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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2009 > March > 11 > Entry
Conspirare makes TV debut, Craig Hella Johnson release solo CD
Celebrated Austin-based, Grammy-nominated choir Conspirare adds another couple of firsts to its list.
Tonight, the ensemble makes its national television premiere on PBS-affiliate KLRU. And Thursday, Conspirare artistic director and founder Craig Hella Johnson celebrates the release of his first solo CD.
‘A Company of Voices: Conspirare in Concert’ airs at 7 p.m. today, and 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Sunday on KLRU.
“A Company of Voices: Conspirare in Concert” was filmed in front of a live audience last fall at the Long Center, the first time Austin’s new performing arts center was used for such an event. The one-hour show is quintessential Conspirare, showing Johnson’s signature collage style of musically quilting together classical choral works with spirituals, traditional American folk songs and pop standards into a fluid, layered whole.
“A Company of Voices” is scheduled to air on more than 130 PBS-affiliated stations in 28 states this month, PBS pledge month.
For his first solo recording, Johnson — who has an expressive, almost ethereal singing voice — takes a detour from classical music. Accompanying himself on the piano, Johnson collaborates with Eliza Gilkyson on Bob Dylan’s “Ring Them Bells” and solos on Gilkyson’s “The Way That You Are,” the first ever recording of the song. Songs by Billy Jo Shaver and Dan Fogelberg complement Johnson’s original pieces set to lyrics and poems of Emily Dickinson and Tagore. The final track is a haunting rendition of “Killing Me Softly With His Song” featuring renowned Austin cellist Bion Tsang.
“I really wanted to reach out to a broader audience with this CD, beyond my classical work,” Johnson said. “(This CD) is quite personal — these are some of the songs I sing late night at home while sitting at the piano. It’s just another way of expressing something inside that needs to be expressed.”
Craig Hella Johnson celebrates the release of ‘Thorns on a Rose’ CD with a signing from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Waterloo Records, 600 N. Lamar Blvd. Photo: Deborah Ray Turner for AA-S.
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By Becky
March 13, 2009 6:19 PM | Link to this
Great CD! Listening to it right now (Human Heart). LOVE IT!