About

KMFA and Sightlines are proud to present the New Music Mixer, a monthly happy hour series for classical music nerds and newbies alike at Friends and Allies Brewing. Join us at our next event for a conversation with featured composer Thomas Echols. Kick back, enjoy $1 off your pint, and geek out over your love of new music!

The presentation portion of the evening will begin at 6:00 p.m.

Parking:
If the main parking lot is full, additional parking is available behind the brewery. Turn in off of Springdale close to Airport at Dimension Gallery and go all the way back past Brothers Produce to the back lot. There is a paved walkway around the right side of the building to the front entrance.

Event Details

• Date: October 15, 2019
• Time: 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
• Venue: Friends and Allies Brewing

Ticket Information

• Cost: FREE

Presenter Details

• Name: Thomas Echols

Thomas Echols' work is an amalgam of classical, modernist, and pop music forays. Accepted at age 16 into the College of Music at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Thomas went on to earn a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Southern California, and was a prizewinner in the Portland International Guitar Competition and the Donald Miller Concerto Competition.

As visiting artistic director for Austin Classical Guitar, he curated programs including traditional instrumental recitalists, experimental electronics, newly commissioned works, and interactive visual projections. Thomas recorded and performed with the Grammy­-nominated choral ensemble Conspirare and the Houston Symphony Orchestra (their recording of Wozzeck recently won the prestigious Echo Klassik award for best operatic recording), and has had major engagements at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Palazzo Chigi (Siena, Italy), The Whittier Bach Festival (LA, The Blanton Museum of Art (Austin), Jones Hall (Houston), and other venues around the world.

Thomas' experimental-pop alter ego, Man, Woman, Friend, Computer, creates simple songs that unfold into meandering compositions, analogue synth fetishism, conspiracy pop, polyrhythmic laments, somnambulist visions, and process music. MWFC’s debut album has garnered rave reviews from Austin Monthly and The Austin Chronicle, which calls it “Meditative and fetching . . . he ventures into a complex amalgam of analog and synth. Wistful, romantic. . . Echols’ vocals sooth to surrender.” A mainstay in the thriving classical guitar scene in Austin, Thomas is also active as a performer and lecturer, and has contributed scholarly articles to Soundboard Magazine. 

Venue Details