Media Advisory
November 19, 2025
Contact: Ann McNair 512-740-6932
Fresh off their 12th GRAMMY® Nomination, Conspirare Christmas returns December 6-8 to Austin and Houston with Conspirare Christmas: House of Love. Created in Austin since 1994, this year’s concert features the powerful vocals and vibrant fiddle of Ameri-Chicana singer-songwriter Carrie Rodriguez.
Conspirare Christmas is a musical journey through memory and hope, where voices unite to create something larger than ourselves—a reminder that in the act of singing together, we discover the spirit of the season and the essence of what connects us all. Craig Hella Johnson’s signature program breaks down musical walls, inspiring listeners year after year with its weaving of folk, pop, classical, sacred, and secular music along with holiday favorites. Hella Johnson conducts Conspirare from the piano, connecting the diverse music with improvisations and forming a band with acclaimed instrumentalists Mitch Watkins on guitar, John Fremgen on bass, and Tom Burritt on drum set. The audience is invited to join in the power of singing in a special sing-along section.
Thousands of listeners begin their holidays with Conspirare Christmas. Sid Davis, Director of Music for St. Luke’s UMC, which has presented the Houston performance since 2014, describes it like this: “There’s nothing quite like Conspirare. My personal Christmas wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t start the season off in the same room with this concert. It’s all at once spiritual and musically fulfilling, hope-giving, and transcendent.”
This year Conspirare will be joined by local choral singers from the audience. In Austin, theses singers will include members of the Conspirare Symphonic Choir, Austin High Maroon Choir, Liberal Arts and Science Academy Concert Choir , Round Rock High School Choirs, and the McCallum High School Fine Arts Academy Meistersingers. In Houston, the St. Luke’s UMC Chancel Choir and St Luke’s UMC Staff Singers will join Conspirare.
Architecturally Stunning, Acoustically Resonant Venues
This season’s performances will take place in two of Texas’s most celebrated music venues. In Austin, audiences will gather at the historic Hogg Memorial Auditorium on The University of Texas campus—an award-winning architectural gem designed by renowned French architect Paul Cret and completed in 1933 and recently renovated. This acoustically superb auditorium has served as a cultural cornerstone for nine decades, hosting everything from theatrical productions to world-class musical performances.
In Houston, Conspirare returns to St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, the city’s premier destination for choral music. St. Luke’s UMC has established itself as Houston’s go-to space for the world’s finest vocal ensembles, having welcomed distinguished groups including The Gesualdo Six, Voces8, and Houston Chamber Choir, in addition to Conspirare’s beloved annual performances.
With Gratitude
Conspirare thanks concert sponsors Tejemos Foundation, St. Luke’s Friends of Music, Howry, Breen & Herman LLP and Bank of America and Season Sustaining Underwriter H-E-B for their support.
Tickets Now on Sale:
Conspirare Christmas: House of Love with Guest Artist Carrie Rodriguez
Presented in Partnership with the Cactus Café
December 6, 2025, at 8 pm and December 7, 2025 at 4 pm
Hogg Memorial Auditorium, 2300 Whitis Avenue in Austin, TX 78705
Tickets now on sale
December 8, 2025 at 7:30 pm
St. Luke’s UMC, 3471 Westheimer Road, Houston, TX 77027
Presented by St. Luke’s Friends of Music
Tickets now on sale
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
CARRIE RODRIGUEZ a composer, violinist, and singer from Austin, Texas, finds beauty in the cross-pollination of diverse musical traditions. As a singer-songwriter, she has released five solo studio albums, including Lola, which was hailed as “the perfect bicultural album” and was included in NPR’s Best Albums of 2016, as well as Rolling Stone’s Best Country Albums of the Year. Carrie has performed on stages across North America and Europe and has appeared on programs such as PBS’s Austin City Limits, The Tonight Show, and NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts. In 2017, she founded Laboratorio, a highly acclaimed concert series hosted at Austin’s historic State Theatre that celebrates Latine culture through music, visual art, and storytelling. Her recent work includes that as a composer/lyricist was for the original musical ¡Americano!, which had a six-week run off broadway at New York City’s New World Stages in 2022 and earned her a nomination for a 2022 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music. During the 2024–25 academic year, Rodriguez was named the official Songwriter-in-Residence at the University of Texas at Austin. As part of her residency, she composed and performed the music for Postcards from the Border, a full-length theatrical work that premiered with Texas Performing Arts in January ’25 and has been highlighted in both local and national press, including NPR’s Weekend Edition. Carrie lives in Austin with her husband and frequent artistic collaborator, Luke Jacobs, and their 10 year-old son, Cruz.
CRAIG HELLA JOHNSON Acclaimed for crafting thought-provoking musical journeys that create deep connections between performers and listeners, Craig Hella Johnson is the founding artistic director and conductor of Conspirare.
A celebrated guest conductor of choral and orchestral works, Hella Johnson is also a published composer, arranger, and educator. He was awarded the 2022 Presidential Award for Excellence in Scholarly/Creative Activities at Texas State University and serves as editor of a choral series for Hal Leonard and E.C. Schirmer.
Hella Johnson’s accomplishments have been recognized with numerous awards and honors. Notably, he and Conspirare won a 2015 GRAMMY® for Best Choral Performance. His other honors include Chorus America’s Michael Korn Founders Award for Development of the Professional Choral, Texas State Musician of the Year, the Matthew Shepard Foundation’s Dennis Dougherty Award for Community Leadership, and most recently, Wartburg College’s 2023 Graven Award.
CONSPIRARE is a professional choral organization under the leadership of Artistic Director Craig Hella Johnson. Inspired by the power of music to change lives, this ensemble engages singers from around the world who join voices to deliver world-class, extraordinary live musical experiences and recordings. Their discography includes 16 commercial albums and 20 self-produced live albums. Hella Johnson and Conspirare were awarded a 2015 GRAMMY® for Best Choral Performance for The Sacred Spirit of Russia and their recordings have received 12 total nominations. Conspirare has performed throughout the United States and internationally. At home, Conspirare performs a full annual season in Austin where it has received ongoing recognition from local organizations and critics. Conspirare has been the subject of PBS documentaries and was awarded a Texas Medal of Arts and garnered international recognition including the Dutch Edison Award. The group is also committed to lifelong singing through the Symphonic Choir, Conspirare Artist Citizen Choral Collective, and Big Sings.
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