Digging (Up) Mozart

Last post I mentioned some upcoming deadlines. The most interesting is the world premiere of the Mozart Undead project.

It began with the Golden Hornet Project (Graham Reynolds and Peter Stopschinski) and a collaboration of Austin musicians and composers, who decided that since Mozart did not complete his Requiem–the work that is commonly sung was completed by Mozart’s followers–why not do Wolfie a favor and finish the work for him–as a contemporary work? They recruited a gang of other composers, including Okkervil River‘s Justin Sherburn, Pulitzer-prize winning composer Caroline Shaw, Todd Reynolds, Glenn Kotche, Adrian Quesada and Paul Miller (DJ Spooky). They basically stripped out the choral parts, leaving them somewhat intact, and gave free rein for the instrumentation. There are electronic tracks, percussion and bits that still surprise me at each rehearsal–Latin rhythms, Gypsy plaints, rock beats and a LOT of sound!

Texas Choral Consort‘s Artistic Director Brent Baldwin hangs out with these folks and got on board with having TCC sing. The group has already premiered a few movements. This has been a multi-year project.

The whole work will have its world premiere as part of Austin’s Fusebox Festival April 16, 6:30 p.m., outdoors at the French Legation. The performance is free! Directions and everything else you need to know are at the festival website.

Having sung the original several times, including memorable performances with TCC in Buenos Aires and Mercedes, Argentina, in 2011, I couldn’t miss the chance to help make musical history with 130 singers and numerous instrumentalists. If you are into genre-bending music, you don’t want to miss it either.

My blog postings may be thin till after April 16 while I log extra practice time.