MacPhail Spotlight Series (Austin): Connections and Transformations

KSMQ will premiere this half-hour special at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 23, followed by an encore presentation at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 27. The program will also be distributed to a statewide audience on The Minnesota Channel.

We are thrilled to present the first Spotlight Series concert featuring MacPhail’s newly-renovated Austin campus. In this exciting collaboration with local PBS affiliate KSMQ in Austin, we explore musical parallels to the connections that MacPhail has been making throughout the state with advancing music learning. We also focus on the idea of the different types of transformations one goes through, an homage to the new Austin facility.

This concert features collaborations with the finest and most creative forces from both Minneapolis and Austin, forming  brand new connections. A great number of genres are represented, including traditional spirituals, selections inspired by folk music, and urban energy. Two astonishing musical “transformations” were created exclusively for this program: a brand new adaptation of the “Goin’ Home” melody (taken from Dvorak’s New World Symphony), and a re-imagining of the cello favorite The Swan (originally composed by Saint Saëns).