TCU Chamber Music Event Includes Unveiling of Donray Painting

Texas Christian University’s “Faculty and Friends” Chamber Music Series adds an art feature to its upcoming Nov. 23 concert when a large painting by local artist Donray will be unveiled during intermission. The subject matter is the chamber group “Trio Con Brio,” consisting of musicians John Owings (piano), Misha Galaganov (viola) and Gary Whitman (clarinet).
The threesome join TCU colleagues for the event at 7:30 p.m. in the PepsiCo Recital Hall, performing works they will also play on the “TCU in China” tour next month. Selections include: Eight Pieces for Viola, Clarinet and Piano by Max Bruch; Piano Quartet in C minor by Johannes Brahms; and Piano Quintet in A Major, D. 667, “Trout” by Franz Schubert.

In addition to Owings, Galaganov and Whitman, performers are Jesús Castro-Balbi (cello), José Feghali (piano), Yuan-Xiong Lu (bass) and Curt Thompson (violin). The group has been invited to play for the Chamber Music Series of the Shanghai Concert Hall on Dec. 19 and will also perform in Beijing and Shenyang and visit universities in all three cities where the TCU School of Music is establishing working relationships to foster the exchange of faculty and students.

Tickets to the TCU performance are $10 at the door, $5 for seniors and students.

Artist Donray (born Donald Arvin Ray in Houston in 1945) has been a long-time supporter of the TCU music department. He completed Trio Con Brio over the summer of 2009, an acrylic on canvas work that measures 62.5” by 80”. Donray’s painting style emphasizes color and motion and reflects the dynamic nature of life. Lines and gestural brush strokes define shapes in masses of swirling color. Through the 1990s, he developed a process that combines gel and polymer gloss media with a vibrant palette of intense acrylic hues and varied texture applications, glazing and under-painting, and since 1999 has been working in his innovative acrylic-on-acrylic collage technique. His work has been exhibited in New York City, Washington, D.C., London, Houston and in the Metroplex where he now makes his home.