Beerthoven’s ‘Tequila Mockingbird’ Soars with Bird-themed Melodies, Libations, and Conservation Advocacy in Austin, Texas.
By Ella Pedrozo
Nestled into the heart of downtown Austin, right behind the Capital of Texas, lies the city’s oldest cultural center: The Austin Saengerrunde. Founded in 1879 by German immigrants to form a community around singing, beer, and bowling, they are now realizing a continuation of a centuries-old tradition with their very own concert series: Beerthoven.
Beerthoven is, as described on their website, a “down-to-earth, approachable celebration of classical song, chamber music, and beer; a quirky mixture of Bach and Doppelbock in unique and intimate settings.” I had the opportunity to attend the last show of their tenth season, Tequila Mockingbird, and the experience did not disappoint.
Before heading upstairs for the performance, we entered the main performance hall and headed back into the mid-century bowling alley to grab free beer, pretzels, and tequila. Beer from local Lazarus Brewing Co., tequila from Casa Distales, and pretzels from Easy Tiger were all delicious as we perused the bird-themed repertoire for the afternoon.
The program was cleverly themed to include many different works of music featuring the topic of birds, all from distinct eras containing different styles of music. From The Lark Ascending (1914) by Ralph Vaughan Williams to Green Finch and Linnet Bird (Sweeney Todd, Stephen Sondheim, 2007), the repertoire of the afternoon centered around masterful works performed by masterful musicians.
Returning Beerthoven artists Dr. Mikhail Smigelski(bass), and Charissa Whillock (soprano), sang powerfully, blending seamlessly in their duet, “Pa-pa-pa-” (Papageno/Papagena) from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Magic Flute (1791). Smigelski’s strong, full bass peppered back and forth with Whillock’s bright, warm soprano, the two hocketing their phrases to one another, expertly demonstrating the affection and jubilation Papageno and Papagena feel for one another.
Christabel Lin (violin), another returning Beerthoven artist, stunned during the duet of The Lark Ascending with Dr. Daniel Swayze (piano, founder of Beerthoven, and director). Lin’s masterful technique, beginning with thirty second notes in what sounded like a senza misura setting, filled the room with images of birds fluttering through the air, the free sounding passage adding to the scene of lark-like unpredictability. Swayze’s piano filled out the piece, adding near non-functional sounding chords and echoing melodies, completing the picture of cloud-like dreaminess of birds flying through the sky over the countryside. The two performed Williams’ fourteen-minute piece with raw emotion, poignantly articulating the underlying sorrow and heartache born of nostalgia so evident in this work.
Cory Blais (cello), a new Beerthoven artist, filled the room with beautiful, legato bowing across his cello during his performance of The Swan, the penultimate movement of the Carnival of the Animals (1886) by Camille Saint-Saëns. Blais’ graceful bows across the strings were reminiscent of elegant swans peacefully floating across a lake, and his slight rubato interpretation of Saint-Saëns smooth, memorable melody elicited a picture of the inherent comfortable peacefulness of a spring day.
To end the afternoon (and the tenth season), Lin, Blais, and Swayze performed a new work by living composer Indra Riše. The piece, consisting of three movements, describes nature as our rough teacher, and shows the dangerous side of our environment, a contrast to the more peaceful or jubilant nature of earlier pieces. The movements describe an unpredictable, bird-filled environment, starting with daybreak and concluding with the night.
Riše accomplishes this feat through quick, almost atonal sounding bits–moments of melodic uncertainty that keep the listener intrigued. This, combined with extended techniques on the cello and piano, add to the clever harshness and severity of the musical setting. Blais, employing what looked like col legno, (a technique where one strikes the strings with the wood of the bow) repeatedly produced a percussion-like warped pitch reminiscent of scattered, almost panicked bird calls echoing through the space.
Tone clusters (hitting multiple neighboring keys at once) echoed throughout the piece on the piano. Swayze played these in conjunction with almost dissonant sounding chords to add to the urgency of the musical setting. Lin made the violin sing like bird song as she quickly alternated between quick, sixteenth note phrasing and longer, smoother melodic lines, creating a juxtaposition between the loveliness and roughness of nature, as well as employing stark, percussive moments of col legno throughout.
After the stunning performances, I was able to sit down with the founder and director of Beerthoven, Dr. Swayze, (also the pianist in this case) to discuss the success of the afternoon.
“Congratulations on finishing your tenth season! We thoroughly enjoyed the entire performance and the distinct repertoire, as well as the free beer and tequila! Any highlights from this season in particular?”
“You know, I love being able to connect with new parts of the community. Getting to bring in Travis Audubon Society*, having the tequila sponsor, which we hadn’t had before–these things add an extra element to our shows. It’s lovely to find the special extras and little unique stories within a given concert.
Each program can be so unique, and we have different performers and different special things for each one. For example, earlier this year we commissioned a new string quartet. Wow, it was incredible. We had a world premiere of that in February, an African American composer who was born and raised here in Austin. That was really special–being able to hone in on the local artists focus, being able to provide that piece and share it with the world. And I think being a part of creating something that’s really new, well, it’s always very invigorating.”
During the performances, you mentioned composition is a live art form. Working with living composers shines light on this fact, especially when you actually have the ability to speak to a composer about their work and pick their brains about what they write.
“Absolutely. There was a time when Beethoven himself was one of those people–someone could literally just ask how his music was intended to be played and performed. Actually, Beethoven was especially known for deliberately revising and reworking his pieces, which gives you a different perspective on interpreting older music as well.
This music is composed by human beings who, you know, are creating something in a very organic kind of form. We tend to see things in retrospect, as if they were always at this level of perfection, and you know, all of those people had to build up their skill set and craft these things that were sometimes many drafts, edits, and takes.”
I’d also like to comment on the world-class talent we have right here in Austin, and how their depth of their understanding of their own instruments and the art of performance elevates these experiences.
“Of course, and we’re lucky to be here in Austin. We have a very rich depth of talent here, which makes it easier to focus on our local artists and still get this very high level of world-class talent. As time goes on, you just sort of get to know more of the artists here in town.
Perhaps it’s important for me to add that I’ve made a point from the beginning to ensure fair pay for our artists, long before I was getting paid. I made sure our musicians were getting a good paycheck, and that’s a critical part of maintaining that quality.”
Exactly. That also contributes to the ongoing development of the art of composition and performance.
“That’s right. If they’re going to stay in town and keep Austin beautiful, then they need to be able to make a nice living, too. It’s not an unreasonable expectation to make a living from your skilled work.”
Couldn’t agree more, Dr. Swayze. Thank you for your time, efforts, and consideration. We can’t wait to be back for your upcoming eleventh season. Prost!
*In keeping with the theme of birds, 10% of ticket sales were donated to Travis Audobon, an organization that inspires environmental conservation through birding. If you’ve ever been to Austin, you will have noticed the abundance of birds that call this semi-arid environment home. Parking lots, parks, greenbelts, suburbia, single lane country roads–there’s nowhere in Austin you can go without running into our fluterry friends. If you’d like to learn more about conservation efforts, please visit https://travisaudubon.org/.
To read more about Beerthoven and stay in the loop about their upcoming performances and season, please visit: https://www.beerthoven.com/.
Thank you to Live Music Project for this platform and the opportunity to amplify local events, musicians, and collaborations. To read more about Live Music Project and our work on highlighting the performances and organizations in multiple cities across the continental U.S., please visit https://www.livemusicproject.org/.
All photos copyright 2024 Ella Pedrozo.
