to study at the University of Texas at Austin, where he pursued his Master and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in piano performance under Anton Nel. Martin is a student James Anagnoson in the Artist Diploma Program (ADP) at the Glenn Gould School.
Pride Recital: Music Unites
Sunday, June 9 at 3pm
Join us for a retrospective of LGBTQ composers and allies. Spend the afternoon enjoying wonderful music at the Studio A listening room. In lieu of a ticket price, donations to Project Transitions and OutYouth are encouraged.
2022-2023 Series
Nathan Brown
Sunday, October 30, 2022 3pm
Fire pit Sessions @ Studio A
Nathan Brown is an author, singer-songwriter, and award-winning poet living in Wimberley, Texas. He holds a PhD in English and Journalism from the University of Oklahoma. He also served as Poet Laureate for the State of Oklahoma in 2013 and 2014. He has published twenty-five books. Nathan’s Fire pit Sessions are a popular series that incorporates poetry, stories, and music. In 2020, he began a series of videos on Facebook Live called The Fire pit Sessions, as a way for him to share in ‘real-time’ the emotions, concerns, and questions that the participants were expressing in the midst of the pandemic.
The Woven Sounds
Sunday, January 22, 2023 3pm
Celebrate Chinese New Year!
The New Year celebration is centered around removing the bad and the old, and welcoming the new and the good. It's a time to worship ancestors, exorcise evil spirits and pray for good harvest. Today it's celebrated by Chinese communities all over the world.
This program will feature the piano duo, The Woven Sounds. The duo consists of Tzu-Feng Liu and Joyce Wu. They are committed to bringing awareness and recognition to composers and musicians of Asian descent.
Wahab Rasooli
Sunday, April 23, 2023 3pm
Music of Afghanistan
Afghanistan has a rich musical heritage and features a mix of Persian melodies, Indian compositional principles, and sounds from ethnic groups such as the Pashtuns, Tajiks and Hazaras. Instruments used range from Indian tablas to long-necked lutes. Afghanistan's classical music is closely related to Hindustani classical music while sourcing much of its lyrics directly from classical Persian poetry such as Mawlana Balkhi (Rumi) and the Iranian tradition indigenous to central Asia. Lyrics throughout most of Afghanistan are typically in Dari (Persian) and Pashto.
Wahab Rasooli rose to fame in Afghanistan and neighboring countries as a singer/songwriter through his music videos and television appearances. With the Taliban takeover in August 2021, he was forced to flee Kabul with his family to avoid being killed because of his patriotic and romantic music videos and his work as the technical manager of an anti-Taliban television station. After a harrowing evacuation and transit through refugee camps in Qatar, Germany, and Fort Bliss, the family settled in Austin in November 2021. He soon connected with Bereket, the Middle Eastern Ensemble at the University of Texas at Austin, and was a guest singer with the group at the 2022 Nowruz Celebration at Central Market and the Bereket Spring 2022 concert at Bates Recital Hall. Wahab's passionate songs speak of the crushing loss of being an exile, of war and of hope, of the joy and the heartbreak of love. He is ecstatic to be performing here in Austin to lift the hearts of the Afghan community and introduce the non- Afghan community to the beauty of the music of his native land.
2021-2022 Series
Indimaj
Friday, November 19, 2021
Music of the Middle East
Indimaj is an international Arab music collective based in Austin, Texas. The band has decades of music experience and consistently splits time between Austin, TX, Europe, and the Middle East. Indimaj's process of musical exploration through composition and improvisation, coupled with their thirst and passion for overseas collaborative projects, continue to inform their group sound. Indimaj brings together a collective of musicians with various backgrounds under the musical forms of the middle east uniting traditions with improvisations. Founded in 2014, the band is lead by Sari Andoni (oud).
Invoke
Friday, February 4, 2022
Bluegrass and Music of Appalachia
Invoke will present a program of bluegrass and music of Appalachia. Invoke continues to successfully dodge even the most valiant attempts at genre classification. The multi-instrumental band’s other not-nots encompass traditions from across America, including bluegrass, Appalachian fiddle tunes, jazz, and minimalism. Invoke weaves all of these styles together to create truly individual music, written by and for the group.
Monica Salas
Friday, May 13, 2022
Music of Mexico
To celebrate Cinco de Mayo, Monica Salas will present a program of traditional Mexican folk music. Ms. Salinas is a modern day troubadour of Mexican culture. Her story telling and music will show a deeper side of Mexican culture that truly reflects the depth and beauty of Mexico. It is important to remember the impact and influence that our Latinx community has had and continues to have on culture in the US, especially here in Austin where Latinx food and music are an everyday part of our life.