Awards & Reviews
Texas Early Music Project has been honored and delighted to take home many awards and to receive rave reviews over the years. We appreciate all the people who have contributed their talent and energy to TEMP, and the support of our audiences who have made it all possible.
"Well, you could have knocked me over with a well-placed trill."
- Daniel Johnson, Artistic Director
2023-2024
TEMP is honored to win a 2023 Austin Chronicle Best of Austin Award in the category of “Best Musical Time Machine”!
Company director Daniel Johnson’s talented ensemble regularly transports audiences into a vibrant past with sublime presentations of medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and early classical music by exceptional artists whose passion is palpable.
-Chronicle staff
Read the full critics pick award: Best Musical Time Machine, 2023
2019-2020
Johnson made passing mention of it, but it is something else to hear English, French, Latin, Catalan, Dutch, Italian and historical variations on the above languages sung without blemish in one concert.
–Michael Barnes, Austin360
Read the full review: “Take a miraculous trip to the musical past with Texas Early Music Project,” (December 15, 2019) by Michael Barnes, reviewing the 2019 An Early Christmas program.
2018-2019
The 12th-century polymath’s deep appreciation for creation came forth in a constant stream of praise that TEMP made uplifting.
–Robert Faires, Arts Editor for The Austin Chronicle
Read the full review: “TEMP’s Mystic, Scientist, Scholar, Nun: Music of Hildegard von Bingen,” (May 17, 2019) by Robert Faires.
Daniel Johnson (Photo by Jana Birchum)
The artist who puts the "old-school" in the Austin classical scene – the foremost cultivator of our taste in the music of the medieval, Renaissance, and baroque periods.
–Robert Faires, Arts Editor for The Austin Chronicle
TEMP Artistic Director, Daniel Johnson, is listed among notable Austin Artistic Directors in “A Guide to Austin Classical Music: The virtuosi who know the score and make beautiful music happen here,” (April 26, 2019) by Robert Faires.
2017-2018
Texas Early Music Project's "Complaints Through the Ages"
A’lante Flamenco’s Juana: First (I) Dream
We are so pleased to have multiple nominations for Austin Critics Table in 2017-18! Read more here: https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/arts/2018-05-14/critics-name-cream-of-the-cultural-crop/
The music was luscious and lovely when concerned with broken hearts, wanton lovers, and unobtainable objects of desire... And, as ever, the individual and combined voices of the TEMP choir were delightful – arrows piercing the heart or well-aimed smacks to the forehead, depending on the particular misery in melody.
—Robi Polgar, Austin Chronicle
Read the full article, "Texas Early Music Project's Complaints Through the Ages," (April 26, 2018) by Robi Polgar.
"...it seemed impossible to align maleficence with the heavenly voices of the guest singers from the Texas Early Music Project." -- Jonelle Seitz, Austin Chronicle
Read the full article, "A'lante Flamenco Juana: First (I) Dream," (Jan. 12, 2018) reviewing TEMP's recent 2018 collaboration with A'lante Flamenco.
"It gets a superlative in every category—technical prowess, musical imagination, emotional punch, shock and awe, all qualities that TEMP frequently delivers in its distinctive concerts."
– Sherry Cheng, Arts + Culture Magazine
Read the full article, “Texas Early Music Project Bridges Past and Present,” (Apr. 26, 2017) reviewing the history of TEMP as well as showcasing the 2016-2017 Impetus season and the Monteverdi 1610 concert.
2016
TEMP and our Medieval Pilgrimage in Iberia performances have been nominated for two Austin Critics' Table awards for Best Ensemble and Best Chamber Performance in the Classical Music category.
See the list of Classical music nominees in KMFA's article, "Classical Nominees Announced for 2016 Critics Table Awards," and see the list of all arts nominees in The Austin American Statesman article, “Austin Critics' Table announces 2015-2016 award nominations,” by Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, May 9, 2016.
"Throughout the comedy we have outstanding singing from countertenor Ryland Angel, who, like the rest of the cast, really nails the comic timing. Sopranos Meredith Ruduski and Jenifer Thyssen, as well as baritone Peter Walker stand out too."
– Luke Quinton, Freelance Arts Critic, The Austin American Statesman
Read the full article, “Texas Early Music's London City Limits,” (Feb. 17, 2016) showcasing our London City Limits: Opera on the Thames program.
Our Medieval Pilgrimage in Iberia program was listed as fourth in the Top Ten Dance/Classical Music Treasures by Robert Faires, Arts Editor for The Austin Chronicle, 1/01/16, page 24:
4) Medieval Pilgrimage in Iberia (Texas Early Music Project)
The gratitude and joy in this concert of songs honoring the Virgin Mary, St. James, and God's creation was infectious, and made all the more so by stellar musicianship from the instrumentalists and divine vocals by a female choir.
2015
Our Medieval Pilgrimage in Iberia program was given this mini-review by Robert Faires, Arts Editor for The Austin Chronicle, Oct. 16, 2015, page 38. (Click or tap the image for a larger view.)
Read the interview article, “Texas Early Music Project's Convivencia Re-Envisioned: Spanish Christian music, Sephardic Jewish song, and al-Andalus melodies meld in this special concert,” by The Austin Chronicles’s Natalie Zeldin, Sept. 4, 2015.
2014
Our Telemania! performances have been nominated for an Austin Critics Table award for Best Chamber Performance in the Classical Music category.
Read the review article, “Review: Texas Early Music Project’s ‘Telemannia’,” by Austin American-Statesman’s Luke Quinton.
See The Austin Chronicle article, “Table Banquet: The nominees for the 2013-2014 Austin Critics Table Awards,” by Robert Faires, May 8, 2014.
2013
Our Joyous Noël! program is listed as a holiday concert suggestion. See Your guide to holiday fun in Austin, from the silly to the sublimeby Austin American-Statesman’s Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, Dec. 4, 2013.
TEMP artists Stephanie Prewitt and Brett Barnes are featured in the article Van Ryzin: For Austin’s professional classical vocalists, the holidays are time to sing — again and again by Austin American-Statesman’s Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, Dec. 7, 2013.
Our program TEMP Goes to the Opera: Aires and Arias from the 16th to the 18th Centuries is selected as a Critics’ Pick.
See Arts scene: Critics picks for Sept. 15-21 by Austin American-Statesman’s Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, Sept. 14, 2013.
2012
“…the highlight of the concert for me was the gorgeous “Seven Rejoices of Mary,” a traditional Irish carol arranged by Johnson.…Indeed, it provided one of the night’s most recognizable and soulful offerings.”
– Adam Roberts, Arts Contributor for The Austin Chronicle
Read the full Austin Chronicle review of our Christmas concert, “Noël: An Early Christmas Eurotour,” by Adam Roberts, Dec. 21, 2012.
Our program Noches, Noches: Sephardic Songs of Love & Life is previewed on ATXclassical by Marc van Bree: Texas Early Music Project Highlights Five Hundred Years of Sephardic Music, Oct. 19, 2012.
Our program The Tudors: From Henry to Elizabeth is listed as a Critics’ Pick in The Austin Chronicle Fall Arts Issue: “Fall Arts Issue Critics Picks From the Arts Harvest, our critics pluck choice treats” by Robert Faires, Wayne Alan Brenner, Adam Roberts, Dan Solomon, and Elizabeth Cobbe, Sept. 14, 2012.
“Extraordinarily creative and remarkably relevant, TEMP says that Hildegard’s music resonates through the centuries and invites the public to experience history from an auditory perspective.”
– Shelly Seale, Contributor to CultureMap Austin
Read the full article, “Texas Early Music Project brings old-school classical music to Austin,” showcasing our Living Waters: Works of Hildegard von Bingen program, Feb. 22, 2012.
2011
Our program Yule, Britannia! Christmas Music in the British Isles is listed as a holiday concert suggestion. See “Your Holiday Season Arts Planner” by Austin American-Statesman’s Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, Nov. 30, 2011
2010
“Harmonies had a richness and depth all evening, and the instrumentalists showed brilliant control, dynamics and sensitivity.…the ensemble seemed confident and relaxed, which made it a pleasure to watch.”
– Luke Quinton, Arts contributor for the Austin American-Statesman
Read the full Austin American-Statesman review of our Convivencia: The Three Worlds of Renaissance Spain program: “Review: Texas Early Music Project’s ‘Convivencia’,” by Luke Quinton, Sept. 27, 2010.
“For more than two decades, TEMP has been Austin's ambassador to lesser-known medieval, Renaissance, and baroque music, celebrating with each performance a spirit of discovery for performer and listener alike.”
– Michael Kellerman, Arts contributor for The Austin Chronicle
Read the full Austin Chronicle review of our Harmonia Ariosa program featuring Laurie Young Stevens and Friends: “Harmonia Ariosa: Texas Early Music Project delivered a magical night of live music and discovery,” by Michael Kellerman, Feb. 5, 2010
2009
Artistic Director, Daniel Johnson is inducted into the Austin Arts Hall of Fame by the Austin Critics Table!
“…an early-music specialist of international renown [Daniel Johnson] has been and remains the foremost cultivator of our taste in the music of the medieval, Renaissance, and baroque periods…he has ensured that [early music] will be heard and treasured for generations.”
– Robert Faires, Arts Editor for The Austin Chronicle
Read the full Austin Chronicle article, “The Game-Changers: The 2009 class of the Austin Arts Hall of Fame,” by Robert Faires, May 29, 2009.
See the Class of 2009 as announced by Robert Faires of The Austin Chronicle. See also the article Superlatives: The 2008-2009 Austin Critics Table Awards by Robert Faires, June 5, 2009.
2008
“Daniel Johnson loves early music’s purity of sound and intimacy, and he’s not alone.”
– Robert Faires, Arts Editor for The Austin Chronicle
Read the full Austin Chronicle article by Robert Faires, “Early to Rise,” (Dec. 12, 2008) highlighting Artistic Director, Daniel Johnson, and the early years of TEMP.
2006
Austin Critics Table awards Best Choral Concert to the Schola Cantorum of St. Mary’s Cathedral and TEMP for the concert Monteverdi’s Vespers of the Blessed Virgin, 1610.
Read the full Austin Chronicle article, “I'd Like to Thank...The 2005-2006 Austin Critics Table Awards,” by Robert Faires, June 9, 2006.
2005
Our CD The Bonny Broom and Other Scottish Ballads is listed as a holiday gift suggestion: “Artful Presents: Local gift suggestions from the Art Elf Prize Patrol” by Robert Faires, Dec. 16, 2005.
Visit our Bonny Broom CD page to listen to audio samples and purchase this CD!
“For Jeffrey Jones-Ragona and Daniel Johnson, performing Monteverdi’s divine ‘Vespers of 1610’ in its entirety at St. Mary’s Cathedral is a dream come true.”
– Robert Faires, Arts Editor for The Austin Chronicle
Read the Austin Chronicle article, “Monteverdi’s ‘Vespers of 1610’: Heaven, I’m in Heaven,” by Robert Faires, Sept. 23, 2005
Austin Critics Table awards Best Choral Concert to TEMP for the concert Pathways to Bach.
Read the full Austin Chronicle article, “May I Have the Envelope, Please?: The 2004-2005 Austin Critics Table Awards," by Robert Faires, June 10, 2005
Visit our Pathways to Bach CD page to listen to audio samples and purchase a CD from this award-winning concert!
2004
Photo by Bret Brookshire
TEMP concertmistress Laurie Young Stevens is named Best Instrumentalist by the Austin Critics Table.
Read the full Austin Chronicle article, “Applause! Applause! The 2003-2004 Austin Critics Table Awards,” by Robert Faires, June 11, 2004.
Read the Austin Chronicle article, “The Human Touch: Laurie Young Stevens finds the passion and flash in baroque music,” by Robert Faires, Jan. 16, 2004
2003
TEMP's Artistic Director is featured in Jerry Young's Austin Chronicle article, “Back to Josquin: Texas Early Music Project's Danny Johnson on the composer he keeps returning to," (Oct. 24, 2003) featuring our concert Return to the Renaissance: Motets & Chansons by Josquin & Isaac.
Austin Critics Table award for Best Chamber Concert goes to TEMP for Veris Dulcis [Music of Medieval Germany: Hildegard von Bingen and the original “Carmina Burana.”] and TEMP artist Jenifer Thyssen wins the Austin Critics Table award for Best Female Singer.
Read the full Austin Chronicle article, “Applause! Applause! The 2002-2003 Austin Critics Table Awards,” by Robert Faires, June 6, 2003.
Austin Critics Table nominates TEMP Artistic Director, Daniel Johnson, for Best Male Singer and TEMP artist Jenifer Thyssen for Best Female Singer. TEMP concert Veris Dulcis (Music of Medieval German: Hildegard von Bingen and the original "Carmina Burana" is nominated for Best Chamber Concert.
Read the full Austin Chronicle article, “Austin Critics Table Nominations, 2002–2003, ” by Robert Faires, May 9, 2003.
Read the Austin Chronicle review of TEMP’s March 29th performance, “ Veris Dulcis: Music of Medieval Germany,” by Robi Polgar, April 11, 2003
2002
“Exquisite pain and longing were brought to exquisite life in the enrapturing voices and instruments of T.E.M.P. singers and musicians in this concert of music you’d have heard (or sung) had you lived in the north of Italy at the time.”
–Robi Polgar, Arts Contributor for The Austin Chronicle.
Read the full Austin Chronicle article, “Una Panthera: Music from the Trecento and Early Renaissance Italy,” by Robi Polgar, Feb. 15, 2002
Photo by John Anderson
“Only Danny [Johnson] would mix Gregorian chant with ‘Classical Gas’ with fiddle tunes and do it in a way that the audience sees the connections.”
–Laurie Young Stevens, Baroque violinist
Read the full Austin Chronicle article, “Collegia Musikum: The Texas Early Music Project’s Mid-Winter festival,” along with the accompanying “Daniel Johnson’s Early Music Primer,” by Robi Polgar, Jan. 25, 2002.
2001
TEMP artist Stephanie Prewitt is awarded Best Female Singer by the Austin Critics Table for TEMP’s Medieval Songs program, Mirie it is!: Early Middle English Songs.
Read the full Austin Chronicle article “Austin Critics Table Winners 2000-01,” by Robert Faires, June 15, 2001.
Listen to Stephanie Prewitt and TEMP Artistic Director, Daniel Johnson, sing “Stond wel moder under rode” from the Mirie it is! program. This selection is available on our CD recording Sacred: Music of the Divine from Medieval to Baroque.
TEMP is nominated in the Chamber Concert and Opera categories for the Medieval Songs program Mirie it is!: Early Middle English Songs and the production of Henry Purcell's opera, King Arthur.
See The Austin Chronicle article, “Austin Theatre Critics Table 2000-2001 Nominations,” May 18, 2001.
2000
Artistic Director, Daniel Johnson, and Administrative Coordinator, Wendy Brockett, discuss Mid-Winter Festival presentations:
“We wanted to raise the public awareness that quality period performances of early music were available in our community on a much bigger scale, that people didn't have to go elsewhere to hear this important and increasingly popular music.”
–Artistic Director, Daniel Johnson, and Administrative Coordinator, Wendy Brockett
Read the full Austin Chronicle article, “PostFest: Organizers of Three Recent Arts Festivals Pass on Lessons Learned,” by Robert Faires, March 10, 2000.
“Daniel Johnson and the Texas Early Music Project Baroque Orchestra imbue the music with spirit and class, and the singers relish the material, their voices bobbing and bouncing and ever so lightly riding it into the heavens.”
–Robert Faires, Arts Editor for The Austin Chronicle
Read the full Austin Chronicle article, “Alcina: Mystery Pageant,” by Robert Faires, March 3, 2000.