Welp. Time for some B'roke.

We knew it was gonna get cold and there might be some snow. So far, so Texas. And then well, you know. I hope everyone is slowly but surely getting back to whatever version of reality we think of as “normal,” because that’s already somewhat Abby-normal.

We delayed things by a week, of course, since many of us didn’t have electricity, or internet, or both, and/or no water with which to make ourselves presentable for a premiere. So, the 3rd episode of Fresh Take (Baroque) premieres this Saturday (Feb 27) at 8pm CST and Night Music! Episode 3, with musical guests from Croatia and Karelia, premieres March 7. See the deets below!

And there were lovely scenes of unbothered snow and icicles hanging from places that are generally icicle-less, and it reminded me of one of my favorite songs:

I love winter in the springtime (when it's snowing!)
I love winter in the fall.
I love winter in the summer (when it's too hot to do anything at all)
I love winter, oh yes, I love winter (except when there's no heat at all.)

[See The Avalon Jazz Band arrangement of I Love Paris here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hU_X6Vr1MY ]

Stay safe and sane—see you (virtually) soon!
-Danny

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Fresh Take: Music History Reimagined

Fresh Take will highlight key aspects of the history of western music from around 1200 to 1750, utilizing music recorded by TEMP musicians for this production, as well as selected examples from TEMP’s CDs. Each episode (Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque) will include musical examples, narration with humorous asides, catchy details, and engaging graphics that will be appealing to students of all ages. Produced by Meredith Ruduski and Sara Schneider!

Episode 3 (Baroque Period) Premiere:
Saturday, February 27, 2021, 8:00 pm Central Time
All Fresh Take videos will be viewable through Thursday, March 4, 2021 at 11:00 pm Central Time.
Tickets must be purchased by 9:30 pm on Thursday, March 4, 2021.

Admission: $5 Student/Supporter; $15 Fan; $25 Friend; $50 Patron
TEMPster Members do not need to purchase a ticket!

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Night Music! An online Mini-Series with Gitanjali Mathur, Daniel Johnson, & Guests

DUE TO UTILITY OUTAGES IN TEXAS, WE ARE DELAYING THE PREMIERE OF NIGHT MUSIC EPISODE 3 UNTIL MARCH 7 AT 8:00PM CST

Formatted in talk-show style, Night Music! will offer short programs of calm and respite, focused on lullabies and the diversity of lullaby styles in cultures around the world. Our guests for Episode 3, Viktoria and Yakov Nizhnik from Karelia (Russia) and Valentina Črnjak and Marko Ščrbak from Croatia, sing and play lullabies and songs of comfort.

Night Music! Episode 3 Premiere:
Sunday, March 7, 2021, 8:00 pm Central Time
The Episode 3 video will be viewable through Friday, March 12, 2021 at 11:00 pm Central Time.
Tickets must be purchased by 9:30 pm on Friday, March 12, 2021.

Admission: $5 Student/Supporter; $15 Fan; $25 Friend; $50 Patron
TEMPster Members do not need to purchase a ticket!

Did you enjoy this post? Give us a “like” below, leave a comment, and/or share with friends!

What's the plan then?

So, I was watching a scene from the brilliant “Shaun of the Dead” for the 100th time, or so, and I had an idea! What if we made a musicology movie, but since ‘Shaun’ has already dealt with the Zombies and got his girlfriend back, we can leave out the drama and the Zombies? Instead, we’ll have humor, edu-tainment, music, and a lot more music. And some more humor. And then a little more music and a lot more humor. And still no Zombies.

Ok, that’s not really how the idea for our upcoming Fresh Take: Music History Reimagined video episodes got started, but it’s better than the real way.

“What do you wanna do?”
“Oh, I don’t know, what do you wanna do?”
“I dunno - hey, what if we make a musicology movie? We’ll have Sara Schneider and Meredith Ruduski in it! It’ll be great!”
“What’s the plan then?”

So, please join us for Fresh Take! (See all the deets below.) Guaranteed Zombie-free!
-Danny

P.S. Tune in to KMFA 89.5 FM on Wednesday, Feb. 3 at 9:00 pm CST and listen to my interview with the host of Classical Austin, Dianne Donavan!

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Fresh Take: Music History Reimagined

Episode 1 (Medieval Period) Premiere:
Saturday, February 6, 2021, 8:00 pm Central Time

Episode 2 (Renaissance Period) Premiere:
Saturday, February 13, 2021, 8:00 pm Central Time

Episode 3 (Baroque Period) Premiere:
Saturday, February 20, 2021, 8:00 pm Central Time

The videos will be viewable through Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021 at 11:00 pm Central Time.
Tickets must be purchased by 9:30 pm on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021.

Admission: $5 Student/Supporter; $15 Fan; $25 Friend; $50 Patron
TEMPster Members do not need to purchase a ticket!

The general admission price is the Fan category, $15. If you're struggling financially due to the Coronavirus situation, take advantage of our lower-priced Student/Supporter offer. If you’re able to pay a little more, and can help someone else pay less, please do so with the Friend and Patron prices. 

Tickets available in advance online. For those who purchase tickets prior to Feb. 4, an email will be sent to you with video access instructions. Please check your spam folder. After Feb. 4, the video access will be given in your ticket confirmation email and tickets.

TEMPster Members will receive an email with video access; you will not need to purchase tickets to view the concert video.

For more information, call 512-377-6961 and leave a message,
or email boxoffice@early-music.org.

Fresh Take: Music History Reimagined

Think of this as a painless musicology movie, starring Meredith Ruduski and Sara Schneider! Fresh Take will highlight key aspects of the history of western music from around 1200 to 1750, utilizing music recorded by TEMP musicians for this production, as well as selected examples from TEMP’s CDs. Each episode of the video (Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque) will include a quick historical, often hysterical, overview before launching into the musical examples, narration with humorous asides, catchy details, and engaging graphics that will be appealing to students of all ages.

UPDATE: Due to technical difficulties, we need to divide the content into three separate video episodes. The first episode, premiering Feb. 6, will cover the Medieval Period (around 1100 to around 1400). The second episode, The Renaissance Period, around 1430 to around 1600, will premiere February 13th. The third episode, premiering Feb. 20, will cover the Baroque Period (around 1600 to around 1750).

Click on the image above to buy tickets now!

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Eine Kleine Night Music

Happy Belated New Year!

Ok. That’s the post.
Bye!
-Danny

PS: In my dreams last night, I worked on three (3) separate TEMP projects! Each section was very distinct, and I knew which project I was working on. By coincidence, I’m sure, TEMP has three (3) projects on the stove right now: 1) Tales from the Decameron, 2) Fresh Take (not Fresh Steak!), and 3) Night Music!, Episode 2.

Hmmm. I wonder if there’s some connection there?

Join us on Sunday, January 24, for Episode 2 of Night Music!, in which Gitanjali Mathur and I interview Gil Zilkha about his golf game and his his recent hole-in-one! And some lovely music! See the details below!

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NIGHT MUSIC!
Episode 2

Premiere:
Sunday, January 24, 2021, 8:00 pm CST

The video will be viewable through Friday, Jan. 29, 2021 at 11:00 pm.
Tickets must be purchased by 9:30 pm on Friday, Jan. 29, 2021.

Admission: $5 Student/Supporter; $15 Fan; $25 Friend; $50 Patron

The general admission price is the Fan category, $15. If you're struggling financially due to the Coronavirus situation, take advantage of our lower-priced Student/Supporter offer. If you’re able to pay a little more, and can help someone else pay less, please do so with the Friend and Patron prices. 

Tickets available in advance online. For those who purchase tickets prior to Jan. 22, an email will be sent to you with video access instructions. Please check your spam folder. After Jan. 22, the video access will be given in your ticket confirmation email and tickets.

TEMPster Members will receive an email with video access; you will not need to purchase tickets to view the concert video.

For more information, call 512-377-6961 and leave a message,
or email boxoffice@early-music.org.

Night-Music! An Online Mini-Series with Gitanjali Mathur, Daniel Johnson, & Guests

Night Music will offer six short programs of calm and respite, focused on lullabies and the diversity of lullaby styles in cultures around the world. The second episode of Night Music features conversation with Gil Zilkha, one of Austin’s hardest working bass-baritones, and Gil sings two Hebrew songs from his childhood and describes how the songs came into being.

Click on the image above to buy tickets now!

Did you enjoy this post? Give us a “like” below, leave a comment, and/or share with friends!

On the 291st Day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

Yes, I know it seems like yesterday when we were talking about Halloween and then I went and skipped Thanksgiving altogether, but I definitely wanted to be sure to wish you a Happy Hanukkah on this, the 2nd day of the Festival of Lights, before I get too, too busy with the release of our next concert video. And then I would blink and it would be January or February, and I would have forgotten, so I’ll do the rest of it now too! Merry Christmas, Joyous Kwanzaa, and Happy New Year. And while you are celebrating all the above, please watch our soon-to-be released video, An Early Christmas: A Video Premiere! See the details below!

Y’all stay safe and sane!

-Danny

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AN EARLY CHRISTMAS:
A VIDEO PREMIERE

Premiere for TEMPster Members:
Friday, December 18, 2020, 8:00 PM

Premiere for the general public:
Saturday, November 19, 2020, 8:00 PM

The video will be viewable through Friday, Jan. 1, 2021 at 11:00 pm.
Tickets must be purchased by 9:30 pm on Friday, Jan. 1, 2021.

Admission: $5 Student/Supporter; $15 Fan; $25 Friend; $50 Patron

The general admission price is the Fan category, $15. If you're struggling financially due to the Coronavirus situation, take advantage of our lower-priced Student/Supporter offer. If you’re able to pay a little more, and can help someone else pay less, please do so with the Friend and Patron prices. 

Tickets available in advance online. For those who purchase tickets prior to Dec. 17, an email will be sent to you with video access instructions. Please check your spam folder. After Dec. 17, the video access will be given in your ticket confirmation email and tickets.

TEMPster Members will receive an email with video access; you will not need to purchase tickets to view the concert video.

For more information, call 512-377-6961 and leave a message,
or email boxoffice@early-music.org.

We are happy to present our first pre-recorded video concert of the 2020-2021 season. Partly because it was fun to work on and create and partly because it’s for Chanukah and Christmas, so, you know: Presents might be involved!

This is our favorite concert of the year, so please join us as we explore the intangible essence of Christmas and Chanukah though the ages, with music from Medieval England, Renaissance France, and more. TEMP puts its unique stamp on beautiful and joyful carols, chants, dances, and traditional songs with innovative arrangements for solo voices, small ensembles, harp, violin, flute, viols, and lutes, on video for the first time.

Featured soloists include Jenifer Thyssen, Shari Alise Wilson, Meredith Ruduski, Laura Mercado-Wright, Ryland Angel, Tim O’Brien, David Lopez, Daniel Johnson, and Cayla Cardiff. We are especially pleased that special guests Viktoria Nizhnik (kantele) and Darrel Mayers (guitar) could join us as well.

Early Music Now Host and Producer, Sara Schneider, will also present a personally crafted lecture during the video, with readings, historical notes, and fun factoids interspersed between sets of music.

Please join us as we reconnect with you through the magic of music.

Click on the image above to buy tickets now!

Check out our new CD: Lullay, Lullay: An Early Christmas!

Did you enjoy this post? Give us a “like” below, leave a comment, and/or share with friends!

Happy Halloween! Ok, belatedly.

Happy Belated Halloween.

So, yes, it was indeed our plan to release our next concert video before Halloween—I just knew that our webscribe Allison would have some fun images to accompany the blog that would precede the release of the video. Alas, that was not to be, because I had to watch all my old Halloween film faves to get in the spirit of the season: Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Gene Wilder, and Rocky horror Picture Show and more. A lot more. In fact, I’m still watching.

But the new concert video is being released next Saturday — thank goodness it’s not on Friday the 13th! — and there’s a lot of really beautiful music: wonderful singing and terrific playing, and very few of us are wearing scary masks. So if you’re ready for Halloween to be over, you don’t have (much) to fear. Not much.

It’s going to be beautiful, and it’s Monteverdi and Cavalli. 3 out of 3 is pretty good!

See below for more info on our upcoming The Student Becomes the Master Video Premiere, including our trailer!

-Danny

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THE STUDENT BECOMES THE MASTER:
MONTEVERDI & CAVALLI IN VENICE
A Video premiere

Premiere for the general public:
Saturday, November 14, 2020, 7:30 pm

The video will be viewable from Nov. 14 through Thursday, Nov. 19 at 11:00 pm. Tickets must be purchased by 9:30 pm on Thursday, Sept. 19.

Admission: $5 Student/Supporter; $15 Fan; $25 Friend; $50 Patron

The general admission price is the Fan category, $15. If you're struggling financially due to the Coronavirus situation, take advantage of our lower-priced Student/Supporter offer. If you’re able to pay a little more, and can help someone else pay less, please do so with the Friend and Patron prices. 

Tickets available in advance online. After the purchase of a ticket an email with video access instructions will be sent to you on Nov. 12.

Subscribers to the 2019-2020 Season and those who purchased individual tickets to the March concert will receive an email about your tickets; you will not need to purchase tickets to view the concert video.

For more information, call 512-377-6961 and leave a message,
or email boxoffice@early-music.org.

We are happy to announce that TEMP returns again from its pause after the onset of Covid-19 to present a pre-recorded video of the music that was to have been presented in our May concert, with music by Claudio Monteverdi and his protégée, Francesco Cavalli.

Claudio Monteverdi was already a musical master in the 16th century, but he and student Francesco Cavalli also created musical wonders in the 17th century with ravishing works for the cathedral, the court, and the opera. For our final concert of the 2019-2020 season, we will focus on splendid pieces for soloists, duets, and small ensembles from their operas and songs from the 1640s and 1650s. Filled with beauty, desire, loss, and healthy injections of humor, these songs are microcosms of the opera ‘scene’ in Venice in the middle of the 17th century. Featured soloists include Jenifer Thyssen, Gitanjali Mathur, Laura Mercado-Wright, Ryland Angel, Tim O’Brien, Meredith Ruduski, Shari Alise Wilson, and Cayla Cardiff.

Early Music Now Host and Producer, Sara Schneider will also present a personally crafted lecture during the video, interspersed between sets of music. The video will also present art from the 16th and 17th centuries and evocative photography.

Sixteen of TEMP’s singers and players recorded this music live in Austin in September and remotely from England. Our production team has worked since then to create a seamless video of music, speech, and art ever since, a path that would have seemed impossible just a few months ago, but is now the wave of the (temporary) present.

Please join us as we reconnect with you through the magic of music.

Click on the image above to buy tickets now!

Did you enjoy this post? Give us a “like” below, leave a comment, and/or share with friends!

Car 54, Where Are you?

We sort of feel like the guys in Car 54: We know exactly where we are, but it doesn’t feel like it’s where we’re supposed to be, which is on stage, performing in front of our audiences. And our audiences don’t know where we are, either, because…well, you know.

We have been releasing our weekly Musical Tacos, and it has been fun and will continue to be, although on less of a weekly basis, because we have serious bidness to take care of! We’ll be back to normal!! Well, except we can’t see you. You can be watching us from the coziness of your own home, which is great, except we can’t converse after the show, shake hands, and hug’n’stuff. But, we’ll be back to normal in the sense of providing some necessary artistic musical love for you. The program may not be exactly what we wanted to do in March for our live concert, but there is so much diversity in the repertoire from Medieval France that we quickly found even more wonderful music to offer.

Even though we won’t be able to see you during our video, it will wonderful knowing that you are there. And many won’t be left out due to geographical distance. Howdy, stranger!

See below for more info on our upcoming Ah, Sweet Lady Video Premiere, including our trailer!

À Bientôt!
-Danny

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AH, SWEET LADY: PASSION IN MEDIEVAL FRANCE
A Video premiere

Premiere for subscribers and prior ticket holders:
Thursday, September 10, 2020, at  7:30 pm

Premiere for the general public:
Saturday, September 12, 2020, 7:30 pm

After the Premiere for subscribers and prior ticket holders on Sept. 10, the video link will close and then will be available again from Sept. 12–17.
The video will be viewable until Thursday, Sept. 17 at 11:00 pm. Tickets must be purchased by 9:30 pm on Thursday, Sept. 17.

Admission: $5 Student/Supporter; $15 Fan; $25 Friend; $50 Patron

The general admission price is the Fan category, $15. If you're struggling due to the Coronavirus situation, take advantage of our lower-priced Student/Supporter offer. If you’re able to pay a little more, and can help someone else pay less, please do so with the Friend and Patron prices. 

Tickets available in advance online. After the purchase of a ticket an email with video access instructions will be sent to you on September 11.

Subscribers to the 2019-2020 Season and those who purchased individual tickets to the March concert will receive an email about your tickets; you will not need to purchase tickets to view the concert video.

For more information, call 512-377-6961 and leave a message,
or email boxoffice@early-music.org.

TEMP returns from its pause after the onset of Covid-19 to present a pre-recorded video featuring music from the 13th–14th centuries in France. This music takes us back to days of yore with knights, monks, and poets, with songs of unrequited love, daily trials, melancholy, exuberance, and even blissful love.

The Montpellier Codex contains early polyphonic works in France and was likely compiled around 1300. While many of the texts deal with some truly tender variations on love themes as well as more jovial ones (“I love B. but C. loves me and I don’t know what to do because B. loves D. who loves C...”), there are others about country kids visiting the big city (Paris) with Medieval versions of the still popular trope. We also feature music by Guillaume de Machaut, the greatest and most important composer of the 14th century, who composed wonderful, whistle-able melodies as well as striking and complex polyphony.

Early Music Now Host and Producer, Sara Schneider will also present a personally crafted lecture during the video, interspersed between sets of music. The video will also contain art from the 14th and 15th centuries and evocative photography.

Sixteen of TEMP’s singers and players recorded this music live in Austin in late June and early July and remotely from New York. Our production team has worked since then to create a seamless video of music, speech, and art ever since, a path that would have seemed impossible just a few months ago, but is now the wave of the (temporary) present.

Please join us as we reconnect with you through the magic of music.

Click on the image above to buy tickets now!

Did you enjoy this post? Give us a “like” below, leave a comment, and/or share with friends!

The Long and Winding Road: 2020-2021 Season Update

The long and winding road back to live concerts with our normal group of singers, instrumentalists, and guest artists seems to become longer and more winding, rather than closer.

Many of you would have already purchased season tickets for the 2020-2021 Season, but we are still finalizing (and changing and re-finalizing) our plans for the 2020-2021 season due to the COVID-19 impact on all of us: musicians, audience members, volunteers, venues, and everyone who makes our concerts possible. For this reason, we found it necessary in May to cancel spring ticket sales for our upcoming 2020-2021 Season. We are letting you know now because we finally have a little bit of good news!

We will release two video concerts, one in late August and one in late September. Stay tuned for details! The 2020-2021 season (and ticket sales) will launch with another video in early November and with a newly recorded video of our Christmas concert in early-ish December. Details to follow as soon as we have concrete information on completing the 2019-2020 season and presenting the 2020-2021 season.

The fine arts are in a difficult situation. Symphonies and opera companies with long and esteemed histories have had to shutter due to the Covid-19 impact. Smaller, more flexible ensembles like TEMP have their challenges as well, but rest assured, we will be offering a continuation, of sorts, of our unique repertoire that we love so much.

Stay safe. Stay caring. In the meantime, we hope you are enjoying our weekly musical Tacos!
-Danny

Enjoy a tasty musical treat every Tuesday: Sign up for our Taco Tuesday Newsletter! Click on the image below to sign up!

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Giving Tuesday Now

#GivingTuesdayNow is a worldwide day of giving and unity on Tuesday, May 5 that aims to meet the urgent needs of nonprofits created by the pandemic. In central Texas, this is being hosted by I Live Here, I Give Here as an Amplify Austin event. Many of our local nonprofits are struggling as funding sources, ranging from ticket sales to City of Austin support, are plummeting. Please consider giving generously to support nonprofits of your choice by going to www.amplifyatx.org.

Texas Early Music Project is participating in this event, and if you wish to help support TEMP and its artists please go to TEMP’s page at www.amplifyatx.org/organizations/texas-early-music-project.

The pandemic has been devastating on so many levels for us as individuals, as families, as businesses, and as artists. But Texas Early Music Project, as an arts organization, is not throwing in the towel. We are working out what we will be doing to continue giving you, our audience, the experience of joy and beauty that music can bring, and finding ways that we can support our artists while we are on a performing hiatus. Please stay with us as we work out exactly how we are going to do this!

And meanwhile, while you are staying healthy in mind, body, and spirit, please enjoy our TEMP Taco Tuesdays, which provide you just the musical snack you need to carry you through these challenging times.

Danny Johnson, Artistic Director
Anthony Toprac, Board President

WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROUS SUPPORT!