Shelby About Town

Reality show winner to headline Ballet Ball, Blondes vs. Brunettes heats up &big shopping discounts from the heart

Eugene Landau Murphy Jr. will headline Houston Ballet's "Aubergine" ball set forFeb. 15 at Wortham Center.
John and Becca Cason Thrash chair the black-tie gala that has a $1 millionfundraising goal.
Photo by Kim Coffman
Greggory and Pat Burk also chair the ballet ball that will be held mid-week forthe first time.
Photo by © Michelle Watson/CatchlightGroup.com
Six months out, the blondes and brunettes are thinking powder puff footballcompetition — even in the salon.
River Oaks Shopping Center hosts the Heart Card initiative March 1-11.
Shops in the Village Arcade also participates in the Heart Card program.

Leave it to Becca Cason Thrash to continually keep her creative juices flowing, particularly when it comes to charitable fundraising. After orchestrating and chairing the highly-successful Houston Ballet's "Dancing With the Houston Stars" and Houston Grand Opera's "Singing With the Houston Idols," she has taken on her duties as Ballet Ball chair with the adrenalin of a Super Bowl coach.

Sharing the role of ball chair with hubby John Thrash and with Greggory and Pat Burk, Becca has divined two exceptional fund-raising additions to the ballet's traditional cache of giving opportunities. With Catherine Anspon as art auction advisor, Becca has rounded up a gallery full of original works for the "Art for Art's Sake" silent auction.

That gem of a fundraiser kicks off at the Cason Thrash home Feb. 9 with a preview cocktail party where the works will be offered at "buy now" prices.

Her second brilliant, and we do mean brilliant, idea was to convince leading jewelers to contribute dazzling cocktail rings to a special silent auction. Becca has close to two dozen lined up — enticing baubles from Harry Winston, Valobra, Katy Briscoe, Judith Ripka, Armenta and others. You can do your post-Valentine's Day shopping on Feb. 15 at the ball in Wortham Theater Center.

With that and the three amazing trips to be offered in live auction, the Cason Thrashes and Burks should have no trouble reaching their goal of raising a record $1 million for Houston Ballet.

Full disclosure: The Ballet Ball honors this columnist. However, these new takes on gala fundraising would have been covered in any event.

This just in

On Monday, Houston Ballet signed up Eugene Murphy Landau Jr., the Frank Sinatra sound-alike winner of last fall's America's Got Talent competition to perform a 30-minute segment during the evening. The dance music will be provided by the popular David Caceres.

You might recall that the late-blooming singer recorded his America's Got Talent album, produced by Steve Tyrell, at Houston's Wire Road Studios.

Gridiron gals

It's one of the zaniest, most fun "football" encounters of the year — the annual Blondes vs. Brunettes powderpuff competition raising money for the Alzheimer's Association Houston. While game day isn't until May 19 on Skip Lee Field at St. John's School, the ladies are gathering on Feb. 9, 6 to 9 p.m., for an early recruiting party at Midtown Drinkery. You can read about the preparations for last year's flag football game here.

Look for Blondes vs. Brunettes co-chairs Cortney Risner and Ashley Riggs on the scene. You might have seen them last year as team captains.

Heartfelt shopping

The American Heart Association — Houston is licking its chops over the prospects of welcome proceeds from the Heart Card initiative, sponsored by River Oaks Shopping Center and the Village Arcade. March 1 through March 11, shops and restaurants in these two shopping meccas will offer savings of up to 40 percent for those carrying the Heart Card.

The $40 Heart Card is available through the AHA Guild (ahaguildhouston.org or 713-610-5005) with proceeds benefiting the women's initiative of the AHA.

The program kicks off Wednesday Feb. 29 at River Oaks Theatre with a fashion show featuring looks from River Oaks Shopping Center stores. On March 10, the Village Arcade will host a fashion event and sidewalk sale.

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Arts News

Houston arts organization spins up a new record label for creative works

Two CD copies of Tyshawn Sorey's Monochromatic Light (Afterlife)

Photo courtesy of DACAMERA Editions

DACAMERA's unique musical contribution to Houston now comes in LP form.

For more than three decades, Houston arts and music non-profit DaCamera has brought innovative and unique jazz and chamber music performances to the city. Now, they are launching their own record label called DaCamera Editions, starting with TyShawn Sorey's Monochromatic Light (Afterlife) releasing on January 30.

Since 1987, DaCamera has been a nationally-celebrated curator, commissioner, and presenter of modern works that often fly under the mainstream radar. With the establishment of an in-house record label, the music they are known for becomes more widely available to audiences.

"Following the thrilling experience of commissioning, performing, and recording Monochromatic Light (Afterlife), we saw an opportunity to launch our own label," DaCamera artistic director Sarah Rothenberg said in a statement. "DaCamera Editions will enable us to share our distinctive, curated mix of new music, classical repertoire, and jazz in a way that emphasizes connections to art, literature and the world in which we live, all under the DaCamera umbrella."

Monochromatic Light (Afterlife) is the perfect album to herald a new Houston record label. The meditative piece was a joint commission from DaCamera and the Rothko Chapel to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the renowned Houston landmark. Featuring soloists Davóne Tines (bass-baritone), Kim Kashkashian (viola), Sarah Rothenberg (piano/celesta), Steven Schick (percussion), and the Houston Chamber Choir, the 75-minute work was a critical hit when it premiered in 2022. It built on a previous work, Morton Feldman's Rothko Chapel, which debuted at the site in 1972. Sorey composed a bass-baritone part for Tines and expanded the keyboard role by adding piano. As part of the performance, Tines sings lines from the spiritual "I Feel Like a Motherless Child."

Both The New York Times and The New Yorker named the premiere of Monochromatic Light (Afterlife) as a top 10 classical performance of 2022. It was also a Finalist for the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Music.

The album will be released on both CD and digital formats. Pre-orders are available at DaCameraEditions.com.

Future planned releases include Rothenberg's In Darkness and Light (May 2026), a piano album inspired by the anxiety of COVID and featuring Vijay Iyer’s eloquent personal memorial "For My Father;" and Tyshawn Sorey’s solo piano work For Julius Eastman, a tribute to the minimalist composer and activist whose work has undergone a 21st Century renaissance since his death in relative obscurity in 1990.

"DaCamera Editions will enable us to share our distinctive, curated mix of new music, classical repertoire, and jazz in a way that emphasizes connections to art, literature and the world in which we live,” Rothenberg said.

performing-arts dacamera music