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For immediate release - Houston, TX - Houston’s ROCO announces the state-wide expansion of “ROCO On The Go”. This unique initiative uses QR technology to connect visitors at various partner locations to curated playlists of ROCO’s music.
Through multi-million dollar investments in rights and recording fees over the years, ROCO has created a vast library of live concert recordings dating back to their inaugural concert in 2005. Among American orchestras, ROCO has amassed one of the largest collections of concert recordings, with over 90 hours of music that are publicly available for free listening. In 2013, ROCO made their recordings available for the first time on their website and in 2018 expanded their reach to include all major music streaming platforms. The ensemble’s immersive, interactive “ROCO on the Go” project launched in September 2020 in collaboration with Buffalo Bayou Partnership and has grown to include a broad array of locations. Collectively, QR codes for all partners have been scanned over 20,000 times - and counting.
The new partners range from other outdoor locations such as parks under Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia, Houston Arboretum & Nature Center, SPARK Parks, 5th Ward Cultural Arts District, and Houston Botanic Garden, to healthcare institutions such as Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Center, Menninger Clinic, and Baylor College of Medicine, to educational centers like Houston Public Library, The University of Houston, The University of St. Thomas, Texas Southern University, and the AIA Houston/Architecture Center. Each partner will feature QR codes linking to music selections or custom playlists curated by the ROCO team, ranging from specific works paired with public art at Buffalo Bayou Partnership, to placemaking playlists providing the soundtrack to the various ecosystems of Houston Botanic Garden, to themed mood-based playlists offering listeners a choice of music that’s Joyful, Soothing, or Bold, found at several of our partner parks. More information on the accessibility of ROCO On The Go in each location is listed below.
“When I founded ROCO, I had dreamed of connecting the world through music. Now with QR codes and 16 years of live performances for free listening on our website, anyone, anywhere can experience our music,” says Founder/Artistic Director Alecia Lawyer.
ROCO On The Go fulfills ROCO’s mission and core value of accessibility, and their commitment to meeting audiences where they are by bringing recordings of past performances outside of concert halls and traditional classical music venues. Similarly, their 17th season theme, “Musical Threads,'' demonstrates how they weave music through their community by way of cultivating relationships with the local partners that are vital to the fabric of Houston, and it invites listeners to visit and explore unique Houston spaces as they experience ROCO’s curated performance playlists.
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ROCO has provided the soundtrack to 40 stops of landmarks and public art along the Buffalo Bayou Partnership trails, with QR codes featuring a paired music selection from ROCO’s sixteen years of live performance recordings, curated by the ROCO team.
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Launched in mid-February 2022, the Houston Botanic Garden features 16 of ROCO’s playlists and musical selections specially curated for their Global Collection Garden, encompassing areas including plants around the world, unusual looking flora, and art exhibitions inspired by our planet.
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Texas Children’s Cancer and
Hematology Center
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“This partnership between ROCO and the Periwinkle Arts In Medicine program at the Texas Children's Cancer and Hematology Center offers our patients and their families a way to escape the confines of the hospital by listening to relaxing, uplifting music. The child is empowered to pick the playlist of their choice. Participating in the arts is a way to offer comfort during challenging and life changing times.”
- Carol Herron,
Periwinkle Arts In Medicine Program Coordinator
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In partnership with The Periwinkle Foundation and Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Center, ROCO on the Go is now available at four locations: Texas Medical Center, West Campus, The Woodlands Campus, and the Vannie Cook Children's Clinic—located in McAllen, Texas. Texas Children’s Cancer and Hematology Center, one of the largest cancer and hematology centers in the U.S, is world-renowned for its clinical care, research, and education. The Center offers innovative therapies for all forms of childhood cancer and blood disorders. Listeners have three mood-based playlists to choose from, giving patients and their families agency to choose music that best fits their day.
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Harris County Precinct 2
Parks System
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“This is a wonderful program that brings the arts to our Harris County Precinct 2 parks! We are always looking for opportunities and partnerships that bring value and create connections for the residents who visit our spaces. It is part of my mission to make Precinct 2 a great place to live, play and work! This is also a great opportunity to highlight local artists and bring music directly to our communities."
- Adrian Garcia,
Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner
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QR codes are available in the following 15 areas of the Park System: Atascocita Park, Halls Bayou Hike & Bike Trail, James Driver Park, Jim and Joann Fonteno Park, W.E. "Bill" Crowley Park, David G. Burnet Park, Riley Chambers Park, Edna Mae Washington Park, Rio Villa Nature Trail, Highlands Park, Armand Bayou Nature Center, Clear Lake Park, Juan Seguin Park, Sylvan Beach Park, and Bay Area Hike & Bike Trail.
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The Church of St. John the Divine
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ROCO’s In Concert venue and Founding partner, The Church of St. John the Divine, will place the mood-based playlists around their campus to enhance the visitor experience and highlight their long standing partnership.
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Houston Arboretum &
Nature Center
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"We are so excited to be offering our community a new dimension in which we foster our sensory connections with nature; listening to music helps us to be present and in the moment."
- Tiffany Ritter,
Education Director
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ROCO has curated five 45-minute long playlists to directly pair with the Houston Arboretum’s five self-guided Habitat Hikes which highlight the diverse landscapes of Texas, and feature unique sections of the Arboretum’s trails. QR codes will be placed on Hike maps, and the Arboretum will highlight a different Hike each month.
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Memorial Park Conservancy
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QR codes to mood-based ROCO playlists will be available at stops throughout the 3-mile Seymour Lieberman Exer-Trail, allowing visitors to curate their experience by choosing their own soundtrack.
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Texas Southern University
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The focus of Texas Southern University’s partnership with ROCO is to highlight diverse composers. QR codes featuring their compositions will be specially placed throughout the Department of Visual and Performing Arts with more locations to follow.
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The Menninger Clinic has provided treatment for more than 250,000 patients from the United States and around the world, and is consistently ranked among the best centers in the nation for psychiatric care. ROCO’s QR codes will be placed on tabletop signs throughout the clinic’s public areas for visitors, staff and outpatients to enjoy.
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Baylor College of Medicine
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The Baylor College of Medicine will introduce three mood-based playlists curated by ROCO into waiting rooms of multiple facilities for patients, caregivers, staff and other visitors. These recordings will also be played in the Concierge Clinic atrium to improve the patient experience.
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SPARK Parks, an organization seeking to develop community parks on school playgrounds, will partner with ROCO to bring three mood-based playlists to five schools in Harris County. This partnership will launch a merging of music, art, and play, all within the hearts of Houston’s future generations.
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ROCO’s playlists at the Houston Public Library will be presented this fall following the grand reopening of the Central Library location. 10 QR codes will be available throughout the newly renovated Barbara Bush Literacy Plaza, as well as on printed bookmarks that will be shared with the community.
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AIA Houston/Architecture Center Houston
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As a local chapter of the American Institute of Architects, Architecture Center Houston provides many programs for the public and industry professionals on architecture and design. ROCO’s QR codes will be available throughout the building and gallery spaces beginning this fall.
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In Fall 2022, the University of Houston will partner with ROCO to bring their mood-based playlists to their Arts in Health Conference. ROCO’s Founder, Artistic Director, and Principal Oboist Alecia Lawyer, and Periwinkle Foundation’s Arts in Medicine Coordinator, Carol Herron, will speak on a panel on the importance of music in medical spaces.
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To make ROCO’s recordings available to students, faculty, staff, and visitors, the University of St. Thomas will introduce QR codes with playlists throughout the school beginning this fall to enrich the on-campus experience for students, staff, and faculty through our music.
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5th Ward Cultural Arts District
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Facilitated by the Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation, QR codes to selections of ROCO’s music will be incorporated into some of the 15 murals being created in celebration of the Fifth Ward’s recent designation as a Cultural Arts District by Texas Commission on the Arts.
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ROCO is a dynamic and innovative professional music ensemble that flexes from 1 to 40 players from all over the US and Canada, with guest artists from around the world. Performing intimate concerts in dozens of venues, ROCO’s musicians don’t just give concerts – they challenge preconceptions, create extraordinary experiences, and foster new relationships with audiences through the language of music. ROCO’s debut album, Visions Take Flight, was recognized for a GRAMMY® Award for Producer of the Year for Blanton Alspaugh.
Widely recognized for diversity in programming, a recent study from the Institute for Composer Diversity found ROCO is the number one ensemble in the US for performing the works of women and number two for the works of composers of color. Additionally, ROCO has the third-highest number of commissions in the United States and has premiered nearly 100 commissions from living composers. ROCO embraces technology, with free worldwide concert livestreams and real-time artist commentary via a smartphone app, as well as on-demand recordings of past concerts via popular music streaming services. A vital part of the community, ROCO concert DVDs are sent to nursing homes and hospitals to bring music to those immobile communities, and their music education/childcare program attracts multigenerational audiences.
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