Video Library Tag: Unchambered

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 featured works ranging from the Baroque up to the brand-new. Pieces by Mozart, Dvořák, Hindemith, Webern, Busch, and a world premiere commission by composer Robert Maggio, displayed the evolution of the string quartet.

A world premiere ROCO commission, the title "thirty-two summers" refers back to when composer Robert Maggio and Scott St. John first worked on a piece together, when Scott was studying at Curtis in Philadelphia, and Robert was studying composition at the University of Pennsylvania. This began a long friendship of further collaboration, leading to this work.

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 premiere of a ROCO commission by Karim Al-Zand, "Dance Interlude for Two Oboes and English Horn", featuring Alecia Lawyer and Spring Hill, joined by Erin Tsai, oboe.

Recorded live at Nancy Littlejohn Fine Art, Houston, Texas, October 17, 2020

Videography by Blueprint Film Co.

As part of ROCO's Season 20 Unchambered Series, live from The Menil Collection’s Dan Flavin Installation at Richmond Hall, ROCO Principal Hornist Bernhard Scully and Principal Percussionist Matthew McClung deliver a thrilling performance of Mark Schultz‘s Dragons in the Sky, for horn, percussion, and electronic tape.

Mark Schultz's "Dragons in the Sky" takes its title and inspiration from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion. To begin, Matthew McClung shares an excerpt from Tolkien's work which is musically depicted in this piece, describing the “Great Battle” between the elves and Morgoth.

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 Deane, Keiko Abe, and more, taking the audience on a journey through a wide variety of percussive instruments.

Field recordist, nature sound library creator, sound designer, and composer Thomas Rex Beverly has supplied sound libraries for a variety of award-winning films and TV shows - explore his original works and recordings at: https://thomasrexbeverly.com/

ROCO’s principal flute, Brook Ferguson, featured as soloist and curator on “Force of Nature”, presented December 8, 2018, at MATCH (Midtown Arts and Theater Center Houston). Showcasing nature-themed music for flute, oboe, cello, and piano, the program included Michael Gandolfi’s Geppetto’s Workshop, and a new ROCO commission by Stephanie Ann Boyd – Sapien.

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 Thierry De Mey, Quinn Mason, Thomas Rex Beverly, Christopher Deane, Keiko Abe, and more, taking the audience on a journey through a wide variety of percussive instruments.