Conspirare and founding artistic director Craig Hella Johnson are pleased to announce the event calendar for the 2014-2015 season. Conspirare believes music connects people in a way that nothing else can, and they will host events throughout the year to bring music aficionados together.

The September opener kicks off the season with The Poet Sings, including works set to poetry of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. The hugely popular Conspirare Christmas hosts charismatic singer-songwriter Ruthie Foster, and in April Conspirare will partner with Texas Performing Arts and Austin Classical Guitar in a major collaboration to premiere How Little You Are. In May, Conspirare premieres another commissioned work, This Delicate Universe by Eric Banks, for a cappella choir.

Conspirare will welcome summer 2015 with a June crowd-pleasing program of Great Choruses from oratorio, opera, and Broadway. Conspirare Youth Choirs, directed by Nina Revering, will again amaze audiences with their artistry as they perform Christmas music in December and a spring program in May. Conspirare’s popular Big Sing occurs three times throughout the season, including a program at the Blanton Museum of Art, a holiday sing, and a spring sing.

Complete details and ticketing information are in Conspirare’s 2014-2015 brochure, to be mailed in mid-August, and online at Conspirare.org after August 1. Subscription and single ticket sales open approximately August 15.

The 2014-2015 Season

The Poet Sings

September 18-19, 2014, 8:00 pm

Bates Recital Hall, University of Texas at Austin

(Performance/s outside Austin to be announced)

Conspirare performs works set to poetry of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. The program includes Ode to Common Things (1995) by Cary Ratcliff, premiering a new version by the composer for four-hand piano, harp, and percussion, and La Cancion desesperada (2005) by Austin composer Donald Grantham, originally written for Conspirare and newly revised for this concert. Two short commissioned works by other composers, not yet confirmed, will also be premiered. The program will also be performed in Goshen, IN, where it will be recorded for release on Harmonia Mundi.

Conspirare Christmas

December 7, 2014, 2:30p and 8:00p

The Carillon on Exposition, Austin

December 8, 2014, 8:00p

Dell Hall, Long Center for the Performing Arts, Austin

(Performance/s outside Austin to be announced)

Conspirare’s signature holiday concert, featuring Craig Hella Johnson’s renowned collage-style programming that weaves diverse styles of music into a seamless whole. The 2014 featured artist is Austin-based blues and gospel singer-songwriter Ruthie Foster, returning after a hugely popular Conspirare Christmas appearance in 2013.

How Little You Are

April 18, 2015, 8:00p

Bass Concert Hall, University of Texas at Austin One performance only

Conspirare partners with Texas Performing Arts and Austin Classical Guitar in a major collaboration to premiere How Little You Are, a commissioned work for choir and three guitar quartets, based on cowboy poetry texts, by celebrated young American composer Nico Muhly. Performers are Conspirare, Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, Dublin Guitar Quartet, and Texas Guitar Quartet.

Conspirare Youth Choirs and Austin Classical Guitar Youth Orchestra will also appear in the concert, which will include other contemporary works to be selected.

This Delicate Universe

May 9, 2015, 8:00p

May 10, 2015, 4:00p

St. Martin’s Lutheran Church, Austin

(Concert/s outside Austin to be announced)

Conspirare premieres another commissioned work, This Delicate Universe by Eric Banks, for a cappella choir. Based on texts from Greek-Egyptian poet Constantine Cavafy and sung in both Greek and English, the 30-minute work employs the musical vocabulary of maqqam – the Arabic scalar system known for ornaments and microtonal variation. The program will be rounded out by other contemporary works to be announced.

Great Choruses

June 7, 2015, 4:00p

Dell Hall, Long Center for the Performing Arts, Austin

(Also June 6 in Victoria)

Conspirare Symphonic Choir collaborates with the Victoria Bach Festival Chorus and Orchestra to perform a crowd-pleasing program of great choruses from oratorio, opera, and Broadway. The program will also include the premiere of a short commissioned work by Donald Grantham.

Conspirare Youth Choirs

Holiday concert

December 12-13, 2014, 7:30p, St. Martin’s Lutheran Church, Austin

Spring concert

May 1-2, 2015, 7:30p, St. Martin’s Lutheran Church, Austin

Big Sing – where the audience is the choir

October 16, 2014 (time TBA), at the Blanton Museum of Art in conjunction with its exhibit “Brain

Trash”

December 18, 2014, 6:00p, Holiday Big Sing at St. Martin’s Lutheran Church

March 2015 (date, time, & venue TBA)