We're excited to announce that we have been selected as a partner with PlayUSA, an initiative of Carnegie Hall, supporting our programs year-round! PlayUSA is investing more than $500,000 to support 22 total programs like ours from across the United States for the 2023-24 season. Thank you, PlayUSA!
Read more about it here: www.carnegiehall.org/Education/Programs/PlayUSA#partners
Read MoreWe are so excited for our dear colleague, Dr. Ciyadh Wells, for being named the new executive director of Castle of our Skins! Ciyadh will lead the Boston-based Black arts institution dedicated to fostering cultural curiosity and celebrating Black artistry through music into an exciting new era.
This is of course bittersweet for us at Austin Soundwaves since this marks the end of Ciyadh's role as our brilliant development manager, but we could not be happier nor prouder of this next step in her career. We’ve been so lucky to have Ciyadh as part of our team and Castle of Our Skins is luckier still. We’ll miss you, Ciyadh!
Read MoreWe're so thrilled and proud that Luis Bellorín, one of our amazing teaching artists, was selected for a prestigious MPower Artist Grant through the Sphinx Organization! The MPower Artist Grant enables Austin Unconducted, a conductorless orchestra co-founded by Luis, to expand its 2023-24 season and produce its first community concerts, increasing the ensemble’s ability to reach diverse audiences and its sustainability.
Congrats again, Luis!
Read MoreWhat's better than more than 300 beginning band and orchestra students at the Aisd Performing Arts Center? We had a chance to showcase the 6th-grade beginners from 11 AISD elementary schools on Monday in our 1st annual 6th-grade AISD Band and Orchestra Extravaganza! This all-day event featured workshops, rehearsals, and a performance for family and friends.
Thanks so much to the AISD Fine Arts department, the administration and teachers of Allison, Govalle, Houston, Langford, Lee, Ortega, Perez, Sanchez, Widén, and Zavala elementary schools, and the amazing 6th-grade music students who have worked so hard these past few months!
Read MoreLast week, Austin Soundwaves provided an after-school workshop for Eastside Early College High School band students preparing for their UIL performance. Our staff was joined by guest clinician Isaac Medina from Pflugerville ISD. The team provided instrument-specific sectionals and full band rehearsal to help with the final push to the performance. This workshop serves as an extension of our existing and ongoing partnership to support the band and orchestra at Eastside since our partnership began in 2020!
Read MoreMarch 12, 2023 marks 5 years since we tragically lost Draylen Mason, one of our long-time Austin Soundwaves students, to the Austin package bombings of 2018. We remember Draylen every year with a performance of the Nimrod movement from Edward Elgar's Enigma Variations.
Read MoreNow is your chance to help us expand our Private Lesson Program next year! All funds raised during Amplify Austin Day will help give free-to-the-student private lessons in our partner schools. Support our goal of raising $7,500 by 6pm on March 2nd!
Read MoreThe Long Center for the Performing Arts hosted acclaimed violinist Itzhak Perlman in a sold-out show last week. Our very own Cristal, one of our Dr. Teresa Lozano Long Fellows, performed in a pre-concert performance and reception. Cristal has begun training for her Suzuki Certification. Once completed, she will have obtained credentials as a certified Strings Teacher. She has taken on several private lesson students through the String Project at the Texas State chapter, which will help prepare her for her Suzuki qualifications as she plans to open her own private teaching studio.
Read MoreThe Draylen Mason Fellows Program honors the legacy of Draylen Mason by furthering the musical and personal development of a select group of high school students. One of our current 2022-2023 fellows, Erikka Middleton was in need of a bass this semester, giving us the opportunity to witness a beautiful partnership form between our program and Draylen’s family. Erikka was able to meet with Draylen’s mother, Shamika, to receive Draylen’s bass on loan for the rest of the fellowship year.
Read MoreWe are excited to have hit a milestone of 500+ lessons through our Private Lesson Program! Since beginning the Private Lesson Program in 2021, we have grown from serving 45 to 78 students, and we look forward to reaching even more students in the 2023-2024 school year!
Read MoreAustin Soundwaves is proud to announce the fifth class of the Draylen Mason Fellows Program (DMFP), consisting of seniors Erikka Middleton, Elif Painaik, Unity Laws, and Elijah Andrew Jones, junior Ileana Martinez Yáñez, sophomores Angel Carrizales and Iris Martinez, and freshman Michael Chong. All of the fellows are high school musicians and students from the Austin area and have been meeting regularly since September. The most recent class of fellows showcased their musical talents and original work at the Draylen Mason Music Studio at KMFA Classical 89.5 back in late May, in honor of what would have been Draylen’s 22nd birthday.
Read MoreThis weekend we had a spectacular All-Region Clinic and Showcase. A big thanks to Huston-Tillotson University, who allowed us to host the 2023 All-Region on their campus! 90+ students participated in the band and orchestra, and it was a packed house of family and friends enjoying the concert.
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