FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – ROCO (River Oaks Chamber Orchestra) continues its thirteenth season, themed “Cultivate Curiosity,” with a series of October concerts, including chamber music by female composers, a riff on Halloween that takes concertgoers on a musical tour of the historical buildings in the Houston Heritage society, and their moving, multi-disciplinary celebration of the Mexican Day of the Dead that incorporates music, art, language and literature.
These follow ROCO’s season-opening performances this past weekend, which included the world premiere of Emmy Award-winning composer Anthony DiLorenzo’s Anthem of Hope: Houston Strong. The fanfare was written as a tribute to the city’s resilience and humanity in the face of Hurricane Harvey’s devastation, and in an act of solidarity, it will be performed by more than 20 throughout the 2017-18 season, including Houston Grand Opera Orchestra at Wednesday’s Houston Strong concert.
Nik-NAK (Unchambered)
ROCO kicks off its Unchambered series with a program called Nik-NAK, beginning with a concert tour in France followed by a pair of performances October 8 at MATCH and October 10 the Cypress Creek Foundation for the Arts & Community Enrichment (FACE). The ROCO Wind Trio — Alecia Lawyer, oboe; Nathan Williams, clarinet; and Kristin Wolfe Jensen, bassoon — will perform works by female composers, including the world premiere of Nik-NAK, a work for wind trio commissioned from composer Alyssa Morris (and named after the musicians Nathan, Alecia and Kristin). Performances will be in the round, with the three musicians facing each other.
WHEN: Sunday, Oct 8 2017, 5:00pm
WHERE: Matchbox 1, Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston (MATCH), 3400 Main St., Houston, TX 77002
WHEN: Tuesday, Oct 10 2017, 3:00pm
WHERE: Cypress Creek FACE, 6823 Cypresswood Drive, Spring, TX 77379
TICKETS: http://rocohouston.org/tickets/
LINK 1: http://rocohouston.org/performances/roco-unchambered-nik-nak/
LINK 2: http://rocohouston.org/performances/roco-unchambered-nik-nak-2/
Musical Trick or Treat
ROCO’s innovative Connections series, featuring intimate, site-specific, collaborative and multi-disciplinary performances, opens on October 26 with their inaugural Musical Trick-or-Treat, where audiences will visit a series of historic buildings of Houston’s Heritage Society, stopping for a performance in each (with clarinet, cello, harp, and percussion).
WHEN: Thursday, Oct 26 2017, 6:00pm
WHERE: The Heritage Society, 1100 Bagby Street, Houston, TX
TICKETS: http://rocohouston.org/tickets/
LINK: http://rocohouston.org/performances/roco-connections-musical-trick-or-treat/
Musical & Literary Ofrenda
ROCO’s Connections series continues its annual celebration of the “Day of the Dead,” with a free Musical and Literary Ofrenda October 30 at the Lawndale Art Center, in partnership with Lawndale, Musiqa, Inprint and Houston Hispanic Forum.
The intimate event includes five original, three-minute musical “ofrendas” (offerings) by Houston composer Marcus Maroney, are woven amongst four original prose and poetry texts by Inprint authors. The performance takes place against a backdrop of “retablos” (paintings and illustrations representing the Day of the Dead), and is followed by refreshments and a beginner Spanish lesson.
WHEN: Monday, Oct 30 2017, 5:30pm
WHERE: Lawndale Art Center, 4912 Main St., Houston, TX 77002
TICKETS: http://rocohouston.org/tickets/
LINK: http://rocohouston.org/performances/roco-connections-musical-literary-ofrenda/
ABOUT ROCO
ROCO is a 40-piece professional chamber orchestra based in Houston, TX, with virtuosic musicians, conductors and composers from around the world who invite people into the ROCO experience through the language of music. ROCO presents unexpected classics, original compositions and delightful performances with the goal of increasing access for a multigenerational audience. In 12 seasons, ROCO has commissioned and world premiered 58 works with 9 more scheduled for Season 13 “Cultivate Curiosity!” and is regularly broadcast nationally on APM’s Performance Today.
Website: https://rocohouston.org
Public phone number: 713-665-2700
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rocohouston
Twitter: @rocohouston
