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Texas Early Music Project

PO Box 301675

Austin, TX 78703

(512) 377-6961

For ticket and concert venue inquiries, email the Box Office

 

PO Box 301675
Austin, TX 78703
United States

(512) 377-6961

Founded in 1987 by Daniel Johnson, the Texas Early Music Project is dedicated to preserving and advancing the art of Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and early Classical music through performance, recordings, and educational outreach. 

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Explore more than 700 years of musical transformation

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I'll be thanking you-oo-oo-oo*

Danny Johnson

So, just so you know, we are thankful all year long: thankful that we have audience members, both long-term and newly-found, who come to our playful-yet-virtuosic concerts like the November production of Pimpinone. We are thankful for the chance to present beautiful/humorous/melancholic music like the ‘Complaints’ concert that we performed in Austin last spring and in college Station in late October. We are thankful for the adventurous amateur and semi-pro musicians who joined us at the Texas Toot workshop last summer and this last weekend led by professionals from around the nation.

We are thankful for donors like the Fifth Age of Man Foundation, which will be sponsoring the upcoming Christmas concert (see deets below!), and we are thankful for donors who help to keep us going on a daily basis with contributions from $10 to $10,000!

We hope you all have a lovely, peaceful, heart-warming, multilicious Thanksgiving, and we hope to see you all at our upcoming Early Christmas concerts. We will have our new Christmas cd ready for you, gathered from our 2016 and 2017 Early Christmas concerts. For now, enjoy these audio teasers from our earlier Christmas CDs: Gaudete, Noël, Swete was the Songe, and Stella splendens.

Breaking news! We have a NEW Christmas CD!

Photo credit: Kudos Kitchen by Renée

Photo credit: Kudos Kitchen by Renée

And now, I think I hear a pumpkin pie calling my name…
-Danny

*Curious about the title of this post? Here’s the reference: https://bit.ly/2Q8UvBi


An Early Christmas

Friday, December 7, 2018, at  7:30 pm
St. John's United Methodist, 2140 Allandale Road
Saturday, December 8, 2018, at 
 7:30 pm
First English Lutheran Church, 3001 Whitis Avenue
Sunday, December 9, 2018, 3:00 pm

First Presbyterian Church, 8001 Mesa Drive, Austin, TX

Admission $30 general; $25 seniors (60+); $5 students (at the door only)
Tickets available in advance online or by cash, check, or credit card at the door.

Take advantage of preferred seating and other perks by sponsoring a concert!

For more information, call 512-377-6961 and leave a message,
or email info@early-music.org.

Join Texas Early Music Project for its annual multilicious feast of Christmas music through the ages. With sweet medieval lullabies and joyous English and French carols, magnificent motets from Germany, dulcet Celtic cradle-songs and exuberant folk-tunes, and more, we celebrate this season of expectation and rebirth, along with different cultures encompassing more than 700 years of humanity's hope, love, and joy.  TEMP puts its distinctive stamp on the intangible essence and passion of Christmas with arrangements for solo voices, small chorus, harps, violin, flute, mandolin, viols, and lute.

Brett Barnes, Cayla CardiffJeffrey Jones-RagonaDavid LopezJenny Houghton, and Jenifer Thyssen are featured soloists, and acclaimed harpists Therese Honey and Elaine Barber are featured as special guests.

Join us for a splended and enriching program. With more than 700 years of creativity and beauty, this music is sure to delight your ears and warm your heart.

And you can use our new word: multilicous!

Click on the image above to buy tickets now!

Click on the image above to buy tickets now!

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Éirinn Go Brách, Y'all!

Danny Johnson

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  Check out the pretty unusual Irish selections on our Celtic Trinity and Celtic Knot CDs! And of course, after St Patrick's Day, you can listen to the Scottish and Breton music as well, completely guiltlessly!

Most TEMP CDs are $21 USD and include free shipping within the U.S. Shipping charges will apply to international orders.

Have a wee listen to a couple of audio samples below. Click on the  CD images to hear more and to purchase CDs!

 

May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light.
May good luck pursue you each morning and night!
Danny

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Today is the first day...

Danny Johnson

 
 

of TEMP's "Year of Christmas," in which we we have a different blog post daily about some aspect of Christmas/music/life through December 25, 2017. Yes, a whole year of musical jokes and little-known-facts along with suitable graphics and musical links. Hold on, my phone is ringing. In the meantime, try to come up with suitable lyrics for the 316th day of Christmas—I'm kind of stuck on that one . . .

Hmmm—according to our webscribe and also our graphics guy, there will, in fact, "not" be a year of Christmas with a daily blog/graphics/jokes/links! And they ’splained it to me real well why, in fact, there will not be a year of Christmas with a daily blog/graphics jokes/links.

So, maybe the best thing is just for us all to treat the rest of the year like we do the Christmas season: Be kind and thoughtful and helpful and loving. And go to lots of TEMP concerts! 

 

 

On the 388th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me . . . 

-Danny

 
 

An Early Christmas

Friday, December 9, 2016 at 8PM
First English Lutheran Church, 3001 Whitis Avenue

Saturday December 10, 2016 at 8PM
First English Lutheran Church, 3001 Whitis Avenue

Sunday, December 11, 2016 at 3PM
First Presbyterian Church, 8001 Mesa Drive

Admission $30 general; $25 seniors (60+); $5 students (at the door only)
Tickets available in advance online or by cash, check, or credit card at the door.

For more information, call 512-377-6961 and leave a message,
or email
info@early-music.org.

It’s time for another Early Christmas! We explore music and the intangible essence of Christmas from the cultural capitals of Europe from the 13th through 18th centuries. TEMP puts its unique stamp on joyful carols and lullabies from Western Europe and the British Isles, with arrangements for solo voices, small chorus, harp, violin, flute, mandolin, viols, and lute.

The familiar theme of the Nativity from the shepherds’ perspective figures prominently in most early music Christmas repertoire, as does the motif of Mother and Child. We present several works with this focus, including our original arrangement of two Nativity pastorals from 1684 by Marc-Antoine Charpentier and the choral masterpiece for 8 parts, Nesciens mater, by French composer Jean Mouton.

There are lively works from Spain, thoughtful, pensive works from France, and of course, a little taste of Celtic and English influences! Our popular versions of the Carol for St. Stephen’s Day and Gaudete! are featured this year, as well as other Celtic favorites.

Nationally acclaimed historical harpist Therese Honey joins TEMP's troupe of soloists, choir and chamber orchestra.

Enjoy this audio teaser from our CD Noël: An Early Christmas:

Enjoy more audio samples from our other Christmas CDs: Stella splendens and Swete was the Songe.

Join Texas Early Music Project for a splendid and enriching evening of music. Encompassing six hundred years of festive creativity and beauty, this music is sure to delight your ears and warm your heart.

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Summertime, and the livin' is . . .

Danny Johnson

. . . busy!!!

And way too early we've come to the end of our 2015-2016 season: the Eurotour was a whole lot of work and a whole lot of fun. The music of Iberia, England, the Lowlands, France, and Christmas produced a lot of memorable musical moments. We hope you enjoyed it and are eager to join us for the next season and music from Germany, the Middle East, Italy, and ... Christmas! Season subscriptions are already on sale and there's at least 6 reasons to join us as a subscriber! Get your season subscriptions now! Single tickets are also available online!

Meanwhile, we will be busy with the Texas Toot workshop at Concordia University (June 12-18, with faculty concerts June 14 & June 17), TEMP's tour to San Angelo and environs to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Mount Carmel Hermitage (we're performing a shorter version of last October's Medieval Pilgrimage concert), and the annual trek to New England for the Amherst Early Music Workshop for almost all of July. 

Speaking of the Medieval Pilgrimage concert, it was nominated as one of the top 5 chamber concerts for the season by the Austin Critics' Table. Also, TEMP was nominated as one of the top ensembles, and we're in good company with La Follia Austin Baroque, ensemble viii, Conspirare, and Line Upon Line Percussion Ensemble! The awards are in a couple of weeks, so we'll keep you informed!

 

We hope to see you in September (Labor Day weekend) at our Pathways to Bach concert. Below are some audio teasers of what you can expect to hear. These pieces and more are on our Pathways to Bach CD.

 

 

Have a good summer and say hi if we run into each other at the air-conditioned movies, the air-conditioned grocery store, or the air-conditioned air conditioner store! 

-Danny

For more information, call 512-377-6961 and leave a message, or email info@early-music.org.

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Pardon me, boy, is this the Santiago de Compostela Station?

Danny Johnson

Santiago de Compostela Train Station; photo by David Esteban

Santiago de Compostela Train Station; photo by David Esteban

Greetings, and many thanks to all who attended our emotion-filled season opener concert, Convivencia Re-Envisioned. The turn-out and the response were both very fulfilling and gratifying. And the response at our little mini-concert at UT was very positive, too; so, again, thanks to the departments who banded together in convivencia to present us.

And—already—we are putting the final touches on the next concert, Medieval Pilgrimage in Iberia, which is just around the bend. As that of our Convivencia concert, the music is still Iberian, but in many different Medieval styles. We, ourselves, will be on a sort of pilgrimage as our Saturday night concert is at a venue that’s new to us! St. John's Episcopal Church is intimate and has lovely acoustics! We think you’ll like it! And then we’re “home” again for the Sunday concert, at First Presbyterian Church. Whether in the new surroundings or in one of our home venues, we think you’ll enjoy this part of our EuroTour!

Learn more about our program below and enjoy the audio teasers!

-Danny

 
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Medieval Pilgrimage in Iberia

 with special guests Mary Springfels (vielle) and Peter Maund (percussion)

8pm, Saturday, October 10, 2015
St. John's Episcopal Church, 11201 Parkfield Drive

3pm, Sunday, October 11, 2015
First Presbyterian Church, 8001 Mesa Drive

Admission $30 general; $25 seniors (60+); $5 students (at the door only)
Tickets available  in advance online or by cash, check, or credit card at the door.

Take advantage of preferred seating
by purchasing
Season Tickets through Oct. 11!

For more information, call (512) 377-6961.

A company of eleven female singers explores the music of pilgrimage in Medieval Spain. This music celebrates the richly transparent timbre of treble voices in unison or in polyphonic settings, making the most of sweet consonances and pungent dissonances. Special guests Mary Springfels (vielle) and Peter Maund (percussion) join the ensemble and the TEMP Medieval orchestra of vielles, harps, and gittern. Featured soloists include Jenifer Thyssen, Stephanie Prewitt, Cayla Cardiff, Nina Revering, Erin Calata, and more!

Map showing the pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela.

There was never a more popular time for religious pilgrimage than during the Middle Ages. In those times, people made long and dangerous trips, lasting months or years, in a search for spiritual meaning or fulfillment or as an act of penance. Several of the most important sites of pilgrimage during the Middle Ages were located in what is now northern Spain. 

Llibre Vermell: Stella splendens

The Llibre Vermell (it was discovered in a red binding, and therefore is called the Red Book) comes from the monastery at Montserrat in Catalonia. Some of the music is sophisticated, but some of it was intended to be sung by the pilgrims themselves and included chants, rounds, folk songs, circle dances, and polyphony. We will also perform music from the Cistercian convent in Burgos (Las Huelgas Codex), Las cantigas de Santa Maria from the royal court of Alfonso X, and selections from Codex Calixtinus, from the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela in Galicia.

Enjoy these two Llibre Vermell audio teasers from our related CDs: Stella splendens and Sacred.

Whether you are focusing on the music with closed eyes or
silently clapping your hands and tapping your feet,
the long-lasting beauty of our Medieval Pilgrimage will delight you.

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I See Green People!

Danny Johnson

st.-patrick-day-in-ireland.jpg

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  Check out the pretty unusual Irish selections on our Celtic Trinity and Celtic Knot CDs! And of course, after St Patrick's Day, you can listen to the Scottish and Breton music as well, completely guiltlessly!

All TEMP CDs are $20 USD and include free shipping within the U.S. Shipping charges will apply to international orders.

Have a wee listen to a couple of audio samples below. Click on the  CD images to hear more and to purchase CDs!

 

May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light.
May good luck pursue you each morning and night!

Danny

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