Houston’s ROCO chamber orchestra in a recent performance.
In Friday’s (2/7) Houston Chronicle, Chris Vognar writes, “Alecia Lawyer … is a walking (sometimes running) example of the eternal hustle that goes into running a nonprofit arts organization. The founder, artistic director, and oboist of ROCO, the Houston chamber orchestra currently celebrating its 20th anniversary, she’s a cheerful blur of proselytizing and planning, fundraising, hosting and performing…. ‘We’re not just about concerts. We’re about truly layering partnerships and connectivity and ways to amplify everyone in Houston around music. That is the mission: To shape the future of performing arts …’ Those are big words, but ROCO also puts up big results. They have performed 150 world premieres, and have been live streaming concerts since 2013 … They are the second-most prolific commissioning group in the U.S., and No. 2 in the world when it comes to programming women composers and composers of color…. ROCO performs four concerts every season with the 40-strong core orchestra at The Church of St. John the Divine on River Oaks Blvd—including the Saturday program that includes Delyana Lazarova conducting the Texas premiere of Clarice Assad’s ‘Evolution of AI’ (and, for the more tradition-minded, Beethoven’s ‘Symphony No. 7’)—and at other venues … They’re constantly playing breakout shows all over the city.”
