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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2009 > July > 01 > Entry
Celebrating pride with chamber music
Inclusive, accessible, celebratory — and FREE — a new addition to the line-up of the Austin Chamber Music Festival offers a fresh and much-needed way of considering classical music.
Thursday night it’s ‘Pride Concert: Celebrating Music by Gay and Lesbian Composers.’
Organized by Austin composer Russell Reed and pianist Jim James, the free concert features the work of gay and lesbian composers. ‘I think it is important for people to know about gay artists, both living and dead, who have helped to shape our artistic and cultural heritage,’ says Reed. ‘I wanted to do this for my community because I am constantly dismayed about how little gay people know about their own history.’
On the program are works by well-known composers such as Aaron Copland (Duo for Flute and Piano), Benjamin Britten (Lachrymae), John Cage (‘In a Landscape’) and Reynaldo Hahn (Sonata for Violin and Piano). And representing today’s new music by living composers is Reed’s own ‘Princess Songs,’ William Lackey’s ‘Twisted Tension’ and Pauline Oliveros’ ‘To Valerie Solaneas and Marilyn Monroe.’
Reed, by the way, was most recently nominated for Best Original Composition from the Austin Critics Table for ‘Light the Lovely Candles,’ a song cycle he wrote for soprano Elizabeth Petillot and violist Aurelien Petillot.
Aurelien Petillot is one of the musicians on the roster for Thursday’s concert. Also performing is Kim Pollini, soprano; Joseph Smith, violin; Seeth Shivaswamy, flute and Adam Bedell, percussion. Both Reed and James will play piano.
‘Pride Concert: Celebrating Music by Gay and Lesbian Composers’
7:30 p.m July 2
St. James Episcopal Church, 1941 Webberville Road
www.austinchambermusic.org
Photo: Russell Reed
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