Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts

Moores Chamber Music Downtown II- AURA: Winds of Change

Saturday, November 18, 2023

7:30 pm - 9:30 pm

Featuring AURA Contemporary from Moores School of Music.

In their program “Winds of Change” AURA performs music that explores moments and provocateurs of transformation. Michael Lanci’s song cycle, “Songs for Joe Hill”, presents texts by 19th century authors who wrote about labor, social, and political rights, while Pascal Le Boeuf’s “Media Control” is inspired by the work of author Noam Chomsky and seeks to represent mass media’s role as a primary source of propaganda. Austin composer Donald Grantham’s colorful and inventive “Slobberin’ Goblins” takes its subject to be the grotesque, shapeshifting creatures of folklore. The 100th anniversary of György Ligeti’s birth is celebrated via performances of his “Trio for Violin, Horn and Piano”, the first work of his third style period, and his infamous and rarely performed “Poeme Symphonique” for 100 mechanical metronomes, which gradually morphs from a cacophony of pulses to the clicking of one solitary metronome in just 15 minutes.

The Moores Chamber Music Downtown Series is a partnership of the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music and Christ Church Cathedral. Established with four recitals in the 2021-2022 season, each concert features performances by faculty members of the Moores School of Music.  These concerts are performed in Sanders Hall, a perfect space for intimate chamber music. Over the previous two seasons, audiences have enjoyed repertoire spanning the centuries with varied groups: piano trios and quartets, song cycles, and instrumental sonatas that have incorporated string, winds, brass, keyboard, fortepiano, and vocal performers.