Texas Performing Arts Announces TEXAS MIXTAPE Concert Series

Texas Performing Arts announced today Texas Mixtape, a curated series by Austin's own composer and bandleader Graham Reynolds. The concert series features unusual combinations of Austin artists who are inspiring Reynolds right now. As Texas Performing Arts' first in-person public performances since March 2020, Texas Mixtape will be hosted under the Texas Big Top - a new covered outdoor performance space on the Bass Concert Hall Plaza created for live performances with extensive health and safety meaures, including strictly limited capacity and socially distanced seating pods. Tickets go on sale Friday, November 13 at 10 am CST.

"The ongoing, severe disruption of live performance demands that we create new possibilities" said Bob Bursey, Executive Director of Texas Performing Arts. "For TPA, that means presenting in a new outdoor venue and bringing other viewpoints in to our programming. With this series, we're continuing our focus on supporting Austin artists during the pandemic and creating an opportunity to experience live music with careful attention to health and safety."

"In the spirit of this new Texas Big Top venue, experimenting and discovering its role in this pandemic era of the Austin music scene, I've asked the players to stretch themselves, playing with musicians they're either just getting to know or perhaps have never played with before" stated Reynolds. "Mixtapes are my roots. They're the way I love to listen, bouncing from one style to another, creating meaning through new contexts. Growing up, they were a way to share a part of yourself with others. This series is a mix of several of my favorite musicians in Austin and around Texas, many of whom I've been lucky enough to work with, artists who inspire and excite me" Reynolds added.

November 20, 2020 at 7 pm - Featuring Brannen Temple ElecTriO with Bobby Sparks and James Robinson

"Brannen is my favorite kind of artist: one who has a deep sense of craft mixed with a spirit of curiosity and exploration. This new trio is at the beginning of their music making together, allowing the listener to hear their first ideas and musical conversations."

December 4, 2020 at 7 pm - Featuring Gina Chavez and Special Guest

"I've admired Gina's work from a distance for a long time. Her recordings are all compelling but this year she took another leap forward, releasing "La Que Manda", my favorite album to come out of Austin this year and a Latin Grammy Album of the Year Nominee."

December 11, 2020 at 7 pm - Featuring Josh Baca, Orión García, Andre Hayward, and Beto Martinez

"Four fantastic players that have never been on a stage together. This series throws them into the fire to hear what magic they can make together. Taking risks is at the heart of making great art, and that is what we, as an audience, will be doing with the musicians on stage."

The Texas Big Top venue has been hosting University events since September and is now ready to welcome the general public for live, in-person performances. Capacity for Texas Mixtape is strictly limited. Tickets will be sold in "pods" of 2 seats with a minimum 6 ft spacing between pods. Tickets for each concert are $20 per pod and available at texasperformingarts.org. Masks are required for staff and attendees at all times and sanitization stations will be available at all entrances.