We are thrilled to co-present this extraordinary concert with One World Theatre on Saturday, November 7th at 8pm CST as part of our Austin Now Series. RSVP Online Here

The Space In Between brings together three of our most-beloved partners: Multi-instrumentalist-global-citizen-artist Oliver Rajamani, KUT/KUTX voice of Austin for more than fifty years John Aielli, and Hartt Stearns with the breathtaking One World Theatre.

We asked Oliver his thoughts about performing with John Aielli, and he told us this fun uniquely Austin story:

“Believe it or not, the very first time I played music in public in Austin was on John Aielli’s radio show. It would have been in 1995. I did a show with Arthur Brown [famous English rock-n-roll star]. Austin was a small town, it was around SXSW time, and I randomly ran into famed British rock legend Arthur Brown at Whole Foods. We got talking, and he was really fascinated that I played Indian Tabla. So he invited me to play on this radio show the very next day—we didn’t even practice! I just went with him, and found myself performing in Studio 1A with John Aielli.” 

But the beautiful and deep connections don’t stop there! Hartt Stearns, Executive Director and Co-Founder of One World Theater had this to say about presenting Oliver Rajamani at this time:

“Nada and I met Oliver after we moved to Austin more than 25 years ago.  We played music together, along with nurturing many talented young musicians along the way, and One World has sponsored Oliver for over 20 years. Our collaborations and friendship for so many years has made him feel like family, spiritually and artistically, which should help to make this concert extra special, especially when patrons are thirsty for performances of depth. I don’t know of a better musician in Austin than Oliver that encompasses the concept of One World which from our perspective is so important at this point in time. When you add John Aielli’s participation, who has interviewed so many One World Theatre artists since we opened, all of this feels like a family homecoming for One World.”

Oliver also shared some deep insights about the performance itself, The Space In Between, which will combine John Aielli reading poetry, with Oliver’s music, played live and broadcast from the One World Theatre stage:

“The space in between two musical notes gives way for emotion to be expressed. 

The space in and between words and letters gives life to a poem or a story. 

The space inside a house creates the warmth of a home.

The space in the emptiness of a cooking pot gives food and nourishment.

The hollowness of a guitar offers the opportunity for sound and music.”

“Space is crucial in life.  It is the place of pure potential, inspiration and creativity. It is the stage where all the elusive magical drama of life and death takes place. Space holds all things physical and psychological. Without space nothing can manifest, yet space is only the gateway to awareness (for lack of a word). It has no form, description, time, beginning or end. It was never created, and thus will not die.”

“During this time of covid, the whole of humanity is living in a state of fear and anxiety, life and death. But all this drama needs a stage on which to take place.  And it takes place in the Space that gave birth to life and death. So during these challenging times in our physical and psychological worlds, the Space is present in between our thoughts, emotions and our physical beings. When we can become more present in that reality of our oneness with it, rather than only seeing the drama of life that makes us go crazy, we are able to approach our fears and anxieties, and the realities of life-responsibility, with awareness. It may be difficult and challenging, but it is not impossible.”

“As friends, professionals and human beings—working together with Hartt, John, Matt, Joe and others—to bring this program to the general public, I believe we are all connecting to this Space In Between. We work to bring that realization and experience to others through the medium of art. Art is created and drawn and inspired from that well of The Space In Between and thus serves as the gateway. An elusive hint at what we are truly made of: space and awareness.”

Rounding out this beautiful conversation, Hartt talked about what it means to be making art at One World Theatre now, despite the pandemic:

“The concept of being ‘one’ is what the space of One World Theatre is all about. Music and the arts are among the best mediums for connecting the world, and allowing us to lose ourselves, transcending our daily challenges into a higher place of oneness. The pandemic has definitely created greater challenges for us all to overcome, but evolution is facilitated through difficult times, not necessarily when things go the way we want them to. To me, all of this translates into the importance of having patrons witness a concert like this at One World Theatre.”

For insight into Rajamani’s extraordinary artistry, we invite you to watch the video below.

We at ACG are so excited to experience and share the collaboration of two incredibly talented Austin artists with you in The Space In Between