We sing together.

Where the audience is the choir!

Come to St. Martin’s Lutheran Church this Thursday, May 17 and raise your voice in song with Craig Hella Johnson and Conspirare Symphonic Choir. We guarantee that you and hundreds of singing friends will be the biggest choir in Austin that day.

Craig Hella Johnson will lead the assembled multitude in singing popular American folk songs, classics from Broadway and the Great American Songbook, and traditional choral music. You can also expect some favorites from past Big Sings, back by popular demand. No experience is needed and songbooks are provided. It’s fun, informal, and FREE – see you then!

press release

Fun at the November Big Sing at First Baptist Church

06.09.12 (5:30pm) St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church Austin, TX TICKETS
06.09.12 (9:00pm) St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church Austin, TX TICKETS
pre-concert talk by Margaret Perry (Armstrong Community Music School) one hour prior to each performance (included in ticket)

Reserved $48, $38, $28 ($10 Student)

06.08.12 (7:30pm) Victoria Fine Arts Center, Victoria, Texas
pre-concert talk by Margaret Perry (Armstrong Community Music School) 6:30pm (included in ticket)

A collaboration with the Victoria Bach Festival; tickets available through the Festival at 361-570-5788

press release

Arvo Pärt

we sing masters.

Compelling contrasts. Delight in a season finale of music by composers you’ve requested. Hear George Frideric Handel’s dynamic Dixit Dominus and Arvo Pärt’s luminous Berliner Messe, plus American composer Andrew Imbrie’s 1949 setting of  Walt Whitman’s poem On the Beach at Night.

Twenty-six singers from the Company of Voices will be joined by the rich sound of a 26-piece string orchestra. Two contrasting performances will be presented in Austin – come early for the clear light of day, or come late for dramatically lit atmosphere.

Andrew Imbrie (photo Kathleen Karn/UCB)

Program:
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759),  Dixit Dominus
Andrew Imbrie (1921–2007), On the Beach at Night
—Intermission—
Arvo Pärt (b. 1935), Berliner Messe

Sample Berliner Messe (select tracks 2-8 in window), performed by Elora Festival Singers / Elora Festival Orchestra, conductor Noel Edison
International Arvo Pärt Centre
Notes for On the Beach at Night, David Hoose, Music Director Cantata Singers

05.04.12 (8pm) Dell Hall, Long Center for the Performing Arts Austin, TX
05.05.12 (8pm) Dell Hall, Long Center for the Performing Arts Austin, TX
Tickets online / Austin Symphony Box Office (512) 476-6064
Free “Concert Conversation” by Bob Buckalew each night at 7:10pm (Dell Hall)

we sing community.

PROGRAM
Igor Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms
Leonard Bernstein: Chichester Psalms
J.S. Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565, Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor, BWV 582

Austin Symphony program page

Conspirare Symphonic Choir performing Roberto Sierra's "Missa Latina," June 2011 (photo Spielberg)

rehearsing for "Looking Glass"

Tickets will be available at the door for both concerts.
($12 adults; $6 ages 6-17; Free ages 5/under)

The Conspirare Youth Choirs present their spring concert program, a bouquet of delightful and imaginative music from Russia, Brazil, France, Canada, and the U.S., set to texts by Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, and others. Featuring music by Paul Halley, Francis Poulenc, and Jim Papoulis. A highlight of the performances will be an arrangement by CYC Director Nina Revering of Switchfoot’s song “This Is Home,” featured in the soundtrack for the film The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. With guest instrumentalists Tom Hale, principal horn with Austin Symphony, violinist Paul Robertson, pianist Maimy Fong, and vibraphonist Andrew Furhman.
program works, instrumentalists, soloists

• press release
• conspirare news flyer
• video preview

04.27.12 (7:30pm) St. Martin’s Lutheran Church Austin, TX TICKETS
04.28.12 (7:30pm) St. Martin’s Lutheran Church Austin, TX TICKETS
General Admission $12 Adults; $6 Youth (ages 6-17)
Children 5 years/under FREE (Please call 512-474-5664 to order free child tickets.)

we sing family.

The Conspirare Youth Choirs ( Conspirare Kantorei and Conspirare Children’s Choir), directed by Nina Revering, is a comprehensive treble choir program for boys and girls, ages 9-17. MORE

Conspirare Youth Choirs

Craig Hella Johnson & Friends with Special Guest Patrice Pike

Online reservations are now closed; to inquire about attending, please call David Hammond at 512-476-5775.

Join us for the seventh edition of Hidden Music, an evening of musical magic, fine wines, delicious dining, and a fast-paced auction of specially created travel and other luxury packages.

As welcoming and intimate as it is elegant and entertaining, Hidden Music is a joyful celebration for a wonderful community of music lovers. This year’s program promises to be especially exciting as we welcome back a favorite Conspirare guest artist, Patrice Pike, who will join Craig Hella Johnson & Friends for a spellbinding after-dinner concert.

“[Pike's] voice, with an edge that suggested country and rock sympathies, was extraordinarily beautiful.” — Mike Greenberg, incidentlight.com

Patrice Pike (photo Dennis Benton)

Individual and table reservations:

• Individual $500 (best available seating, premium wines & champagne, valet parking)
• Individual $400 (choice seating, valet parking)
• Individual $250 (reserved seating, valet parking)

• VISIONARY (Table) $5,000 (premiere table seating for 10 guests, premium wines & champagne, valet parking, prominent recognition throughout the evening)
• MUSE (Table) $4,000 (choice table seating for 10 guests, valet parking, special recognition throughout the evening)
• VIRTUOSO (Table) $2,500 (reserved table seating for 10 guests, valet parking, recognition throughout the evening)

Online reservations are now closed; to inquire about attending, please call David Hammond at 512-476-5775.

All proceeds benefit Conspirare. Hidden Music is our major benefit event of the season, providing critically important funds to support the world-class musical experiences offered in our concerts, tours, recordings, and community programs like the Conspirare Youth Choirs and the Big Sing.

Tax deductible information:

• $500 Individual: $425
• $400 Individual: $325
• $250 Individual: $175
• $5,000 Table: $4,250
• $4,000 Table: $3,250
• $2,500 Table: $1,750

Thirty-six members of Conspirare’s Company of Voices and Craig Hella Johnson headline the American Choral Directors Association Central Division conference in Fort Wayne and present public concerts in Michigan and Indiana. The repertoire is American choral music, featuring two Eric Whitacre U.S. premieres and selections from Conspirare’s latest CD, Sing Freedom! African American Spirituals.
press release
list of program works
PHOTO GALLERY (added 03.23.12)

program booklet

Photo John Lewis

Bloomfield Hills, MICHIGAN
03.04.12 (3pm) Concert, Kirk in the Hills Presbyterian Church TICKETS

South Bend, INDIANA
03.05.12 (8pm) Concert, Basilica of the Sacred Heart, University of Notre Dame FREE and open to the public

Kalamazoo, MICHIGAN
03.07.12 (7:30pm) Concert (Kalamazoo Bach Festival), Portage Central High School Auditorium TICKETS

Fort Wayne, INDIANA
03.08.12 (8pm) Concert for ACDA attendees, Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
03.09.12 (7pm) Concert, Trinity English Lutheran Church TICKETS (260) 426-3424

Supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts

We sing together.

Where the audience is the choir!

The Big Sing is Conspirare’s increasingly popular, free community outreach event. Conspirare’s acclaimed artistic director Craig Hella Johnson leads each Big Sing gathering in vocal warm-ups and short, melodic songs that can be easily learned. As musical hosts, Conspirare Symphonic Choir members sit among the audience to sing along and provide musical support and encouragement during the one-hour event. Song sheets are provided.

The Big Sing is open to all, regardless of musical training and experience. Through a fun, no-pressure group singing experience, audience members learn basic vocal technique, experience the body as an instrument, and sing as one with hundreds of others.

Musical selections at past Big Sings have ranged from popular rounds to the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah. Johnson hand picks songs to delight, thrill, and sometimes challenge the singing audience, always with remarkably beautiful and inspirational results. As one past Big Sing-er commented, “I was filled with awe and gratitude for the music WE made!”

press release

Craig Hella Johnson conducting the November Big Sing, First Baptist Church

This is the second Big Sing of the 2011-12 Season. Our final Big Sing will be held on May 17 (also 6pm) at St. Martin’s Lutheran Church.

Whitacre & Lewis: New Year’s Special
01.21.12 (5pm) St. Martin’s Lutheran Church Austin, TX One performance only! TICKETS
Reserved $48, $38, $28

program booklet
press release

Presented with support from The Keating Family Foundation
Additional support provided by SpanishSteps.com
Co-sponsored by Seton Cove & Humanities Texas

Special Events

Lee Sandstead

LEE SANDSTEAD CHORAL CONVERSATION
01.08.12 (2:30pm) Blanton Museum of Art Auditorium Austin, TX
General Admission $15 TICKETS, more info
In anticipation of the Path of Miracles performances, Conspirare presents a lecture “Walking 600 Miles for Art: A Conspirare Choral Conversation,” featuring art historian Lee Sandstead and Conspirare artistic director Craig Hella Johnson. press release

Lee Sandstead’s appearance made possible with the generous support of Elizabeth and Jerele Neeld. Cosponsored by Seton Cove.

MIDWINTER DINNER
01.21.12 (6pm) Humanities Texas (Byrne-Reed House) Austin TX
$60 per person. Reservations are now closed.

Enjoy a catered buffet dinner with wine between the Saturday performances.

we sing journeys.

Joby Talbot’s Path of Miracles

Joby Talbot

A season highlight — the southwestern U.S. premiere of Path of Miracles by British classical and film composer Joby Talbot. This mystical marvel was inspired by the journey of medieval pilgrims on Spain’s Camino de Santiago (Way of St. James), a route that still inspires thousands of seekers each year. The work’s movements — “Roncesvalles,” “Burgos,” “Leon,” and “Santiago” — are titled for the four main staging posts of the Camino Frances, the route’s central axis.

Path of Miracles was commissioned by the British choral ensemble Tenebrae, who premiered and recorded it in 2005 for Signum Classics. more about the recording and sample clips

Whitacre & Lewis: New Year’s Special

Peter Scott Lewis / Eric Whitacre

A special one-hour concert of music by American composers Eric Whitacre and Peter Scott Lewis. Conspirare performs several of Eric Whitacre’s most popular choral works and presents  the U.S. premieres of two brand-new compositions, Oculi Omnium and Alleluia.

The concert also features the world premiere of The Changing Light by Peter Scott Lewis (for chamber choir, vibraphone, marimba, and string quartet) based on the poems of Lawrence Ferlinghetti and written for Conspirare.

12.09.11 (7:30pm) St. Martin’s Lutheran Church Austin, TX TICKETS
12.10.11 (7:30pm) St. Martin’s Lutheran Church Austin, TX TICKETS
General Admission $12 Adults; $6 Youth (ages 17/under)

TICKETS FOR BOTH PERFORMANCES WILL ALSO BE AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR.

we sing family.

The program features Dancing Day, a cycle of traditional carols for treble voices and harp by popular choral composer John Rutter, performed with guest harpist Jacquelyn Venter. The choirs will also sing other music by Rutter and by Benjamin Britten. The concerts are family friendly and a delight to listeners of all ages.

An unusual work on the program is “Night Yoik” by contemporary Norwegian-Sámi composer and yoiker Frode Fjellheim. “Yoik” (also spelled “joik”) is an ancient folk song form of the Sámi people of Scandinavia and Russia. A yoik often describes a specific person, emotion, or other element of nature, and does so with very little use of words; its sound is often compared to Native American chanting.

The Youth Choirs (Conspirare Children’s Choir and Conspirare Kantorei) offer a comprehensive treble choir program for boys and girls, ages 9-17. MORE

press release

HOLIDAY GALA 12.05.11 (5:30pm) Long Center, Austin, TX.
Enjoy fine wines and sumptuous dining in the Kodosky Donor Lounge before the finale performance of Conspirare Christmas, plus a champagne and dessert after-party with the artists. AFTER-PARTY only tickets also available. Tickets through the Conspirare office, online (Gala / After-Party) or at 512-476-5775. Reservations close Wed., Nov. 23, 3pm.

Mela Sarajane Dailey / Matt Alber

we sing love.

Music of many centuries and styles, artfully melded in Conspirare’s unique and popular holiday collage concert. Craig Hella Johnson combines classical works, carols, pop songs and more, to create an entirely unique, intensely meaningful experience. This year’s guest artists are longtime Conspirare collaborators:  vivacious soprano Mela Sarajane Dailey, soulful singer-songwriter Matt Alber, and “Best of Austin” percussionist Tom Burritt.

program booklet

press release

Hear sample tracks from last year’s program.

“Conspirare’s annual gift … musical choices [that] burrow into the universal human experience.” — Mike Greenberg, incidentlight.com

“… [Dailey's] voice sounds like it’s coated in Christmastime silver and gold.” — Lana Sweeten-Shults, Times Record News

“Versatile and sophisticated … [Alber's] voice is rich, silky and expressive.” — amazon.com

SEASON SUSTAINING UNDERWRITER AND SPONSOR OF THE HOLIDAY GALA

The San Antonio performance is sponsored by the Russell Hill Rogers Fund for the Arts.

10.08.11 (7:30pm)

University Presbyterian Church Austin, Texas TICKETS

program booklet

we sing Britannia.

Calling all Anglophiles! The men of Conspirare Symphonic Choir with the Conspirare Youth Choirs (CYC) perform works from Great Britain’s rich choral tradition, including music from the Royal Wedding. The concert is a rare opportunity to hear British cathedral-style choral music in Austin, in the first-ever collaboration between the Conspirare Symphonic men and the Youth Choirs. Rick Gabrillo, Conspirare associate director and CYC co-director, and Nina Revering, CYC co-director, will conduct.

The concert is built on the grand cathedral tradition of adult male choir and treble choir (upper-register voices) singing together, as exemplified in the Royal Wedding. Works to be performed by the Conspirare men’s choir with the youth choirs include Jerusalem and I Was Glad by Sir Charles Parry (both from the Wedding), nuptial favorite If Ye Love Me by Thomas Tallis, and other music from folksongs to U2. For a change of pace, the forty-voice men’s choir alone will sing Five Mystical Songs and The Drinking Song by Ralph Vaughan Williams, plus works by Z. Randall Stroope, John Rutter, and more in this varied, unusual program.

press release

Performance duration/intermission: The first half of the performance will run 45-60 minutes and will be followed by an intermission. The second half will run 50 minutes.

Buy tickets in a discount package.

Also in Georgetown, TX: 09.22.11 (7pm) Klett Performing Arts Center. Presented by the Georgetown Performing Arts Alliance. Tickets through the Georgetown Symphony Society (512-864-9591).

Margaret Perry, Director of Education & the Armstrong Community Music School at Austin Lyric Opera, will present a pre-concert talk one hour prior to each Austin performance (included in ticket price).

program booklet

we sing enchantment.

Samuel Barber © G. Schirmer Archives

Conspirare opens its season with an all-Barber program honoring the great American composer. Barber’s music is lush, moving, and uniquely American, and audiences will be entranced by its beauty as interpreted by Conspirare’s Company of Voices and artistic director Craig Hella Johnson.

The program includes the beloved Agnus Dei (choral version of the famous Adagio for Strings heard in several recent film scores) and other favorites such as Reincarnations and Sure on this Shining Night. Concertgoers will also enjoy less well-known but intriguing Barber pieces such as A Stopwatch and an Ordnance Map and Motetto on Words from the Book of Job.

composer Robert Kyr photo Tom Forgas

baritone David Farwig photo Karen Sachar

A highlight will be the premiere of a new, Conspirare-commissioned re-orchestration of Barber’s sensual, passionate, and rarely performed The Lovers, a setting of poetry by Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda. Originally written for large chorus and orchestra, the work will be arranged for chamber ensemble and choir by composer Robert Kyr, whose most recent Conspirare collaboration in January 2011 garnered rave reviews in The Wall Street Journal and elsewhere. The Lovers will feature baritone soloist David Farwig, winner of a 2011 Austin Critics Table award as Outstanding Singer.

program notes

Harmonia Mundi Recording
Following the live performances in Austin, the Barber program will be recorded in the acoustically superb Sauder Hall at Goshen College, Goshen, IN, for international release in fall 2012 on the Harmonia Mundi label. Conspirare will be the first U.S. professional choir to record Barber’s complete a capella choral works for a major label. The CD will also be the first-ever studio recording of The Lovers.

The recording is made possible through the generous support of friends and family of Fran Collmann, in honor of her twelve years’ leadership of the Conspirare board of directors, and by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Conspirare performs Samuel Barber’s “Agnus Dei”
(from A Company of Voices: Conspirare in Concert CD)

Samuel Barber reference page at publisher G. Schirmer Inc.

Samuel Barber: American Romantic press release 08.26.11

Evocative journeys, iconic composers, world premiers, and of course, Conspirare Christmas. Join us for another unforgettable season.

Discounts on packages available though September 23!

Ticket order form to mail or fax

Season 2011-2012 overview

we sing peace.

Heidi Grant Murphy: photo Jennifer Gasparian

We invite you to a not-to-be-missed season finale.

Craig Hella Johnson conducts Conspirare’s largest gathering of musical forces on the Long Center stage since 2008, a stunning, award-winning performance of Verdi’s Requiem.

Roberto Sierra’s Missa Latina “Pro Pace,” commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra, received its world premiere at Washington DC’s Kennedy Center in 2006 and has since become a choral-orchestral favorite, with a Grammy-nominated recording and coast-to-coast performances.

Daniel Teadt: Photo David Bachman

Soprano and international opera star Heidi Grant Murphy and renowned baritone Daniel Teadt are guest soloists, joining the mighty Conspirare Symphonic Choir, Victoria Bach Festival chorus, and members of Conspirare’s acclaimed professional choir, along with a 60-piece Festival orchestra.

Sierra draws on his Caribbean heritage to transform the ancient texts of the Latin Mass into a lively and powerful setting for today’s audiences, a moving plea for peace with a rousing final Alleluia chorus that will bring you to your feet.

Program Notes

Margaret Perry, Director of Education & the Armstrong Community Music School at Austin Lyric Opera, will present a pre-concert talk one hour prior to the performance (included in ticket price). TICKETS

This is Conspirare.

we sing celebration.

ALSO:

06.11.11 (7:30pm)
pre-concert talk by Margaret Perry (6:30pm)
Victoria Fine Arts Center, Victoria, Texas

Tickets available through the Victoria Bach Festival, online or at 361-570-5788

05.07.11 (7:30pm)

St. Martin’s Lutheran Church, Austin, Texas

we sing poetry.

Both of our youth ensembles, Kantorei and Conspirare Children’s Choir, will make music together in the spring concert series “Voices of Joy.” The entire season is dedicated to music from across the pond, featuring the words and music of composers and poets from England, Scotland, and Ireland.

On this evening, the poetry of Yeats, Rossetti, and Blake comes alive in musical settings by Finzi, Purcell, McAuliffe, and Page. The Youth Choirs’ exploration of music from the British Isles comes to fresh and glorious completion. TICKETS