Power2Give Campaign Setup to Support Musiqa's New Music Commissions

CULTURE MAP
By Joel Luks

TEXAS---If you were to parse through their playbills you would find that the majority of oeuvres presented by classical music ensembles are of the past whereas thespian troupes prefer works of the present. Why is that? Musiqa Houston's co-founder and artistic director Anthony K. Brandt is aware that audiences attend classical concerts to hear music they've heard before. Whether that's a circumstance of listeners' exposure, of seeking a comfort-food type experiences or fear of not grasping what's happening on stage, Brandt uses that preconception to his advantage and shifts the paradigm to create a different type of artistic environment — for a different type of listener. Mused by two movements from Currier's Quartetset, Contemplative is Bohnstedt's contribution to this program. Complementing the musicale are Pierre Jalbert's piano quartet Secret Alchemy and a series of violin-piano preludes by Lera Auerbach. A crowdsourcing funding campaign has been set up through Power2give to underwrite the costs of the inaugural presentation. [link]