TODAY · 6:00pm
Food for Thought 2026: Recipes for the Future
ACL Live at the Moody Theater · $250
TODAY · 6:30pm
Sips and Myths
Thursday, October 29 at Cherrywood Treehouse Art Studio, Austin
About this event
On Thursday, October 29, 2026 Dr. Madeline Anderson and Franceska Akel join together to present an unforgettable evening of Sensory Blending. Madeline researched Sensory Blending in graduate school and developed a listening activity designed to engage audiences during live performances. Her goal: to deepen focus, understanding, and emotional responses to piano music. The method: experience music by imagining interactions with sound through sensory receptors beyond hearing. What if you could taste, touch, or smell the sounds you hear? Her three-step listening method centers on the blending of senses - both literal and imagined - and explores how this synthesis can deepen and heighten our focus, understanding, and emotional responses to music. Myths and Sips will feature this Sensory Blending listening activity alongside music inspired by tales of Greek mythology, water sirens, and underwater cathedrals! Part of the sensory experience will be exploring taste, smell, and color through Franceska’s masterfully crafted drinks- thoughtfully created and uniquely paired with each piece of music. MEET YOUR PIANIST Dr. Madeline Anderson Dr. Anderson (Maddie) specializes in Sensory Blending concerts. She pairs classical piano repertoire with engaging sensory listening activities, inviting audience members to participate in the experience and conceptualize classical music in an innovative way. This method heightens focus, awareness, understanding, and unlocks emotions! MEET YOUR BEVERAGE SPECIALIST Franceska Akel A service industry lifer, Franceska has found her passion in uber creative cocktails and friendly, fine-dining style service. Her resume includes managing Equipment Room, running bar programs across multiple venues at Hotel Magdalena and operating her own business Nice To Meet You Events since 2021. She also has a supper club! Kinship Supper Club is a non-networking friendship based event, with guests connecting over food and drink over a long evening. Expect ingredients used in tastefully creative ways when she's behind the bar and to feel like you're at home with friends immediately.
Who's playing
Dr. Madeline Anderson, who goes by Maddie, specializes in Sensory Blending concerts. She researched the method in graduate school and pairs classical piano repertoire with listening activities the audience takes part in. Franceska Akel handles the drinks. She has managed Equipment Room, run bar programs at Hotel Magdalena, and has run Nice To Meet You Events since 2021. She also hosts Kinship Supper Club.
What to expect
Anderson uses a three-step listening method that blends senses, both literal and imagined. Listeners imagine how sound might be tasted, touched or smelled. Each piece on the program has its own cocktail made to match it, so taste, smell and color become part of the listening. The menu is vegetarian and nut-free, with non-alcoholic pairings available. The studio is a small, tucked-away treehouse space up a flight of outside stairs in the Cherrywood neighborhood.
Why go
This is a classical piano program built to be participatory, not just listened to from a chair. The mythology theme gives the music a story to follow, and the drink pairings give you something to hold onto while you listen. A small East Austin studio keeps the evening close and informal.
Where
Cherrywood Treehouse Art Studio · 2802 Lafayette Avenue B · Austin TXDirections
