Review: A Soundpainting Collaboration by Andrea Ariel and Austin Unconducted
by David Glen Robinson

 

Austin is blessed. I’ve written that before. But some new event always seems to bring that sensation and thought back to the fore. The latest event is the hybrid music/performance show Austin Unconducted and Andrea Ariel: A Soundpainting Collaboration.

 

Part of KMFA's "Offbeat Series," the show at the upstairs Draylen Mason Music Studio was one of spectacular music, composed and performed on the spot through the improvisational technique known as Soundpainting. Three musical pieces formed an hour and fifteen-minute sound mosaic of perfectly performed music with references ranging from Vivaldi to Led Zeppelin (“Kashmir!” as one audience member proclaimed). At the same time, the nine-piece string ensemble played together and in various parts in classical structures and breakdown postmodern interludes. For example, they played far up the aisles, whistling while they changed positions on stage (did John Cage do things like that?) and other whimsies. But ultimately the musicians played beautifully together, sounding like nobody else and thereby becoming unique. The benefit to the audience was an evening of amazing sonic delight—mint almond bark ice cream on steroids.

 

How did this rare treat come about? The show claimed first position in this season’s “Offbeat Series” at KMFA 89.5, Austin’s beloved fine arts radio station. Future shows cannot be predicted or scheduled right now because the artistic forces of creation still bubble in ferment. Austin Unconducted is well disposed to feature in the series. They are founded as “a musician-led string orchestra” to quote their program notes. “Performing without a conductor, the ensemble relies on deep listening and non-verbal communication to create performances that are immersive, energetic and joyfully adventurous.” The audience couldn’t agree more.

 

But that evening the conductor was present: Andrea Ariel of Andrea Ariel Dance Theatre (AADT). Does this ruffle the concept unduly? One thinks not, because while using the Soundpainting technique, Ariel became the composer. Soundpainting applies a gestural language invented by composer Walter Thompson to cue performances (music, acting, art, anything). Often, though not always, the cues refer to a pre-learned “palette” of works in the chosen artistic mode. Still, a performance can create unique unrepeated works, the musical equivalents of a snow globe or a kaleidoscope, without a pre-set form or phrase. Ariel has been observing, learning, and experimenting with Soundpainting since about 1998. She has worked with Graham Reynolds, Walter Thompson, Adam Sultan and the SuperCreeps, Claud McAn, and Frederico 7 y Los Primes. Her results in this show were spectacular. Longevity has its rewards: AADT is celebrating its 36th season performing its art.

 

 

The first piece owas entitled “Winter,” a fulsome nod to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons concerto. Under Ariel’s conducting, the piece quickly powered up in several directions, all  exquisite under the excellent acoustics of the Draylen Mason studio. The ensemble's proximity to the audience gave us interesting close-ups of the musicians at work with their instruments, their talents on display.

 

“Thoughts Inside a Dream” by its title promised imagery and diverse impressions, and the performance delivered. Some passages resembled pieces by Debussy, but it contained numerous phrases that proceeded like the music of Steve Reich or Philip Glass. Although wholly improvised, the piece was as brilliant as any composed piece of contemporary classical music. The Austin Unconducted musicians performed it effortlessly, at least to this reviewer's eyes and ears.

 

“Crowdsource” employed improvisational theatre exercise. Before the show, arriving audience members were encouraged to write words or phrases on pieces of paper. Ariel drew five or six submitted phrases out of a fishbowl, read them aloud, and proceeded to construct the palette from them. Shades of William S. Burroughs and the cut-out method. The conducting of the piece, instructions, thrown out to the musicians in a low underhand tossing gesture, created a throughline somewhat dissonant to the ear, a blustery windstorm of sound, unsettling and haunting. Further improvisational phrases thrown to the musicians were gemlike fragments of imagery blown before the tempest. The piece, like the entire show, invited myriad imaginative flights of appreciation by the audience.

 

We look forward to more from these two arts organizations, singly and in collaboration. Recommendation: follow them in media, donate to them, and encourage their next performances. The benefits are all ours.

 

Postscript: the Austin Unconducted musicians in this show were:

Amy Harris, violin

Antonio Cecallos, violin

Zach Matteson, violin and haiku writer

Isaac Fuentes, viola

Ilia De La Rosa, cello

Geoff Manyin, cello

Tony Rogers, cello

Andrea Beyer, bass

Dana Wygmans, bass

---

A Soundpainting Collaboration
by Andrea Ariel
Andrea Ariel

February 6 and 7, 2026

The Draylen Mason Music Studio at KMFA

Downtown Austin at Lady Bird Lake