About
GOLDEN HORNET & KMFA CLASSICAL PRESENT
2023 OFFICIAL SXSW
ATX COMPOSER SHOWCASE
Wednesday, March 15 at 7:30 p.m. | Parker Jazz Club
The ATX Composer Showcase is an official SXSW event brought to you by Golden Hornet and KMFA Classical 89.5. It presents an array of local new music artists and contemporary classical talent during the height of the city-wide festival.
The showcase features five ensembles throughout the night, fostering exposure to local groups leading the charge on revitalizing classical music for the modern age.
Offered to SXSW badge holders and non-holders alike, the intimate concert is at Parker Jazz Club, where audiences enjoy cocktail seating and a full bar as they listen to the ensembles throughout the night.
There is a $5.00 cover sharge at the door. Get there early because badges and wristbands get to skip the line.
THE LINEUP:
- 7:30 p.m. - Density512
- 8:45 p.m. - Austin Unconducted
- 10:00 p.m. - Graham Reynolds
- 11:15 p.m. - Invoke
- 12:30 p.m. - Mother Falcon
THE ARTISTS:
Density512 is a chamber orchestra and collective of brave and open musicians who champion contemporary programming. We produce imaginatively curated experiences, amplify the voices of groundbreaking and emerging artists, and cultivate interdisciplinary collaborations.
Austin Unconducted at 8:45 p.m.
Austin Unconducted is a democratic orchestra formed in 2021 by a group of young professional musicians with a desire to present classical music in a way that is relatable, fresh, and fun. Rather than working with a conductor, our musicians collaborate and work with local artists to design and perform concerts that truly reflect the voice and energy of the city of Austin. 2022-2023 marks our first full season of concerts that double as social events, inviting Austinites to gather and immersing them in both old and new music in a way unlike they have experienced before. Unconfined by tradition, unafraid to feature unheard voices, & unapologetically Austin, we are keeping music current.
Austin Unconducted is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that builds community by creating inclusive, immersive, and relevant concert experiences that engage diverse audiences. As a cooperative orchestra, we re-examine the long arc of musical tradition through a contemporary lens with performances that promote equity and generate new excitement for art music in our ever changing city.
Called “the quintessential modern composer” by the London Independent, Austin-based composer-bandleader-improviser Graham Reynolds creates, performs, and records music for film, theater, dance, rock clubs, and concert halls with collaborators across a multitude of disciplines. Reynolds is also the Artistic Director for Golden Hornet.
Heard throughout the world in films, TV, stage, and radio, he recently scored Richard Linklater’s Where’d You Go, Bernadette with Cate Blanchett, Kristen Wiig, and Laurence Fishburne for Annapurna Pictures, an upcoming projected directed by and starring Katie Holmes, Happy Jail for Netflix, the Rude Mechs’ Stop Hitting Yourself for Lincoln Center Theater, Ballet Austin’s Grimm Tales, and a multi-year commission from Ballroom Marfa, The Marfa Triptych. He has performed on an array of legendary stages, from the Kennedy Center to the Green Mill Tavern to the Conan O’Brien Show. His Creative Capital Award winning project, Pancho Villa from a Safe Distance, a bilingual cross-border opera created with librettists Lagartijas Tiradas al Sol (Mexico City) and director Shawn Sides (Rude Mechs), has been staged in over a dozen cities in North America.
*Photo by Sarah Sosa
Described as “...not classical but not, not classical – Invoke is beautiful, adventurous, American and immediately engaging” (David Srebnik, SiriusXM Classical Producer), Invoke strives to successfully dodge even the most valiant attempts at genre classification. The multi-instrumental band’s other not-nots encompass traditions from across America, including bluegrass, Appalachian fiddle tunes, jazz, and minimalism. Invoke weaves all of these styles together to create truly individual music, written by and for the group. Equally at home in a collaborative setting, Invoke has performed with musicians from widely varying genres, from the Miró and Ensō Quartets, to chamber rock powerhouse San Fermin, to beatboxer/rapper/spoons virtuoso Christylez Bacon. Invoke’s three albums Souls in the Mud, Furious Creek, and Fantastic Planet, all feature original works composed by and for the group, and the quartet has also performed and recorded numerous world premieres. Invoke believes in championing diverse American voices, including their ongoing commissioning project American Postcards, which asks composers to pick a time and place in American history and tell its story through Invoke’s voice.
*Photo by Nathan Russell
Mother Falcon at 12:30 a.m.
Mother Falcon is a symphonic rock band from Austin, Texas, known for their wide-ranging instrumentation and collaborative songwriting. Formed by bandleader Nick Gregg in 2008, the group grew to include a collective of more than twenty musicians playing strings, horns, guitars, and percussion. The group was most active between 2010 and 2016, after which they scaled back and began new projects including theatrical scores and an annual music education camp. Since the release of their final album Good Luck Have Fun, released in 2015 by Universal, the band has continued to perform in the Austin area.
*Photo by Jerry Starbuck
Lineup and performing times are subject to change
Event Details
- Date: Wednesday, March 15
- Time: 7:30 p.m.
- Venue: Parker Jazz Club
- Website: https://www.goldenhornet.org/atxcomposers
Ticket Information
- Cost: $5 Cover Charge at the door
Presenter Details
- Name: Golden Hornet
In the 1990s, Golden Hornet co-founders Graham Reynolds and Peter Stopschinski were both composers struggling to find spaces, presenters, and funding to support their original chamber works. During their search, they found that many other young and emerging composers were facing the same challenges. At the time, both Reynolds and Stopschinski were also bandleaders in the burgeoning rock and punk scene of Austin, TX -- of Golden Arm Trio and Brown Whörnet respectively -- and they decided to team up to solve this challenge. By applying the collective creation and self-production methods of the rock genre to the world of classical music, they were able to form a thriving community of living composers. Through Golden Hornet, numerous new works have emerged over the years from full-size symphonies performed in warehouse spaces to collaborations with Tosca String Quartet, Austin Lyric Opera, local high school orchestras, and composers like Glenn Kotche.
Every year, Golden Hornet present four core programs. First, the String Quartet Smackdown results in sixteen new, original string quartet compositions from composers of all backgrounds. Second, the SXSW Official ATX Composers Showcase supports and celebrates six new music ensembles focused on contemporary works by local composers and connects them with a national and international network of music industry representatives. Third, their Young Composer Concert provides opportunities for local composers ages 8 to 18 to develop artistically and professionally through a six-month program. During this program, they compose an original piece of music, and collectively produce a public concert featuring a professional ensemble. Fourth, their always changing, but high-caliber, concert endeavor results in a performance that is of significant quality and relevance and is defined by its touring potential.
Golden Hornet's methods continue to be informed by the extensive experience and network of Artistic Director Graham Reynolds and by their central values of inclusion, accessibility, collaboration, innovation, and excellence. In 2008, Golden Hornet received an official 501(c)3 designation and has since grown in both capacity and consistency, and by the end of 2019, will directly serve an audience of over 1,400 individuals in the Austin area alone, plus more than 1,600 nationally and internationally.
Venue Details
- Address: 117 W 4th Street
- City: Austin
- State: TX
- Zip: 78701