ROCO’s 17th season Albert & Margaret Alkek Foundation In Concert Series closed on April 23 with “Tying Up Loose Ends”, live at The Church of St. John the Divine. Conducted by Rei Hotoda in her ROCO debut, the program centered around the world premiere of “Plumes” for large chamber orchestra by Composer-In-Residence Derek Bermel based…
ROCO Unchambered: Spinning Tales
ROCO’s Season 17 Unchambered series wrapped up April 2 with “Spinning Tales”, highlighting the percussion family, live from MATCH and also livestreamed at ROCO.org, Facebook, YouTube, and A440.live. Featuring and curated by ROCO percussionists Matthew McClung, Christina Carroll, and Craig Hauschildt, the program presented music by composers such as Quinn Mason, Thomas Rex Beverly, Christopher…
ROCO Connections: A Dust in Time
ROCO’s Connections series continued on November 19, 2021, presenting Huang Ruo’s A Dust in Time: Passacaglia for Strings at Asia Society Texas Center, and also livestreamed at ROCO.org, Facebook, and YouTube. Structured similarly to a Tibetan sand mandala, the 60-minute uninterrupted musical meditation is slowly created live from the central essence point, expanding outward into…
ROCO Unchambered: Morsels
ROCO’s Unchambered series featured a musical tasting menu of string quartets, curated by ROCO concertmaster Scott St John, in “Morsels”, from November 2, 2019. Joined by ROCO violinist Min-Jeong Koh, co-principal violist Matthew Dane, and principal cellist Richard Belcher, Scott took the audience through a program telling his own coming-of-age story as a musician, with…
ROCO Connections: Journey to America
ROCO’s Connections series continued March 11 with “Journey to America”, livestreamed in partnership with Holocaust Museum Houston, and opening with Tim Hinck’s “Fanfare for Rosa”—a 2018 work commissioned by the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera, written based on interviews the composer conducted with migrant children, recalling their experiences of entering the United States from South and…
ROCO In Concert: Flamenco
ROCO’s 16th season concluded with flair on April 24, 2021 in “Flamenco”, featuring the world premiere of “The History of Red”, a co-commission by Reena Esmail based on a text by Chickasaw poet Linda Hogan, with soprano Kathryn Mueller as soloist, led by conductor Brett Mitchell. The program also included the world premiere of Quinn…
ROCO In Concert: Shadows
ROCO’s Season 16 In Concert series continued with “Shadows”, exploring the musical interplay of light and dark. The program was built around a commission by Alyssa Morris, Tlapalli Tlahuilli—inspired by an Aztec myth detailing how the world received its sound and color—featuring ROCO’s principal winds as soloists, preceded by narration of the book “Musicians of…
ROCO Connections: We Were the Music
ROCO was honored to partner with the Holocaust Museum Houston marking the recent reopening of their expanded new building, for “We Were the Music” – a chamber concert featuring the world premieres of two ROCO commissions by Bruce Adolphe, part of his season triptych in tribute to women musicians of the Holocaust. Dedicated to Holocaust…
ROCO Connections: Celebration of Margaret Bonds
ROCO’s Season 16 Connections series continued via livestream in February, with an intimate concert featuring the music of Margaret Bonds—one of the most prolific Black composers of the 1900s—plus works by composers who influenced or were influenced by her, including Florence Price, Ned Rorem, and Robert Owens. A rare, previously unknown recording of Margaret Bonds…
ROCO Unchambered: Kaleidoscope
“Konza Parable”, a ROCO commission, is inspired by the Konza Prairie’s lifecycle of burning and rebirth. ROCO’s 16th season continued with “Kaleidoscope,” the second performance of ROCO’s musician-curated Unchambered series—streamed live in partnership with and from The Alta Arts, an organization celebrating cultural arts and architecture in southwest Houston. Featuring ROCO’s principal winds, the nature-inspired…
ROCO Unchambered: Love Notes
ROCO’s Season 16 Unchambered series opened with “Love Notes,” a nature-inspired program of beauty, respite, and reflection, featuring flutist Rebecca Powell Garfield, oboist Spring Hill, and harpist Laurie Meister, broadcast from the galleries of Nancy Littlejohn Fine Art. Featured artwork is by artist Christina Nicodema, from the exhibit “Mayfly”. Opening the concert was the world…
ROCO In Concert: Oceans
ROCO’s livestreamed In Concert series continued Saturday, November 14, 2020 from The Church of St. John the Divine with “Oceans”, a nature-inspired program featuring the orchestra—conductorless! Celebrating Beethoven’s 250th birthday, the concert featured the U.S. premiere of composer Anna Clyne’s newest work, STRIDE, for string orchestra—a ROCO co-commission, with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Chamber…
