Wednesday, November 13, 2013


Congratulations to our 2013 Music as Muse Winners and Finalists


This year's Music as Muse contest celebrated the works of Benjamin Britten and Henry Purcell, played at COSA's Centennial Benjamin concert. Inspired by their music, COSA received poetry and visual arts submissions by high school seniors in the San Antonio area. Thank you to all the students who submitted!


Congratulations to our two poetry finalists: Brandi Carnes, "I Am Music" and Marcus Martinez, "Regal Temperament: An Ode to Rondeau" . "Promises" by Taylor Wilcox (middle) was chosen by this year's poetry judge Tomas Morin. In our visual arts category, Madison Baber, "Melancholic Melody" (bottom center) won for her work "Melancholic Melody." Taylor Wilcox, "Dripping Sound"  and Emily Barbary, "Boisterous Bouree" placed as finalists for their works inspired by Britten and Purcell.


 





Saturday, August 24, 2013

2013 Music as Muse Prize


COSA Youth Renaissance is now welcoming submissions for its second annual Music as Muse Prize. The contest welcomes works of poetry and visual art and is open to all high school seniors in the San Antonio and surrounding area. All work submitted must be based on the musical compositions listed below, which will be performed at this year’s fall concert:




We encourage you to listen to each piece and let the music inspire you to create a new work of your own. We look forward to reading and viewing your submissions. Submission guidelines are as follows:

For poetry, please submit between 1-3 poems. Poems must not exceed 90 lines. For visual art submissions, art in any medium is acceptable, except video and film. Artists may submit between 1-3 works.

For all submissions, include a brief note indicating the musical composition that inspired your work. Poets, please submit your work as a doc or pdf file; artists, please submit quality images of your art piece as a jpeg file. Email your submission to: musicasmuse@chamberorchestrasa.org. Include your name and title of your work in the subject box of the email (e.g. Jane Doe: “Ode to Britten”). In the body of the email, please include your name, your high school, phone number, email address, and title of your work.

The deadline for all submissions is October 15, 2013. Please remember, all work submitted must be based on the musical compositions listed above. For additional questions, contact musicasmuse@chamberorchestrasa.org.

Three finalists from each category will be contacted and chosen to present their work during a COSA fall performance. Winners from each category will each receive a prize of $300. Two runners-up from each category will each receive a $100 prize. 

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

In Cateura, Paraguay, "the recycled orchestra" play musical instruments made from trash. Residents use garbage from a landfill to form violins, cellos, and more, giving local children the opportunity to learn an instrument and create beautiful music. Watch the Landfill Harmonic movie trailer below and find out more about the project through the Landfill Harmonic website.




Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Ode to Joy Flashmob


Watch this flashmob capture the crowd by playing Beethoven's Ode to Joy.

Friday, February 1, 2013

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Orchestra fun on the go


Youth Orchestras of San Antonio (YOSA) perform as a pop-up orchestra at the Houston Intercontinental Airport. Take it to the masses, guys!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUhs6fq401E

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Silvia Santinelli




As co-founder and now member of COSA’s Education Committee, I am delighted and honored to participate in this new venture. For those of you who do not yet know me, let me share with you a few facts about myself.

I am a pianist of Mexican and Italian descent who now thinks of San Antonio as her home. I was introduced to the world of music when I was five years old, when my mother enrolled my sister and me for piano lessons at our local music school in Mexico. I am very fortunate to have been immersed in the classical music field since then, with the help of my teachers and parents, and through numerous competitions and performances that enriched my musical knowledge to become the musician that I am today.


While I was studying for my doctorate, I became inspired by the music of Spanish composers of the late 19th and early 20th century. I discovered a lot of musical traits that are a product of that culture’s inherent human characteristics, such as their passion and zest for life that still includes a very tragic and melancholic side, which I believe adds a profound significance to their existence. I felt drawn to not only the music but to the art based on Spanish themes as well. I am fond of the American painter John Singer Sargent, and I own a three-quarter size replica of his magnificent work, El Jaleo, which exhibits a brilliant representation of that wonderful song and dance form of Spanish music we commonly recognize as Flamenco.


A great part of my musical upbringing took place in this great city. San Antonio created a window of opportunities, and a number of wonderful people sponsored my piano education with the late Robert Avalon. It is hard to believe that some of the wonderful friendships and relationships that I maintain today are a product of those formative years. (Thank you all for those generous contributions and your intention to help develop the talent of two young Mexican girls.)