MUSIC

Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens and the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra will present Yuletide Concert and Coffee,  a Yuletide chamber music concert overlooking the beautiful Diana Garden on Monday, December 7th, at 10:00 a.m.  Enjoy pastries, fruit, cider and coffee inside a festive Terrace Tent. ROCO percussionist, Matt McClung (pictured) will perform.

Dr. Matthew McClung has performed with a wide variety of prestigious ensembles throughout the United States. He has performed with the Houston Grand Opera, the Houston Ballet, the Hawaii Opera Theater, the Spoleto Festival Orchestra, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of Hong Kong, Houston, Lexington, San Antonio, Kentucky, Austin, Arkansas, Corpus Christi, Maui, and Honolulu. As a chamber musician, he has performed with Alisa Weilerstein, the Percussion Group Cincinnati, the Tierkreis Percussion Ensemble, So Percussion, Strike 3 Percussion, Musiqa, the Houston Composers Alliance, the San Antonio Chamber Music Society, and others. As a soloist, he has been featured as a soloist with the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, on the ChamberX concert series in Houston, with the TAMU-CC wind ensemble, the New Sousa Band, and with the Shepherd School Percussion Ensemble.

A 2002 recipient of a Presser Award, Dr. McClung spent two months in Ghana, where he studied traditional drumming techniques with master drummers of the Ewe tribe. He also studied gyil (African xylophone) techniques with Kakraba Lobi, who is considered one of the ultimate virtuosi of the instrument. Dr. McClung is currently the Assistant Professor of Percussion at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He is also on the faculty of the Hot Springs Music Festival in Hot Springs, Arkansas, where he works with students from prestigious conservatories around the country. Dr. McClung is also a founding member of Strike 3 Percussion, a trio that has performed for thousands of school children across Texas.

The mansion will open at half past nine for you to take a peek at the 2009 Yuletide exhibit and will reopen for thirty minutes following the concert.