Fame & Fortune is the Longhorn Singers’ first show returning as an official ensemble of Butler School of Music! Inspired by dreamers and the pursuit of success, this show bursts with high-energy numbers that celebrate ambition and courage. Featuring timeless songs from “Starman” and “Let Me Be Your Star” to show-stopping performances of “Forget You,” “Don’t Stop Believin’,” and “One,” each piece dives into the glitz and glamour of Fame & Fortune.

The Jazz Age: 1920’s and 2020’s 

Diego Rivera and Mike Sailors, directors 

Featuring Chamber Orchestra and Choirs 

Ring in the season with the Butler School of Music in this annual favorite. The concert will be anchored by our new Chamber Orchestra and choirs but will feature ensembles and student performers from across the program. You can expect to hear favorite carols and a few surprises.  

Telling Their Stories

Asriel Davis, piano & organ 

Invoke String Quartet 

James Weldon Johnson, arr. Younger 

Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing 

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, arr. Jackson 

Deep River 

Florence Price, trans. McHenry 

Meditation 

Sketches in Sepia 

William Grant Still 

Ennanga 

Zenobia Powell Perry, trans. McHenry 

Homage 

Brandee Younger 

Essence of Ruby 

Maurice Draughn 

A Canon of Peace 

I Dissent: Songs of American Protest

Irving Berlin 

Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor from Miss Liberty 

Lee Hoiby 

Lady of the Harbor from Three Women 

Evan Mack 

Preach Sister, Preach 

Rosephanye Powell 

Then, Here, and Now 

Patrice Michaels 

The Long View: A Portrait of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Nine Songs 

Wilhelm Magner, viola 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 

String Quintet No. 4 in G Minor, K. 516 

Franz Schubert 

String Quartet No. 15 in G Major, D. 887 

Farkhad Khudyev, conductor

Behzod Abduraimov, piano

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 

Polonaise from Eugene Onegin 

Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, Op. 23 

Margaret Bonds 

Montgomery Variations 

Jerry F. Junkin, conductor

Douglas Henderson, guest conductor 

Gao Hong, pipa 

Gao Hong 

Musical Journey for Pipa and Band 

John Mackey 

Symphony No. 2 (U.S. premiere)

Music by Michael Robert Smith

Libretto by Demian Chavez Galvan

Madison Jackson, director | Douglas Kinney Frost, conductor

Sung in English with supertitles.

On July 16, 1945, New Mexicans awoke to Trinity, the world’s first nuclear test. Manhattan Project leaders did not inform residents, despite tens of thousands living nearby. In the years that followed, people in the surrounding areas began to report serious health issues. These individuals would be known as “Downwinders.” Downwind is the story of these people. 

This opera is a world premiere, written by students Michael Smith and Demian Galvan, who traveled to New Mexico to help bring this story to life. Smith writes, “While the family in our opera is fictional, the reality that they face is not.” 

Diego Rivera and Mike Sailors, directors 

Peter Bernstein, jazz guitar 

Leah Crocetto, soprano 

Donnie Ray Albert, baritone 

Ebonee Thomas, flute 

James Maverick, piano 

Sister Rosetta Tharpe 

Up Above My Head, I Hear Music in the Air 

Give Me Jesus, traditional 

Selections by Ricky Ian Gordon 

Samuel Barber 

Nocturne 

Carlisle Floyd 

Ain’t it a Pretty Night? from Susannah 

Cole Porter 

So in Love from Kiss Me, Kate 

George Gershwin from Porgy and Bess 

I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’ 

Bess, You Is My Woman Now 

My Man’s Gone Now 

Stephen Sondheim 

Selections from Sweeney Todd 

Gustav Holst 

Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity from The Planets 

Claude Debussy, arr. Ravel 

Trois Nocturnes 

Muzio Clementi 

Duet in B-flat Major Op. 12, No. 5 

Leonard Bernstein, arr. Brownell 

Three Dance Episodes from On the Town 

Jerry F. Junkin, conductor

Emily Warren & T.j. Anderson, guest conductors 

Ebonee Thomas, flute 

Seraph Brass

Lindsay Bronnenkant 

Tarot 

Anthony DiLorenzo 

Chimera 

John Corigliano 

Pied Piper Fantasy 

Mary Elizabeth Bowden, trumpet 

Raquel Samayoa, trumpet 

Layan Atieh, horn 

Lauren Casey-Clyde, trombone 

Robyn Black, tuba 

In its 11th season, Seraph Brass was founded by trumpet soloist Mary Elizabeth Bowden with a mission to showcase the excellence of women brass players. Winners of the American Prize in Chamber Music, the group has been praised for its “beautiful sounds” (American Record Guide), “fine playing” (Gramophone), and “staggeringly high caliber of performance” (Textura). Seraph Brass performs a diverse body of repertoire, ranging from original transcriptions to newly commissioned works and core classics. Members of Seraph Brass are passionate about music education and hold teaching positions at the University of North Texas, Shenandoah Conservatory, Texas State University, and Texas Lutheran University. 

Melissa Aldana, tenor saxophone

Diego Rivera and Mike Sailors, directors 

Jerry F. Junkin, conductor

Cody Ray, guest conductor 

James Dick, piano

Sergei Rachmaninoff, arr. Patterson

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganinini, Op. 43

Samuel Barber

Commando March

Symphony No. 1 in One Movement (arr. Patterson)