In Sunday’s (6/19) Austin American-Statesman (Texas), Jeanne Claire van Ryzin writes, “Boosting classical music’s profile in the self-proclaimed ‘Live Music Capital of the World’—that’s the goal behind a $450,000 grant awarded to the University of Texas’ performing arts center, Texas Performing Arts, by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, university officials will announce early this week. The grant will fund a three-year initiative to increase classical music offerings and jump-start a series of residency programs for edgy classical musicians, commission new pieces by emerging composers and start a classical music task force that will be charged with developing strategies for increasing young audiences. UT will match the Mellon Foundation’s $450,000 with an equivalent amount to give the project a total of $900,000. … ‘(We hope) to inspire our community to appreciate classical music as a living, breathing, vibrant and ever-changing organism that has a remarkable capacity to respond to the needs of a fast-paced and progressive society,’ said Kathy Panoff, director of Texas Performing Arts.”
Posted June 22, 2011
