A game player has three responsibilities: Gobble up the dots. Travel through the maze. Avoid the ghosts…Although the arcade game, released in 1980, wasn’t the inspiration for Chicago-based composer James Stephenson when creating “Chase Sequence,” it’s certainly a fitting analogy, particularly when Houston’s River Oaks Chamber Orchestra will perform the piece Saturday in a concert that closes its “Unchambered” series in a season titled “Games People Play.”
River Oaks CO downsizes for ambitious program with Crumb, world premiere | Texas Classical Review
Houston’s River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, unlike many larger ensembles, gives its musicians the opportunity to play chamber music.
Visions Take Flight: ROCO Impresses with Debut Album of New Music | I Care If You Listen
Visions Take Flight is the remarkably assured debut album by the Houston-based River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (ROCO), released in November 2018 on Innova Recordings.
12 Days of Classical Music Makes Houston’s Holiday Season Very Merry | Houston Press
The weather outside is frightful, but inside Houston’s concert halls it’s quite delightful. ‘Tis the season for holiday music and our classical line-up caters to every taste.
The Art of Living | Modern Luxury
Houston’s art scene has always been as exceptional as the ever-evolving city itself. And this year, girls rule. Here’s a look at some of the remarkable women who are painting our town beautiful.
ROCO connecting people with games, and music | Houston Chronicle
River Oaks Chamber Orchestra’s founder and artistic director Alecia Lawyer wants to challenge you to a game — specifically, a round of 42.
Houston’s ROCO focuses on Works by Women | Arts+Culture Texas
Alecia Lawyer, the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra’s artistic director, introduced the idea discreetly last fall: She and two other musicians devoted a program on the group’s Unchambered series entirely to works by female composers. This season, Lawyer and ROCO are going big with the theme.
The inspiring songs of the ‘Nightingale’ at ROCO | Houston Chronicle
In Kevin Lau’s work, the smallest details are examined with microscopic precision. The Canadian pianist delicately shapes each musical phrase, each moment of harmonic color, while dedicating equal attention to establishing a cohesive sound that ties the piece into a whole.
River Oaks Chamber Orchestra serves up a wild and engaging musical feast | Texas Classical Review
A Houston punk rock legend front and center at a classical concert, a virtuoso concertmaster, a stellar bass-baritone singing nursery rhymes and tombstone epitaphs, and three world premieres. Throw in a couple of Dvořák’s Legends and the rarely heard Wood Notes by William Grant Still, and we have a strange brew of a program that surprised and engaged.
‘Love’ is unleashed in conductorless concert | Houston Chronicle
Like a ringmaster leads a circus, conductors direct classical music concerts, presenting various acts or compositions while serving as an intermediary between the audience and the performers.
But the show must go on, with or without, and River Oaks Chamber Orchestra is here to prove it’s possible to have a concert without a conductor, with the return of its annual conductorless concert this weekend at the Church of St. John the Divine.
The Hates’ Christian Kidd Honored in ROCO Commission Legendary Love | HoustonPress
Chicago-based composer Dan Visconti laughs at the idea that some might think that, because of his training and profession, he only listens to classical music. You know, when he’s not locked away in some ivory tower decked out in a white wig, quill pen scribbling away with frenzied genius.
This is the story of The Hates. And it’s a love story. | Houston Chronicle
The band’s most pronounced impression was made in Houston, but fans of ’70s punk reveled in the regional variety the form offered.
One such fan is Dan Visconti, a classical composer who recently composed “Legendary Love,” a piece of music inspired by Christian and The Hates that the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra will premiere later this month.
