UTSA’s music marketing program welcomes nationally known singer/songwriter Ernie Halter and Austin’s 21-piece award-winning orchestral indie band, Mother Falcon on Tuesday, April 24.

Halter has captivated audiences with his “…milk and honey voice…” Originally from Orange County, Calif., the Nashville resident has had songs played on “Good Morning America,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” “Cougar Town” and many other television shows.

“I’ve pretty much been obsessed with music ever since (I was young),” said Halter

Halter made international headlines in 2011 when Justin Bieber made a surprise appearance at his concert in Costa Mesa, Calif., and joined him onstage to perform his original composition “Come Home To Me.”

Following Halter will be, Mother Falcon, a 21-piece orchestral band based in Austin, Texas. The group of young and talented musicians present a unique combination of indie rock and classical music. The band has received praise from the Austin Chronicle and has also won an award at the 2010 and 2011 Austin Music Awards. The band’s sound is influenced by classical composers and indie artists similar to Beethoven, Beirut, Steve Reich, Ravel and Bon Iver.

With two albums, Mother Falcon has risen to the top of Austin’s live music scene. The large multi-instrumental band that combines orchestra and pop performed at SXSW last month. For the past three years, Mother Falcon won the “Best None of the Above Award” at the Austin Music Awards.

UTSA’s music marketing program and its students are the reason these buzzworthy bands are able to perform for San Antonio. Everyone in this semester’s course is a music marketing major and the class came together to bring UTSA something that is reflective of the music industry.

“We wanted to present the two contrasting artists who would work well together (within) the intimate setting of the recital hall,” says senior Jorden Nickerson.

The hall usually hosts classical performances and this style of music would be the first time something of its type would be hosted at UTSA’s recital hall.

Matt Dunne, the course’s professor, says this was a class project from start to finish. “We wanted to go through the whole process, choose the artist, negotiate (and) book a night in the recital hall” he said.

Dunne also mentioned how the experience helped students learn real marketing techniques since they had a limited budget.
Nickerson reiterated how they “tried to find many ways to get the word out for free.” These marketing objectives are the core lessons of marketing which will help them in their future careers.

All of the students agreed that the planning process for the concert has been successful and they are excited about the upcoming performances. “We hope to see a lot of UTSA students come, because (we) don’t have a lot of big concerts like other universities have” says senior Sierra Wydner.

Most other universities, such as UT Austin, host a wide variety of musical events. The UTSA marketing class hopes to get the department to an equal or higher level in the way of showcasing a variety of musical events.

The performance will be at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, April 24 in the Arts Building Recital Hall at the Main Campus. Admission is free for UTSA students with a valid UTSA I.D. Tickets are $15 each for non-UTSA student. Find out more info at htpp://utsamm.tumblr.com/events