About

Conspirare’s Grammy® award-winning Artistic Director Craig Hella Johnson debuts his groundbreaking contemporary oratorio. Following a 2014 Grammy for Best Choral performance, and a recent nomination in the same category, the incomparable singers of Conspirare will deliver a poignant concert experience, inspiring hope, compassion and empowerment. An ensemble of 29 singers and 8 instrumentalists, including Johnson on piano, will lead the listener through a tapestry of musical textures and styles.

In October 1998 a shocking hate crime was committed against Matthew Shepard who was brutally beaten and left tied to a fence to die. Shepard’s story haunted Johnson for years and finally impelled him to compose a musical response to this tragedy: “The entire process has been about asking questions, particularly this enduring question of whether or not love itself is part of our essential nature, even amidst the many painful and confounding realities of our existence.”

• Pre-concert talk by author Elizabeth Neeld one hour before each Austin performance (included in ticket)
• After the Music: Post-Concert Conversation after each Austin performance. With Robert Kyr (composer), Jason Marsden (Exec. Dir., Matthew Shepard Foundation), and Craig Hella Johnson (included in ticket)

Event Details

• Date: February 20, 2016
• Time: Pre-Concert Talk: 7 PM; Concert 8 PM
• Venue: AISD Performing Arts Center
• Website: http://conspirare.org/event/considering-matthew-shepard-2016/

Ticket Information

• Cost: $20-$60 (Student $10)
• Phone: 512-474-5664

Presenter Details

• Name: Conspirare

Conspirare is a Grammy® award-winning choral ensemble that creates exceptional concert experiences and world-class recordings under the incomparable direction of Craig Hella Johnson. A repertoire as diverse as our talent showcases our artists’ rigorous classical training while expressing the voices of distinctive composers from Bach to Barber, Handel to Kyr, Lassus to Lang. Inspired by the power of music to transform lives, Conspirare performances are musical magic. The Conspirare Symphonic Choir and two Conspirare Youth Choirs complete the Conspirare family.

Venue Details