On Stage

Double the Strings: Miro Quartet and Shanghai Quartet come together for worldpremiere of Museon Polemos

What is even better than a string quartet? Two world renowned string quartets featured on the same stage in one exciting evening. This weekend Texas Performing Arts is making it happen.

On Friday, Sept. 28 at McCullough Theater, The Shanghai Quartet of the Shanghai Conservatory and The Miro Quartet of Austin's very own Butler School of Music will come together in an orgy of delicious sound to bring a concert of three string octets including the world premiere of composer, conductor and Butler School of Music faculty member, Dan Welcher's Museon Polemos.

"I pit two string quartets against each other, each with its own musical language and moods and behavior patterns, and then force them to interact."

Commissioned by Texas Performing Arts with support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Museon Polemos was conceived as an homage to string ballets of the '30s and '40s, like Stravinsky's Apollon Musagète (my personal favorite Stravinsky ballet).

One of the most prolific composers working today, Welcher was recognized as a 2012 winner in Music from the Academy of Arts and Letters, honoring outstanding artistic achievement and his own unique voice.

"Museon Polemos is about tribal behavior and what is needed to overcome it,” says Welcher. “I pit two string quartets against each other, each with its own musical language and moods and behavior patterns, and then force them to interact. The result is in dispute, right up to the end."

Also on Friday's program will be what inevitably happens whenever there are two string quartets in the same room: The Felix Mendelssohn String Octet, which is quite possibly the most beautiful piece of string octet music that anyone ever has, and ever will, compose at the ripe age of sixteen.

These are fantastic players and this is a fantastic concert program. Join Texas Performing Arts for the unique opportunity to not only witness two outstanding quartets, but the world premiere of a dynamic new work.

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Tickets to the Miro Quartet and Shanghai Quartet's Sept. 28 performance range from $10 - $28 and are available through Texas Performing Arts.

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Historic Austin museum will close for more than a year for restoration

Photo courtesy of the City of Austin

The Elisabet Ney Museum will close at the end of 2024 and reopen in mid-2026.

Every building needs some maintenance here or there, and the historic Elisabet Ney Museum needs some extra-special care. Formerly the art studio and residence of its namesake, it's been standing since 1892. It'll spend 2025 in relative solitude, as it undergoes renovation for a year and a half with no visitors allowed.

The museum will close to the public December 30, 2024, and open again in the summer of 2026 if all goes according to plan, a news release from the City of Austin shares. It'll be a quiet period compared to the 21,000 people visiting from around the world each year.

According to a museum overview on the city's website, Elisabet Ney, a European portrait sculptor, bought the property and called her new studio Formosa. She worked on sculptures depicting important Texans like Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston, and collected works of European contemporaries.

The building at 304 East 44th St. includes 3,700 square feet of museum space, which was converted by Ney's friends after her death in 1907. It retains its unique look that juxtaposes a Neo-Classical main studio from 1892 with a later addition from 1902 including a tower for her husband, Edmund, to write in. It is also on 2.5 acres of land, which has largely been restored to its natural state with native species.

A press release lists these tasks (verbatim) within the scope of the new work, referred to as the Capital Improvement Project (CIP):

Restoration of original exterior wood doors and windows
Upgrades and replacement of the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system
Replacement of the exhibit and general lighting systems
Repairs to the roof, masonry, plumbing, and interior finishes.

There will also be work to do outside of the building. Workers will replace the pedestrian bridge across Waller Creek, stabilize a 20,000-square-foot portion of the bank, and make the grounds more accessible by adding new pathways.

Funding comes from several sources, according to a release: "the 2012 Bond, Proposition 14, the Parkland Dedication Fund, the Historic Preservation Fund, Partners in Preservation through the National Trust, and contributions from the Friends of the Elisabet Ney Museum."

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