a n d r e w s i g l e r

My string quartet Stompbox Reflection has been chosen to compete in the Golden Hornet Project String Quartet Smackdown! The competition runs like the final rounds of March Madness. Here, the first round features a live performance of the first minute of each quartet of the chosen “sweet sixteen” pitted bracket-style against one another. Round two features two minutes each of the Elite Eight, round three, the first three minutes of the Final Four. The last round features the final two quartets in their entirety performed by the Tosca String Quartet!

The Smackdown goes down on Saturday, November 3 at the Scottish Rite Theater. Get your tickets here!

All voting is done by the audience, so come on down and check it out!

Commissions and multiple premiers in Houston with Musiqa!

Here’s my introductory post for the Texas Performing Arts Classical Music Task Force blog.

Photo by Brian Rindfuss

The second installment of Talk About Sound features Mother Falcon, an indie orchestra of sorts comprised of an ever-changing group of performers, mostly string players, who’ve taken their classical training and background and applied it to their own music. Their sound is born of instrumentation largely rooted in the world of classical music mixed with a healthy dose of an indie rock aesthetic. I sat down with Nick Gregg and Matt Puckett to talk about the past, present, and future of the group.

photo by Matt Bradshaw

Austin Chamber Music Center, Texas Choral Consort, line upon line percussion, and Austin New Music Co-op put on a 5-hour marathon concert  to celebrate the 100th anniversary of John Cage’s birth. Michelle Schumann started this tradition in town 12 years ago, but this year’s show was an even more comprehensive look at Cage’s life and work. The story is here.

Ion Sound Project, the most recent Innova recording of composer Jeremy Beck  came across my desk recently. Click here for the NMBx review!

I’m excited to announce that I’ll be the new graduate fellow for Texas Performing Arts Classical Music Task Force. I’m looking forward to working within this fantastic organization along with local musicians, scholars, educators, and community leaders to examine concert music in Austin and to help present it to an ever wider audience.

P.K. WADDLE STORMS LOCAL COFFEE HOUSE!

Laura Mercado Wright, Gitanjali Mathur, Paul D’Arcy, and Cameron Beauchamp (photo by Alan Kaher)

A night of new music premiers courtesy of Convergence Vocal Ensemble and Austin New Music Coop.

Here’s my take on this year’s Austin Chamber Music Festival!

Ah, summer in Austin…