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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Austin Students Ready for Carnegie Hall
McCallum Fine Arts Academy Orchestra and Choir to Perform on Carnegie Stage
AUSTIN, Texas - (April 16, 2009) - Austin I.S.D.'s McCallum Fine Arts Academy (MFAA) orchestra and choir students are packing their suitcases for New York City to perform at Carnegie Hall, on Saturday, June 13, 2009, as part of the Masterworks Series. The Masterworks Series invites qualified ensembles to collaborate on a major work for choir, professional orchestra and soloists under the direction of a nationally recognized conductor.
"This has been such an exciting year for our students," explains Ricky Pringle, Director of Orchestras at McCallum, "we have performed all over Austin with a very diverse repertory." The MFAA orchestra has performed the lost music of Neapolitan Masters at the Long Center and Beatles music at the Paramount Theatre and The Nutty Brown Cafe along with their regular season concert and contest schedule. "Our students have worked very hard this year performing off campus, we are the only student group that has performed at the Long Center, and we have played there twice this year," Pringle added.
"Community support has been tremendous," says Marlene Meador, President of the Orchestra Boosters. "We are proud of the relationships we have with KMFA 89.5 FM, Blackerby Violin Shop, The Austin Chronicle and the Austin Community Foundation especially." KMFA 89.5 FM awarded an $8,000 violin to McCallum's Orchestra's concertmaster, Phillip Finkle, in their first annual KMFA Young Violinist Competition and Award.
A year in the planning, Pringle and McCallum's Choir Director, Malcolm Nelson, have be rehearsing their students for the program which features Schubert's Mass In G major since last September. Also included in the program are two solo performances by each McCallum group. Under the direction of Ricky Pringle, the orchestra will perform The Elegy by Bottesini, the unrivalled double-bass virtuoso, composer and conductor. The Bottesini piece will feature double bass soloist, Luke Stence, McCallum's principal bass player and Texas State Orchestra Member.
The McCallum Choir will perform The Rising of the Moon a traditional Irish melody with principal violinist Philip Finkel on fiddle and Abby McInness on Piano and With a Voice of Singing by Kenneth Jennings
Then, the two directors will turn over their batons to André J. Thomas. Dr. Thomas, the Owen F. Sellers Professor of Music, is Director of Choral Activities and Professor of Choral Music Education at Florida State University. A previous faculty member at the University of Texas, Austin, Dr. Thomas has conducted choirs at the state division and national conventions of the Music Educators National Conference. He is in demand as a choral adjudicator, clinician and director of Honor/All-State Choirs throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, New Zealand and Australia. Thomas has also distinguished himself as a composer/arranger.
Schubert's Mass No. 2 in G major, D.167 was composed in 1815. This is the best known of the three "shorter" mass compositions that Schubert composed between the more elaborate first and fifth masses. The second mass, commonly referred to as "Schubert's Mass in G," was composed in less than a week (March 2-7, 1815), the year after his first mass had been successfully performed in Schubert's home parish.
There will be a send-off performance of the groups' Carnegie Hall program on June 3, 2009 at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, 8134 Mesa Drive, Austin, TX 78759. The concert is free to the public and will be the groups' final performance before leaving for New York.
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McCallum Orchestra and Choir perform Schubert's Mass in G PHOTO:STUDIO STENCE
at the Long Center's Dell Hall, April 3, 2009.
Photos available on request.
More Information:
Young Violinist Competition and Award
McCallum Orchestra
Carnegie Hall Concert
McCallum Orchestra 2008-09 Season
Contact: Michael Coughlan
Hendrix Coughlan Media, Inc.
michael@hendrixcoughlan.com
512.413.1601
512.420.0968
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