Including New Music and Video Art Reflecting on Hurricane Harvey, Musiqa Presents Eclectic Show

Including New Music and Video Art Reflecting on Hurricane Harvey, Musiqa Presents Eclectic Show

A still from Carrie Marie Schneider's video

THIS WEEKEND, HOUSTON’S intrepid new-music-presenting organization Musiqa continues to stretch its programming ambitions with New Dimensions in Sight & Sound (Apr. 29 and 30 at MATCH), an eclectic concert of works by composers Sky Macklay, Du Yun and Ryne Siesky — and a new music and video collaboration between Musiqa 2022 Emerging Composer Commission winner Sam Wu and socially engaged multi-disciplinary artist Carrie Marie Schneider.


It’s a challenging, provocative program, and includes several Houston-based artists.

Wu is currently pursuing his DMA in composition at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, and Schneider has been an active part of Houston’s socially engaged art and performance world for some time now. Their collaboration, Weather Models, was commissioned by Musiqa.

The piece features an onstage, kinetic video installation by Schneider. The footage, recorded from 2017 to 2021, finds Houstonians creating miniature, symbolic weather events inside fish tanks and other containers with plastic dolls and other objects — a sort of hands-on therapeutic activity to address the trauma of Hurricane Harvey and climate change.

The music Wu has composed for Weather Models will “underscore the elemental nature of the subject matter,” says a Musiqa rep, and includes a part for a mezzo-soprano singing text created in collaboration with Schneider and inspired by “early language development.” In performance, the projected surface Schneider has created will rise and fall in time with the music.

Rounding out the program is Macklay’s Many Many Cadences, Du Yun’s i am my own achilles’ heel, and Siesky’s /ˈɪn/bluːm/, which was also commissioned by Musiqa. The featured musicians include violinist Mary Grace Johnson, who recently led Houston’s Kinetic Ensemble in a powerful performance of Nicky Sohn’s Home, and mezzo-soprano Jillian Krempasky.

Art + Entertainment
As Escape Spa Expands in 2025, Owner Has Advice on Personal Growth: ‘Focus on Intention Setting’

CHANGE IS A good thing, and with the start of a new year, I always like to reflect on how far I've come and start fresh by setting self-care goals for the coming months. Personal growth is a passion for me, and also something I enjoy. Guiding a business through growth and change is also one of my passions, so I am very pleased to announce that Escape Spa is going to be expanding in 2025! We’re honored that we’ve built such a loyal following since opening in Cypress in July of 2022, and we’re thrilled to be in a position to grow our wellness and recovery sanctuary just outside of Houston.

Keep Reading Show less

Alejandra and Edgar Rincon. Patty and Karl Schmidt

ONE OF THE most feel-good fetes of the year, the 2025 Make-A-Wish Gala once again broke records, raising a whopping $1.8 million for the Gulf Coast and Louisiana chapter of the organization.

Keep Reading Show less
Parties

SUPPORTERS OF THE Houston organization BRASS (Baylor Research Advocates for Student Scientists) celebrated the group’s 30th anniversary at a beautiful River Oaks home. BRASS president Elsie Eckert and a former BRASS scholar Sharon Bright were among those who welcomed everyone to the event.

Keep Reading Show less
Parties