The Moores School of Music is privileged to bring amazing performances to the Houston community to help celebrate Veterans’ Day this year. The Moores Music in the City program will exhibit the talents of both students and alumni and will extend from the University’s own performance halls to interesting venues throughout the city.  

Moores Alum, Jonathan Scofield, helped to create Moores Music in the City.  He earned a master’s degree in music with a concentration in piano performance in May 2019. As a student member of the College Advisory Council, he approached Dr. Courtney Crappell, Director of the Moores School of Music, about the possibility of expanding exposure beyond campus performance spaces to give students the opportunity to be more present in the Houston community. The idea was to expand outside of the University campus and connect with a different audience. With Dr. Crappell’s approval, Jonathan began the outreach initiative and secured a collaboration with the Rienzi Museum.  Rienzi’s Stephanie Niemeyer and Ryan Hernandez, “were really great, giving us anything we needed and keeping on top of this project,” Scofield said.  The focus of the project is the World War I epoch featuring poetry and music written by veterans at the time, as well as original music by Moores student, J.E. Hernandez.   

The concert’s repertoire will combine music, photographs, and poetry from WWI.  The music will be pared with footage from WWI as well as poetry written by WWI veteran, John McRae.  McRae’s 1915 poem, “In Flanders Fields,” is the inspiration behind the concert’s name.  Joseph Maurice Ravel’s piano composition, Piano Trio and Prelude from "Le Tombeau de Couperin", will also be performed by Moores music students. Ravel’s solo, which he wrote between 1914 and 1917, is dedicated to a deceased fellow World War I soldier. Ravel’s music will be integrated with J. E. Hernandez’s piece titled, “SHEER.”   

Moores Music in the City wants to offer a program that connects the past with the present demonstrating the Moores School of Music’s ability to move music innovation forward and grow future artists to serve audiences in a meaningfully creative way.  J. E. Hernandez earned a Bachelor of Music degree with a specialization in composition. Hernandez shared that “SHEER” will give a contemporary perspective to classical music that is sure to please our listeners. 

Moores Music in the City will soon delight audiences around the city via this virtual concert taking place at Rienzi, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. This one time only performance will be streamed for Veterans’ Day, November 11th, and Is accessible via the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston calendar link.