Every once in a while, the stars align and bring together all the elements for a truly harmonious moment.  With an evocative setting and a receptive group, for a space of time we’re allowed to get things right.  We can relax and let the big forces of the universe carry us a little.

At an Astraios concert, we can feel ourselves in the right time and place.  We are surrounded by beautiful architecture, welcomed by a long tradition of hospitality.  The musicians sense the luck of their involvement and radiate happiness and excitement.  They know they’re on hand for the real thing.  The crowd is informal but charged with expectation.  Many have been to an Astraios event before.

So, in gorgeous acoustic space, with a view of the surrounding mountainside, some of the best young musicians in the country bring their best effort—and CAN bring their best effort because their first business it to ease the way for everybody.  With the ability that mastery gives to make a thing simple, they show us some of what they’re doing, why they’re doing it and how.  We are sure to learn something we didn’t know about the music, the musicians, our own ability to enjoy the performance.  As with anything intimidating—and we know that classical music can be intimidating—a little knowledge removes

Natasha Merchant never had any aspirations to play the oboe.  She began playing piano at age 5, and when it came time to pick an instrument for 6^th grade band, no one else wanted to try the oboe.  Her band director handed her the oboe; so “I tried it and kind of liked it,” says Natasha.

Of course, in the beginning, no one told her that she would ultimately end up making her own reeds for the instrument.  “I thought it was a cool, fun instrument where all the reeds just magically appeared when I needed them,” she says.  Now she knows that reeds are the worst part of playing the oboe, due to the amount of time involved, not to mention the tediousness and the finickiness of making them for herself and all her students!

Natasha received a Bachelors of Music in Oboe Performance from Indiana University and then went on to receive a Masters of Music from the University of Southern California.  After grad school, she spent some time in Mexico, playing guest principal oboe with the Orquesta Sinfonica Sonora and second oboe with the Orquesta Sinfonia Sinaloa de las Artes.  She moved to Dallas in 2008 where she teaches private oboe lessons and performs with The August Winds.

One of the things Natasha enjoys most

Many people have expressed an interest in learning what it’s actually like to BE a musician.  We thought we would share some stories and profiles of our musicians so you can learn how our day-to-day lives work.  Here Ruth Ann Ritchie, our Executive Director, shares her thoughts:

My “day job,” like that of many musicians, is teaching music lessons.  I currently work for one of the public school districts in Texas, teaching private lessons during the school day.  I have about 35 students that meet with me once a week, plus I run the sectionals at one of the high schools.  That means that once a week I meet with the bands’ flute sections as a group, and we work on band music, chamber music, or have mock auditions for upcoming competitions.

Thirty-five students either sounds like a lot or not very many, depending on who you talk to.  This is Texas, so the band programs are HUGE (thanks to the love of football!).  Besides the actual teaching, there’s all the work that goes on behind the scenes—scheduling, answering parent phone calls and emails, replying to the student who lost their music the day before the concert, cheering up the student who didn’t place as highly as they’d hoped.  There’s a fair bit of social work that goes on

Astraios is the grateful recipient of a challenge grant!  During December, all donations up to $5,000 will be matched, which means that every donation you make can go twice as far.    Every little bit helps our 2012 season and furthering our goals of connecting audiences and performers.  And since Astraios is a non-profit organization, don’t forget to get your donation in by December 31st for your taxes!

We know that this is a tough economic time, and money is tight for everyone.  Check out our Donation page for more ways you can help support Astraios without costing yourself anything!

Thank you for your generous support!  We’re looking forward to 2012!

Many, many thanks to everyone who came to hear our August 27^th concert! You may remember that we announced that this was the inaugural concert of “The August Winds,” even though many of you saw us perform in the summer of 2010.  Here’s the history of our 11-year-old quintet:

 The five members of the August Winds originally met as freshmen at Indiana University.  The quintet was originally formed to fulfill a chamber music requirement for all music performance majors.  After one semester of “quinteting,” we were having so much fun that we signed up again…and again…and again.  Seven semesters of chamber music rehearsals made us close friends; where one member of the quintet was, the rest were not far behind.  We shared apartments, bonded over concerts good and bad, and the bassoonist even married the flutist!

After we all completed our Bachelor of Music degrees, we went our separate ways for grad school.  In 2010, our schedules aligned and we were able reunite to present an Astraios program at the Abbey of St. Walburga.  Despite the fact that we had been in existence since 2000 and had only ever had one personnel change (Marianne Shifrin joined us our senior year at IU), we had never been able to come up with a name.  We tried names

One of the newest improvements to the Astraios website is our new blog.  Here we’ll be featuring profiles of Astraios musicians, commenting on the music world around us, and keeping you up-to-date with all the Astraios news.  We hope you’ll find this a fun and entertaining read.  Feel free to contact us if you have suggestions on any topics!

As you’re exploring the new Astraios website, make sure to notice that we have new clips from our concerts, and that CDs from previous concerts are now for sale.  We’ve also posted new pictures from Astraios rehearsals and concerts.  We hope that you find this new website much more user-friendly and that it helps you to feel that you are a part of the Astraios network.

More soon!

Our new website is up and running!

In addition to being able to find the same info and music as before, in a quicker and more streamlined fashion, you’ll also have the ability to stay up to date with our current activities, with easier access to our updates on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

We’ll also be able to feature more dynamic photo and video content, as well as more detailed updates about upcoming events and other news through our blog.

Stay tuned for more updates, and let us know what you think about the new website!