Not sure what to do this Saturday evening? Blanco Performing Arts offers a solution!

Tickets are available for the critically acclaimed ensemble REVEL to speak to the hearts of Hill Country residents through music on Saturday, February 4. The entertainment will take place downtown in the intimate atmosphere of the Uptown Blanco Ballroom on Blanco's Main Street at 7:30. Concert goers can enjoy at 10% discount at a pre-concert dinner at the fine Uptown Blanco Restaurant. Tickets may be purchased online through Paypal at www.blancoperformingarts.com, reserved by calling 830-833-4762, or purchased at the door with cash or check. Youth tickets for ages 18 and under will be available on Saturday at 6:30pm for $5.

Pianist Carla McElhaney, a teacher, artist, and coach, along with cellist Joel Becktell, a performer, teacher, and lecturer are co-founders of REVEL. McElhaney serves on the piano faculty at Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, maintains a private teaching studio, and publishes an e-zine Passion in Action. A graduate of Eastman School of Music and the University of Texas at Austin, she served on the piano faculty at UT and the Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory in Ohio. Becktell is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music where he received his Bachelor and Masters degrees with honors and was awarded the Rubenstein prize for cello performance. He has been a member of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Nichols Quartet, principal cellist of both the Austin Symphony and Santa Fe Pro Musica, and assistant principal with the Santa Fe Symphony.

Saturday's program includes works by de Falla, Piazzolla, and Rachmanioff. Manuel de Falla's Suite Populaire Espanole sets to music seven Spanish poems, of which six have been arranged for cello and piano and offer a tour through the human condition. Astor Piazzolla's Le Grand Tango, dedicated in 1982 to the Russian cellist Rostropovich, speaks to the soul about struggles in life. One of the 20th century's epic pianists, Sergei Rachmanioff created Sonata in g minor Cello and Piano as a symphony for those instruments, a tone poem in four movements each with a dramatic program.

Blanco Performing Arts appreciates the community's response to its current concert series and looks forward to seeing you this Saturday evening to enjoy REVEL – a breath of fresh air through music.