Classical Music Institute’s 2018-19 season theme, “Year of the Woman”, was the center of a recent Rivard Report article.

You can read the full article here.

The Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio (COSA) announces and continues its innovative programming for the 2016/2017 season. The season’s three concerts will all take place at the Carlos Alvarez Studio Theater at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

20th Century Icons will be performed on October 15, 2016 at 7:30 p.m. to commemorate the 100th birthday celebration of Argentinian composer, Alberto Ginastera. The program will feature contemporaneous composers and works such as Aaron Copland’s Two Pieces for Chamber Orchestra, Rudolf Barshai’s arrangement of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony Op. 110, the Ginastera Concerto for Strings, and a piece for the San Antonio Chamber Choir: Ginastera’s “The Lamentations of Jeremiah”. José Luis Gomez, newly named Music Director of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, will make his COSA debut as conductor.

Realizations: Tristan und Isolde (2017) will be a co-production between COSA and AtticRep to present Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde as an arranged work by Jean-Pierre Arnaud for chamber orchestra, soprano, and narrator. Under stage direction by AtticRep’s Roberto Prestigiacomo, the timeless medieval love story will be performed on February 17-18 at 8:00 p.m. and on February 19 at 2:00 p.m. Gemma New will conduct in her second appearance with COSA, Jenna Black will perform as soprano, and Stefano di Buduo will direct an integrative multimedia presentation.

Myths Abound (2017) will be performed on May 12-13 at 7:30 p.m. introducing its first concerto for piano and orchestra in a concert. Acclaimed Beethoven interpreter, winner of 1987 Naumburg International Piano Competition, and an admired professor, Anton Nel will perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.4 (influenced by the myth Orpheus and Eurydice). The program will also include the rarely performed “Dance of the Furies” and Chaconne from Christoph Wilibald Gluck’s opera Orphée et Eurydice, as well as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 “Jupiter”. Gemma New will return as conductor.

Tickets go on sale May 19th, 2016, through the Tobin Center’s Box Office (tobincenter.org) or through this link.

Check back soon for our 2016/17 Season Announcement.

The Forbidden Composers, the first new perennial series, will feature music by oppressed composers of various eras. COSA will inaugurate this series in its fall 2015 concert of the same name on October 3, 2015, to recognize works by Jewish composers who were banned by the Nazi regime. These will include Hanns Eisler’s Suite for Orchestra No. 4 arranged by Steffen Schleiermacher; Erwin Schulhoff’s Suite for Chamber Orchestra; and Alexander Zemlinsky’s Chamber Symphony arranged by Richard Dünser. Gemma New, New Zealand native and New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’s Associate Conductor, will guest conduct in her first appearance with COSA.

Gemma New, Guest Conductor

For more information, click here.

The ‘Unsung’ Octet will be performed on January 23, 2016, to kick off a new series. While COSA’s mission and all of its programming is to present unsung works and composers, this particular series, Unsung, focuses on unsung works for small chamber orchestra. Works will include octets by Joachim Raff and Georges Enescu.

For more information, click here.

In A Minimal (Re)Composition, COSA will perform Philip Glass’ Symphony No. 3 and Max Richter’s recomposition of Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. COSA’s Concertmaster, Francisco Fullana, will be the soloist, and Carlos Izcaray, now Music Director of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, will make his third appearance conducting COSA. This program will start a new series, Realizations, to recognize the composer’s craft of integrating musical material into new forms.

Carlos Izcaray, Guest Conductor
Francisco Fullana, Violin

For more information, click here.

The Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio announces the programming for its 2015/2016 season.  The season’s three concerts will all take place at the Carlos Alvarez Studio Theater at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, and each will inaugurate a new series of innovative programming.

The Forbidden Composers, the first new perennial series, will feature music by oppressed composers of various eras.  COSA will inaugurate this series in its fall 2015 concert of the same name on October 3, 2015, to recognize works by Jewish composers who were banned by the Nazi regime. These will include Hans Krasa’s Overture for Small Orchestra; Erwin Schulhoff’s Suite for Chamber Orchestra; and Alexander Zemlinsky’s Chamber Symphony arranged by Richard Dünser.  Gemma New, New Zealand native and New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’s Associate Conductor, will guest conduct in her first appearance with COSA.

The ‘Unsung’ Octet will be performed on January 23, 2016, to kick off another new series.  While COSA’s mission and all of its programming is to present unsung works and composers, this particular series, Unsung, focuses on unsung works for small chamber orchestra.  Works will include octets by Joachim Raff and Georges Enescu.

In A Minimal (Re)Composition, COSA will perform on May 21, 2016, Philip Glass’ Symphony No. 3 and Max Richter’s recomposition of Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.  COSA’s Concertmaster, Francisco Fullana, will be the soloist, and Carlos Izcaray, now Music Director of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, will make his third appearance conducting COSA.  This program will start a new series, Realizations, to recognize the composer’s craft of integrating musical material into new forms.

Tickets go on sale May 4, 2015, through the Tobin Center’s Box Office (tobincenter.org) or through a link on COSA’s website (ChamberOrchestraSA.org).

Raul GomezRaúl Gómez will guest conduct COSA’s April 25 concert which will include music by Richard Stöhr and Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari.

Dr. Raúl Gómez currently serves as Music Director of Compleat Stage (compleatstage.org) and Head of Music Programs for YOA Orchestra of the Americas (yoa.org). He completed graduate studies at LSU in 2012 and attended the Aspen Music Festival as a member of the American Academy of Conducting Class of 2011. Recent conducting highlights include regular guest appearances with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as engagements in Mexico, Brazil and Costa Rica. Raúl’s TED talk “El Concierto Inolvidable” was an audience favorite in TEDxPuraVida 2014 and can be found online. Raúl’s compositions have been featured in stage productions by Swine Palace and Compleat Stage.

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Texas A&M University-San Antonio will mark the grand opening of the new auditorium by hosting the Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio (COSA) on Friday, September 5, 2014. Directed by guest conductor Carlos Izcaray, the concert begins at 7:30 p.m. and will present music from and about the Iberian Peninsula: Joaquin Turina’s La Oracion del Torero (The Prayer of the Bullfighter) and Rodion Shchedrin’s Carmen-Suite.

“This is such a wonderful opportunity for our students, faculty and staff and the greater San Antonio community,” said Dr. Maria Hernandez Ferrier, president of Texas A&M University-San Antonio. “We could not be happier to welcome the Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio to perform in our beautiful new auditorium.”

Along with two other buildings, the Central Academic Building and the Patriots’ Casa, Texas A&M-San Antonio opened the doors to the 420-seat auditorium for the fall 2014 semester. All three buildings are designed to create a distinct sense of place that embraces the scale and character of the San Antonio region and celebrate the city’s rich history by taking inspiration from the iconic mission architecture.

All tickets for the performance have been reserved and every seat has been filled, however the Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio will be having an open rehearsal on Thursday, September 4 from 3-4:30 p.m. in the A&M-San Antonio auditorium. COSA will also be performing at the Carlos Alvarez Studio Theater on Saturday, September 6.

The Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio (COSA) has announced the launch of its Millennial Committee. Designed to spur interest in the increasingly vital Generation Y audiences, the Millennial Committee will be tasked with meeting monthly to develop ideas that will encourage young audiences – 30 and under – to participate, purchase tickets, and donate to performing arts organizations such as COSA.

Since its inception in 2010, COSA has recognized the importance of attracting a younger demographic, and it is embracing innovative ways of making the arts more accessible and appealing to this community.

Millennial Committee chair, Natalia Martinez, expressed her vision for this millennial committee.

“This committee provides the opportunity for a diverse group of individuals with a common interest in the arts to foster ideas,” Martinez said. “COSA’s approach is intended to empower up-and-coming leaders by engaging them in our efforts to impact millennials, as well as future generations, in intellectually, and culturally enhancing activities.”

The Millennial Committee will turn its immediate attention to COSA’s 2014 Fall Concert, An Iberian Epic, which will be the first-ever performance in the Carlos Alvarez Studio Theater at the new Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

 

Read more: http://blogs.sacurrent.com/sasound/cosa-announces-millennial-committee/

The Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio announces the programming for its 2014/2015 season.  The Special Spring 2014 concert will take place at Gallery Nord, while the Fall 2014 and Spring 2015 concerts will take place at the Carlos Alvarez Studio Theater at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts.

For art integrationists, on May 31, 2014, at 7:30 pm at Gallery Nord, COSA and AtticRep, both Tobin resident companies, will perform a radio play by Ron Moore.  Elizaveta, in the present celebrates the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and in the past explores the tangled lives of artists, everyday persons, and the government in communist Russia.  Both eras delve into heightened relations among individuals and the strains in the creation of musical and literary art.  COSA will perform works during and bookending the play by Wagner, Rachmaninoff, Schumann, Prokofiev, Webern, Shostakovich, and Debussy.

As part of the opening gala week for the Tobin Center, COSA will perform on September 6, 2014.  An Iberian Epic presents music from and about the Iberian peninsula:  Joaquin Turina’s La Oracion del Torero (The Prayer of the Bullfighter); Joly Braga Santos’ Concerto for Strings; and Rodion Shchedrin’s Carmen-Suite.  Carlos Izcaray, the conductor of COSA’s Inaugural Concert in 2012, returns from Berlin to conduct, and Francisco Fullana of Spain and the concertmaster for COSA’s Fall 2014 Concert, also returns.

On May 16, 2015, The Chamber Symphony concert will highlight the dual nature of the chamber orchestra as a chamber ensemble and the smaller symphonic form.  COSA will perform works that include Contrapunctus XIV from Samuel Baron’s transcription of J.S. Bach’s The Art of the Fugue and Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari’s Chamber Symphony.

Tickets go on sale May 1, 2014 through the Tobin Center’s Box Office (tobincenter.org) or through a link on COSA’s website (ChamberOrchestraSA.org).

Elizaveta_wordingCOSA and AtticRep will perform Ron Moore’s radio play, Elizaveta, which celebrates in the present the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and explores in the past the tangled lives of artists, everyday persons, and the government in communist Russia.

COSA will perform these works during and bookending the play: Wagner/Favre’s Tristan und Isolde Prelude (for piano quartet); Rachmaninoff’s Etude-tableaux Op. 33, No.6; Schumann’s Carnaval—12. Chopin in A-flat; Prokofiev’s Toccata; Webern’s Langsamer Satz; Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 8—Movements 2 & 4; and Debussy’s Le Plus que Lente.

Learn More

Mario Ochoa of the Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio pitched his idea of creating a fine arts bar for San Antonio. Like a sports bar – but a watering hole for local patrons of the arts that will promote, cross pollinate and build excitement about local performances, galleries and art events.

COSA's 3DS team: Natalia Martinez, Lori Skinner, Mario Ochoa, Paul Montalvo, and Robert Ehlers

COSA’s 3DS team: Natalia Martinez, Lori Skinner, Mario Ochoa, Paul Montalvo, and Robert Ehlers

“The big pitch was a fine arts bar called Muse that would integrate all the fine arts into one space,” Ochoa said. “We’ll serve drinks. We’ll serve food. We’ll serve coffee. We’ll have flat screen TV’s not playing sports but playing fine arts from around the world. We’ll also have a stage that all the institutions in San Antonio can use to hold intimate performances.”

Read the full story on the Texas Public Radio website:

San Antonio Arts Groups Develop “Big Ideas” At Geekdom Workshop

http://tpr.org/post/san-antonio-arts-groups-develop-big-ideas-geekdom-workshop

The Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio was recently featured as one of the seven local performing arts organization to participate an event, known as 3DS Performing Arts, which ran Feb. 21-23 at Geekdom. 3DS Performing Arts is modeled after 3 Day Startup, a national program that involves bringing together college students with the goal of launching student-run companies. Through 3DS Performing Arts, the performing arts organizations learned how to better market themselves and increase revenues by using some of the same tools available to entrepreneurs.

Read the entire article here:
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/news/2014/02/18/business-management-boot-camp-launched-for.html?page=all

chisholm2COSA performed on November 22, 2013 for the Chisholm Trail Heritage Museum’s (CTHM) grand opening weekend, featuring a performance of Aaron Copland’s beloved Appalachian Spring Suite. Joseph A. Gonzalez conducted the orchestra in the original 13-piece arrangement of this iconic piece.

As part of a unique cultural exchange between the CTHM and the Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio, Copland’s inspirational work was presented in celebration of the museum’s grand opening on November 23. Robert Oliver, our 2012 inaugural concert underwriter, serves as board chair of the CTHM.

Members of the museum received an exclusive invitation to join us for this special concert performance and festive gathering. For more information on this event and how to become a member of the CTHM please visit http://www.chisholmtrailmuseum.org

 

Benjamin BrittenJoin us on November 7th as we celebrate Benjamin Britten’s birthday centennial.  From works by the composers who influenced Britten–including Henry Purcell, Franz Schubert, and Gustav Mahler–to Britten’s own Simple Symphony, enjoy an evening of music and song at one of our community’s most important cultural gathering spaces, the San Antonio Museum of Art.  For more information, please visit the event page by clicking here.