Austin Chamber Music Festival: Carnival of the Animals

The Austin Chamber Music Festival brings Camille Saint-Saëns' Carnival of the Animals to Bates Recital Hall at the Butler School of Music on Sunday, July 19. It's a family-friendly afternoon, and the piece itself is a great entry point for kids: a series of short, playful movements that imagine different animals through music.

Monica Salas narrates the whole thing in both English and Spanish, which makes it easy for younger listeners to follow along. She's a classically trained flautist, vocalist, and composer, and an early childhood music specialist who teaches at Armstrong Community Music School and works with hospitalized children through JoyRX. The music is performed by the Kodak Quartet, along with Michelle Schumann, Sohee Kwon, and musicians from the Butler School of Music and the Austin Symphony.

The Kodak Quartet formed in Rochester while they were at the Eastman School of Music and is now based in New York. They took first prize at the 2023 Frances Walton Competition and the 2023 Coltman Chamber Music Competition, and have played Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, and the Banff Centre. Michelle Schumann served as Artistic Director of the Austin Chamber Music Center from 2006 to 2024 and was named Best Classical Musician in the Austin Chronicle's 2019 Best of Austin Readers Poll.

If you're bringing kids, there are pre-concert hands-on activities for them in the lobby, presented with local music organizations. Tickets are $25 for general admission, $12 for student rush with ID, and children five and under are free.