Chandor Gardens Foundation News

Talented musicians who created a musical experience that was emotional and entertaining!

Chandor Gardens Foundation Inc was pleased to present “An Autumnal Concert” by The TCU Harp Ensemble, as part of our on going Wine & Music series of concerts, in the Great Room of Chandor Gardens on Thursday, October 12, 2023.

The TCU Harp Ensemble directed by Kela Walton invited guests to enjoy an evening of autumnal music with works (solos, duets, and trios) by Andres, Handel, Hasselmans, Salzedo, Tournier, and more.

The program started at 7:00 PM (doors opened at 6:30 PM)

Tickets were $30 (wine/beer is included)

TCU Harp Ensemble Performer Bios

Kela Walton

Native Texan, Kela Walton enjoys a varied career as a harp instructor and freelance performer. An innovative educator, Kela serves on the faculty at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth where she teaches harp to university and pre-college students, leads the TCU Harp Ensemble, and is the director of the TCU Summer Harp Workshop.

In demand as a teacher and clinician, Kela has worked with harp students and adjudicated competitions throughout the U.S. since 1998. She co-directed the Youth Harp Ensemble at the 2016 American Harp Society National Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. A registered Suzuki instructor, Kela founded the harp program at Buffalo Suzuki Strings where she taught individual and group harp lessons as well as Early Childhood Education classes until 2018. 

Kela can be heard on the 2019 release Respighi: Roman Trilogy for the Naxos label, as well as several other orchestral recordings. She held the position of Interim Principal Harp with Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra during the 2017-18 season and toured internationally with the BPO in Poland. Kela has performed with orchestras throughout the U.S. including the Asheville Symphony Orchestra, Austin Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, South Carolina Philharmonic, Savannah Philharmonic, Temple Symphony, and Waco Symphony Orchestra. As a chamber musician she has premiered new works by award winning composers and was the harpist in residence with the Buffalo Chamber Players in New York.

Passionate about serving the harp community, Kela is currently the elected Chairman of Board of Directors for the American Harp Society. Kela’s articles have been published in the Harp Column magazine and The American Harp Journal. When not at the harp, she enjoys running, practicing yoga, and spending time with her nieces and nephew.

Kela Walton holds a Master of Music in Harp Performance and Pedagogy from The University of Houston Moores School of Music, and a Bachelor of Music in Harp Performance from The University of Texas at Austin Butler School of Music.

IsabellaGrace Ebo

Raised in a musical household, IsabellaGrace Ebo has always had a passion for making music. She began playing harp in 2015 in Virginia Beach, VA, having previously studied piano and violin.  After moving to Texas in 2018, she studied with Dr. Laura Brandenburg through the music preparatory division at Texas Christian University.

IsabellaGrace is a proud member of the American Harp Society, and in 2021, she placed 1st in two competitions hosted by the Dallas chapter of the AHS. In 2023, IsabellaGrace was selected to be one of twelve TMEA All State harpists. She enjoyed meeting fellow musicians and playing in an All State ensemble at the annual convention in San Antonio. 

IsabellaGrace is in her second season as a member of the Fort Worth Youth Orchestra, currently serving as principal harpist under the direction of Dr. Germán Gutiérrez. She has been a guest artist with other FWYO ensembles, including the Philharmonic Orchestra and the Wind Ensemble.  She was also the principal harpist for the Tarrant County Community Orchestra, 2021-2022.

As a Home School Senior, IsabellaGrace continues her harp studies in the prep program at TCU, and has been studying with Kela Walton since 2022.  She also enjoys playing harp in the orchestra at Christ Chapel Bible Church, where she and her family have attended since 2018. 

When not behind her harp, IsabellaGrace loves to travel, read, watch classic Westerns and movies, pet dogs, and spend time with her amazing family.

Lyndsey Walker

Lyndsey is an active harpist and violist studying Music Education at TCU. Lyndsey started Suzuki at a young age cannot remember many days without music. She tributes many of her successes to her teachers and mentors who have dedicated countless hours into shaping her into the musician she is today.

Lyndsey’s academic achievements include a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology awarded by Texas Christian University in 2021 and a Master of Science degree in Medical Physiology with a perfect 4.0 academic distinguishment awarded by Case Western Reserve University in 2022. As musician health becomes a more prominent subject in the field of music, Lyndsey’s goal is to incorporate her vast background in physiology and to promote musician health and wellness in the classroom and the community.

Some of Lyndsey’s musical accomplishments include being a member of the TCU Symphony for 6 years, being selected as a concerto competition winner and performed Ashokan Farewell as a viola soloist with the Arlington High Symphony. She was a six-year All-Region violist and advanced to all-area three consecutive times. She is a former member of the Fort Worth Youth Orchestra under the direction of Dr. German Gutierrez. She traveled to Aqui Terme, Italy, in 2017 where she performed in the Interharmony International Music Festival. Additionally, Lyndsey had the privilege of performing with 2CELLOS in 2018 and has also performed with the San Angelo Symphony Orchestra and Sherman Symphony Orchestra. Lyndsey’s goal is to become an orchestra director after she graduates next fall, along with continuing to teach students privately.

Wayne shared the facts and explored the legends and lore surrounding the Texas cattle trails and Longhorn cattle!

The evening of Saturday, September 23, 2023 , at Chandor Gardens,  historian and author Wayne Ludwig presented “Legends, Longhorns & Life on the Trail” to a full house. Wayne is the author of the book The Old Chisholm Trail: From Cow Path to Tourist Stop.

Wayne’s presentation discussed topics such as life on a cattle drive – the risks and rewards, differences between modern Longhorn cattle and the Longhorns that went up the trails, and explored the legend of the Chisholm Trail and the other major Texas cattle trails.

Wayne Ludwig is a Fort Worth native, cattle trails historian, and author of The Old Chisholm Trail: From Cow Path to Tourist Stop. He created the Texas Cattle Trails History Group on Facebook, and is a member of Western Writers of America and the Academy of Western Artists. The Old Chisholm Trail was awarded the Elmer Kelton Book of the Year award by the Academy of Western Artists, and was named a Finalist for the Robert A. Calvert Book Prize and for the 2018 Most Significant Scholarly Book by the Texas Institute of Letters. His first feature magazine article, “What We Know About the Ol’ Chisholm Trail,” appeared in the February 2019 issue of Wild West magazine.

A book signing immediately followed the presentation.

Of local interest, Tom B. Saunders IV (1934 - 2018) a 5th generation cattle rancher of Parker County and historian wrote the Foreword of Wayne's book The Old Chisholm Trail: From Cow Path to Tourist Stop, and we were honored to have Tom's wife Ann and two daughters Ann Catherine and Amy attend.

We were thrilled to have, one of the most highly respected and award-winning Western authors, Johnny D. Boggs make Weatherford his first stop on his latest book tour and be our guest speaker at Chandor Gardens on September 20, 2023 .

Johnny provided an entertaining talk on his life, and about his newest historical fiction LONGHORNS EAST , which went on sale August 22, 2023.

LONGHORNS EAST - A DARING ADVENTURE INSPIRED BY THE INCREDIBLE TRUE STORY OF TOM CANDY PONTING & THE LONGEST, WILDEST CATTLE DRIVE IN AMERICAN HISTORY – FROM THE HEART OF TEXAS TO NEW YORK CITY

Highly celebrated author Johnny Boggs brings to life the Prairie Cattle King in the first-ever biographical novel based on the remarkable, yet little-known life of Tom Candy Ponting. A harrowing adventure across the grand stage of the Wild West, LONGHORNS EAST is an incredible story of human ambition, pioneer spirit, the savage beauty of nature and the ever-beating heart of the American Dream.

A farmer’s son in rural England, Tom Candy Ponting is just twelve when he’s tasked with walking 53 cattle to London, a distance of more than 100 miles. The journey is harrowing and nearly kills him more than once, but Tom is always learning – about cattle, his trade, the landscape, and most importantly, about human nature. As a young man, he brings these lessons to America’s wild frontier where he’ll take a gamble that would transform the American cattle market for decades.

In 1853, Ponting accepts a bet that nobody believes he’ll live to regret. He agrees to lead a herd of 700 Longhorn cattle from the heart of Texas all the way to New York City – a precarious journey that would take nearly 2 years on hoof and cover more than 2,100 miles across the vast wild frontier. Along the way, he and his motley crew of cowboys cross railroads and rustlers, hucksters and hustlers, with detours and dead ends aplenty. But if they succeed, they’ll make more than just a lot of money. They’ll be the first to introduce Texas Longhorns to the biggest city in America. They’ll make history.

One of the most respected Western writers working today, Johnny D. Boggs has won more awards than any other Western author, including Louis L’Amour. Now, in LONGHORNS EAST, he resurrects a legendary cattleman nearly lost to history, taking readers on an unforgettable journey as big and bold as the American Dream itself.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Johnny D. Boggs is the highly acclaimed author of more than fifty historical fiction and western novels. A twelve-time Spur Award-finalist and nine-time Spur Award-winner, he has received more awards than any other author in the history of the Western Writers of America, including Louis L'Amour. He is a member of the Western Writers Hall of Fame and the 2020 recipient of Owen Wister Award for Lifetime Contributions to Western Literature from the Western Writers of America. Booklist has called him "among the best Western writers at work today" and he has twice received the True West Magazine Best of the West Award.

Visit Johnny Boggs online at: JohnnyDBoggs.com

PRAISE FOR JOHNNY D. BOGGS
“Johnny D. Boggs is one of today’s major writers in the western genre…Filled with bandits, bad weather, prairie fires, Indian attacks,disgruntled drovers, and stampedes… written by a masterful storyteller.” – Historical Novels Review, EDITOR’S PICK for A Thousand Texas Longhorns

"Boggs' gift for memorable storytelling rises to its highest level...bringing the reader to a dramatic, page-turning cattle drive, leading to an unforgettable ending. All this is set against Boggs' impeccable research of place and time." —True West on Return to Red River 

 "Boggs excels at describing the uniquely beautiful, if somewhat brutal, terrain of the Southwest. The Killing Shot is a Western in the classic sense, full of living, breathing characters and boasting a story that never sags." —Tucson Weekly

"Boggs is among the best Western writers at work today. He writes with depth, flavor, and color, all of which are evident in this right-of-passage tale...Boggs tells the familiar story with authenticity and power." -- Booklist on The Lonesome Chisholm Trail