Mother Falcon

Mother Falcon began as a jam session among a few adventurous high school cellists eager to break out of the rigid repertoire predominating their musical training. In the seven years since, violins, saxophones, trumpet, piano, accordion, banjo, guitars and bassoon have joined that small group of cellists in an indie orchestra of twenty classically trained young musicians determined to push their playing and composing ever further forward.

On record, in intense chamber music concerts and in electrifying club performances, Mother Falcon has developed an intricately detailed, yet muscular soundscape of rock, jazz and hip hop rhythms fueling horn and string pieces interwoven with inventive vocal arrangements.

Still Life, their debut EP, was released in early 2010 and spawned the Austin hit "Marigold." Mother Falcon's first full-length, Alhambra, was released in February 2011 to immediate local raves, and in May 2013 the band released their sophomore album, You Knew to broader acclaim.

NPR premiered the first track off the album, "Dirty Summer," naming the band an Artist To Discover At SXSW 2013. Rising to the occasion, the ensemble won over SXSW audiences with a string of impassioned performances, resulting in NPR Music including the band in "Bob Boilen's 15 Essential Moments From SXSW 2013."

To support You Knew, Mother Falcon launched the "Dirty Summer Tour 2013," moving 17 members to New York City for the month of June to perform weekly collaborative residencies at both Joe's Pub and Littlefield plus regional appearances at World Cafe Live, The Iron Horse and other venues along the east coast. In August they toured the west coast before returning to Austin for a huge homecoming show at The Mohawk. A month later, Mother Falcon headlined Idea Fest at The Kentucky Center for the Arts.

Over the course of 2013, Mother Falcon collaborated with Alejandro Escovedo, Amanda Palmer, Raul Midon, Tony Trischka, Ben Sollee, Kelli Scarr, Gary Lucas, Christopher Cross and Jherek Bischoff.

At the 2010, 2011 and 2012 Austin Music Awards, Mother Falcon won the "Best None of The Above" award, and performed at all three ceremonies. The Austin Critics Table also nominated the group as "Best New Ensemble" in 2011, and that same year they performed at the abandoned Seaholm Power Plant with 100 additional string players as the opening event at the 2011 Fusebox Festival. In 2012 Mother Falcon headlined The Austin Chamber Music Festival, selling out the legendary Antone's Club.

Continually creating new work, Mother Falcon recently debuted an extract of Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" re-composed by Peter Stopschinski. February will bring the release of MF Computer, Mother Falcon's orchestral interpretation of the Radiohead's classic OK Computer. This June, they will perform another series of collaborations at Joe's Pub and in September, the band will release its second EP.

Committed to music education, each July Mother Falcon conducts its Music Laboratory, a summer camp for middle and high school orchestra students, hosted by The Long Center for the Performing Arts.