Beerthoven: Tequila Mockingbird

• Mikhail Smigelski, bass
• Charissa Whillock, soprano
• Christabel Lin, violin
• Cory Blais, cello
• Daniel Swayze, piano

If you've ever stepped out of an HEB during the last week of April and felt like you were in an Alfred Hitchcock movie you know that Austin is a place for birds! This April we're raising our glasses to our flying, feathered friends during the peak of their season and ours for the final concert of our Tenth Season; Tequila Mockingbird!

Thanks to our sponsors, we will be serving warm pastries and cold beer generously provided by Easy Tiger and Lazarus Brewing. In addition, we're fully embracing our Tequila Mockingbird theme by serving free cocktails (pun intended) with tequila generously provided by locally-owned Casa Distales! Wine and other non-alcoholic beverages will also be served at no additional cost.

In support of local conservation efforts, Beerthoven will contribute 10% of all ticket sales to Travis Audubon for their work in protecting habitats for birds and other wildlife.

Kids are welcome! Tickets for children as well as students through college age are available for $10. Purchase at the door or email daniel@beerthoven.com for advance student tickets.

There will be 3 performances of this program:
- Friday, April 26, 7:30pm at Saengerrunde Hall
- Saturday, April 27, 3pm at a private residence in West Lake Hills
- Sunday, April 28, 3pmat Saengerrunde Hall

April 26 & 28 Saengerrunde Hall performances: For full disability access, we recommend attending either of these performances at Saengerrunde Hall. They will take place in an intimate upper room at this historic venue in Downtown Austin.

Look for parking in the state parking garages immediately surrounding the Saengerrunde facilities. If these are unavailable or closed off, try the Texas Capitol Visitors Center, three blocks south of the Saengerrunde on San Jacinto. During most of our events these are open and free of charge. Sometimes there is a parking attendant charging $7-$10, especially when concurrent events take place in the Moody Center. We cannot guarantee their availability so we would recommend coming early in case you need to use the Capitol Visitors Center garage (14th and San Jacinto) or find on-street parking.

April 27 mystery location performance: Out of respect for the privacy of our hosts, we will only reveal the exact location of this performance to ticket purchasers. This program's mystery venue will host our Saturday performance in West Austin, zip code 78746.

While we cannot guarantee full accessibility for those with disabilities at this particular performance, there will be no stairs to enter the space. There will be greater access for those with disabilities at our April 26th & 28th performances.

About Beerthoven

The critically-acclaimed Beerthoven Concert Series is a down-to-earth, approachable celebration of classical song, chamber music, and beer; a quirky mixture of Bach and Doppelbock in unique and intimate settings. Beerthoven finds its inspiration in the musical and festive events of the Austin Saengerrunde as well as the private "salon" concerts of Beethoven's time. Beerthoven events feature live classical music, free beer, and other refreshments and snacks in an all-inclusive manner. There is no backstage here; audience members may even find themselves standing in line for beer with the performers.

About Mikhail Smigelski, bass

Hailed as "phenomenal" by The Harvard Crimson, "impressively epic" by schwäbische.de, and praised for his "wine-dark bass" by The Boston Globe, bass-baritone Mikhail Smigelski enjoys a diverse and illustrious career in various musical genres, including opera, oratorio, early music, musical theatre, and contemporary music. As a vocal soloist, Smigelski has graced the world's most prestigious stages, including Carnegie Hall, Saint Petersburg's and Moscow's Philharmonic Halls, Berliner Philharmonie, and Kölner Philharmonie. He has collaborated with numerous European and American opera, musical theatre, concert companies, and festivals, such as Saint Petersburg Chamber Opera, Theater Aachen, Theater Solingen, Theater Leverkusen, Cohen New Works Festival, New York Ferus Festival, East Coast Contemporary Ensemble, Austin Symphony, Opera Leggera, Opera in the Heights, Miami Lyric Opera, The Cleveland Opera, and others.

About Charissa Whillock, soprano

Charissa Whillock is a full-time freelance singing actor and voiceover artist based in Austin, TX. She has starred in a Mozart Opera set in the Star Wars Universe, leaned into the night scene with the Cabernet Cabaret series, brought multiple musical theater roles to life in the Texas Hill Country, sang in the holiday trio Vintage Dreams, performed with Beerthoven, voiced several characters for Owlchemy Studios' VR video game Vacation Simulator, vocal coached high schoolers at several fine arts programs, and so much more.

Charissa's current focus is expanding her company, Crossover Charissa LLC, where she tells stories through complex performative narratives and inspire creativity through musical creation. She teaches industry professionals at her studio, voices the English version of MeowMeowKitty on Koté TV, and hosts a free live show where she sings anything from Mozart to Mazzy Star. Charissa remains committed to a diverse musical experience and thrives on opportunities in performance, composition, and celebrating many musical genres.

About Christabel Lin, violin

Violinist Christabel Lin was born in New Zealand and made her first major solo appearance with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra (New Zealand) at the age of 10 for an audience of 250,000. Since then, she has appeared as a soloist with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Christchurch Symphony Orchestra (NZ), Taichung Symphony Orchestra (Taiwan), the Austin Civic Orchestra (Austin, TX) and the Vienna Conservatory Chamber Orchestra in venues such as the Sydney Opera House and the Wiener Musikverein, home of the Vienna Philharmonic.

About Cory Blais, cello

Cellist Cory Blais is a performer, studio musician, and teacher based in Austin, Texas. Cory moved to Austin in 2016 and soon after became a founding member of Austin Camerata. This chamber music organization is known for performance augmenting artistic collaborations. Performing with Austin Camerata has led to regular featured appearances with Austin's contemporary ballet company, Ventana Ballet. Collaborations with Ventana Ballet often pair choreography with music for solo cello, chamber ensemble, to small string orchestras.

About Daniel Swayze, piano

Dr. Daniel Swayze is a pianist living in Austin, Texas. Daniel is the Founder and Executive Director of the critically-acclaimed Beerthoven Concert Series, which has enjoyed continuous growth since its creation in 2014. His playing has been described by the Jacksonville Review as "Enchanting...crisp and impressive."

After an unusually late start on piano studies at the age of 14, not having a formal lesson until 16, Daniel began to secure scholarships from various institutions in his home town of Portland, OR including the Snowman Foundation, the Piano Santa Foundation, and others, providing him with lessons and a piano to use within his home. After just over a year of studies with pianist Barbara Parker he placed in the top five in Oregon's state level high school solo and ensemble competition.