Arts

900 years of music at two events: let the holidays begin

Hildegard von Bingen, a German nun, mystic, healer, author and composer whose works found new life in the last part of the 20th century, lived from 1098 to 1179.

Alberto Ginastera, an Argentinean composer and music educator, one of whose pieces was adapted (with his approval) in 1973 by the rock group Emerson Lake and Palmer, lived from 1916 to 1983. These two artists, working some 900 years apart, represent the range of music available to Austin audiences this weekend in two concerts presented by local groups that are as different as the music they'll be performing.

The Texas Early Music Project (commonly known as "TEMP") resurrects the music of Hildegard and other female composers who lived between 1100 and 1700 in a program titled "Womansong" Saturday at First English Lutheran Church. Wild Basin Winds, a woodwind quintet, features 20th-century composers Sunday at First Presbyterian Church, with a repeat Tuesday at University Presbyterian Church. The group is also celebrating release of its new Christmas CD with a party Friday night in the sylvan setting of the Wild Basin Preserve.

Faustinus Deraet Wild Basin Winds — from left, Mat Krejci (flute), Ian Davidson (oboe), Tom Hale (horn), Daris Hale (bassoon) and Gary Sperl (clarinet) — are set to debut their Christmas CD on Friday night at Wild Basin Preserve. Wild Basin Winds When: CD party, 8 p.m. Friday; concerts 3 p.m. Saturday and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday Where: CD party: Wild Basin Preserve, 805 N. Capital of Texas Highway; concerts: First Presbyterian Church, 801 Mesa Drive, and University Presbyterian Church, 2203 San Antonio Street Information: 491-6317 Texas Early Music Project When: 8 p.m. Saturday Where: First English Lutheran Church, 30th Street at Whitis Avenue Information: 371-0099

In addition to Hildegard, the list of female composers includes names that are less familiar, such as Barbara Strozzi (1619-circa 1665), Chiara Maria Cozzolani (1602-circa 1677) and one that is very familiar, albeit in a different context: Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII.

All the singing will be done by the women of TEMP, with soloists Stephanie Prewitt, Kathlene Ritch Brown, Amy Brumley and Jenifer Thyssen, but the concert is not an all-female show. "We aren't leaving the men out entirely," says Johnson. "They'll be playing the accompanying instruments of lutes, theorbos, viols, keyboard and cello, joining concertmistress Laurie Young Stevens and Boel Gidholm, our violinists extraordinaire."

In a pre-concert lecture, soloist Brumley will discuss some of the common themes of the women composers presented on this program.

Across town, at the Wild Basin Winds Christmas CD release party, there'll likewise be music about Mary and Jesus — including "Away in a Manger" and "What Child is This" — but in a style that reflects the 21st century much more than the 12th. According to Tom Hale, the group's hornist (and brother of TEMP soloist Kathlene Ritch Brown), "the arrangements on the recording are all by Gary Slechta and are both jazzy and traditional." The CD, appropriately titled "Wild Basin Winds Christmas," should be in local stores within the next couple of weeks.

Wild Basin Winds was founded in 1996 by five musicians, all college professors, who had played together in various orchestras. Of the original five, three remain: Tom Hale; Daris Hale, bassoon; and Ian Davidson, oboe. They are now joined by Mat Krejci, flute; and Gary Sperl, clarinet.

Locally, the ensemble makes regular appearances in its "Tafelmusik" concert series (so called because wind ensembles were at one time frequently employed to provide background music — "table music" — for dining and/or wining). They have traveled extensively, performing a variety of concerts and teaching master classes. In 2000, they played a Buenos Aires premiere of UT composer Donald Grantham's "Wild Basin Music," and they made their Kennedy Center debut in 2003.

The upcoming concerts contain some gems of 20th-century literature for small ensemble: a sextet for violin, viola, cello, horn, clarinet and piano by Ernst von Dohnany; a duo for flute and oboe by Ginastera; a trio for cello, flute and piano by Bohuslav Martinu; and a septet for violin, viola, cello, clarinet, bassoon, horn and piano by Igor Stravinsky.

Augmenting the core members to perform these works are Beth Girko, violin; Steve Girko, clarinet (in for Sperl for these concerts); Douglas Harvey, cello; Melissa Marse, piano; and Bruce Williams, viola.

"It's a real treat for us to get together with some of Texas' finest musicians to perform these rarely heard chamber works," says Hale. "I think it'll be a treat for the audience as well."