2023 - 2024 Season Recap
SOLI's 30th Anniversary
Celebrating Three decades of musicianship
Season 30 commemorated the long-standing bonds that SOLI has formed with musicians and audiences across San Antonio and throughout the country. To celebrate this milestone, SOLI debuted the 30x30x30 Project, an initiative created in order to uplift early-career composers. Thirty new or recently-composed compositions were selected from nearly 300 submissions to be performed by SOLI and their Project Partners throughout the 2024-2025 season.
2023 - 2024 Concerts and Events
Nebula are clouds of gas and heat occupying space between stars and acting as a nursery for new stars. SOLI presents four past commissions to open the season, honoring its lengthy history of giving life to new works for 30 years. Ethan Wickman’s Ballads of the Borderland Suite weaves the sweeping texts of John Phillip Santos and Carmen Tafolla with personal accounts from those migrating across south Texas into a narrative of “cultural history that is at once panoramic and intimate.” Robert Xavier Rodriguez’s Piñata para los amantes – based on the overture to the composer’s opera Frida – blends samba rhythms and Mexican folk songs, as well as American Jazz techniques. Alexandra Gardner explores life in the deserts of the Southwest in Crows, an illumination of Muscogee (Creek) Nation poet Joy Harjo’s beautiful texts. Steve Mackey’s Prelude to the End is influenced by Messiaen’s iconic Quartet for the End of Time in its themes of mortality, restless textures, and dense harmonic paths. Nebula invites the listener into SOLI’s musical ‘living room’ to reflect on the themes of love, commitment, and reflection, and on how past relationships have formed who we are today. Click to view the program here.
Program
Ethan Wickman | Ballads of the Borderland (2016/2019)* | clarinet/bass clarinet, violin, cello, piano
Robert Xavier Rodríguez| Piñata para los amantes (2023)* | clarinet, cello
Alexandra Gardner | Crows (1998)* | clarinet, violin, cello, piano
Maxim Shalygin | Angel (2020) | piano
Steven Mackey | Prelude to the End (2012)* | clarinet/bass clarinet, violin, cello, piano
* SOLI Commission
Open Mic Night VII:
SOLI’s annual community event in partnership with Texas Public Radio highlights San Antonio’s closet crooners and avid weekend-warrior performers presenting their favorite classical works written after 1970.
Texas Public Radio recorded the event for broadcast on Performance Saturday! Click the link to hear the full event courtesy of TPR.I
Galaxies takes the listener on a journey through a brilliant array of musical textures, colors, and ideas – each held together by a distinct compositional voice much as gravitational attraction binds billions of stars together with gas and dust into visually stunning galaxies. Jennifer Hidgon’s Pale Yellow leads the listener through vibrant and colorful soundscapes. Carl Schimmel’s Three Paintings of Marvin Cone evokes the duality of naturalistic impressionism against abstraction as inspired by the paintings of Marvin Cone. A new commission by Kyle Rivera, winner of this year’s Cross-Country Chamber Consortium award, of which SOLI is a founding member, is at the center of this concert. Anaglyph – A Repository of Imaginary Languages explores the nuance of language – phonetics, morphology, constituency, and syntax – through the lens of a musical language as deciphered by the performers. Jennifer Bellor’s A Grey Dream takes a step back into the moody and gentle atmosphere of a quaint rainy evening. The concert ramps back up to a powerful close with a past SOLI commission. Overland Dream by Peter Lieuwen was commissioned by the Texas Music Teachers Association for SOLI Chamber Ensemble and first premiered by SOLI on October 15, 2011 at the TEDx San Antonio conference. The work plays with vital rhythms and creates a lively interplay between instruments. Click to view the program here.
Program
Jennifer Higdon | Piano Trio (2023) | violin, cello, piano
Carl Schimmel | Three Paintings of Marvin Cone (2020) | piano
Kyle Rivera | Anaglyph – A Repository of Imaginary Languages (2023) | clarinet, violin, cello, piano
Jennifer Bellor | A Grey Dream (2023) | violin, piano
Peter Lieuwen | Overland Dream (2011)* | clarinet, violin, cello, piano
* SOLI Commission
Macrocosm is SOLI’s final concert of the season and occurs on the 30th anniversary of its first concert in 1994. The program opens with Book of Questions by Daniel De Togni, winner of this year’s Alba Alumni Competition. SOLI recently concluded a call for scores for 30x30x30 – a new music initiative supporting early-career composers. To celebrate the success of the 30x30x30 Project, the ensemble presents the first three of the thirty selected works. The concert ends with the world premiere of Elliott Miles McKinley’s Symphony No. 2 for Four Players, op. 79. Three decades, over a hundred commissions, premieres, and performances, eight albums, and countless awards later, Macrocosm celebrates how SOLI has championed new voices and become a creative force in the landscape of contemporary music in this country. Click to view the program here.
Program
Daniel De Togni | Book of Questions (2024) | violin, cello, piano
World Premiere
Brittney Benton | Piano Trio No. 1 (2024) | violin, cello, piano
Texas Premiere
Alex Barsom | Wail On (2023) | cello
Texas Premiere
Alexa Canales | Through Your Eyes, Movement I (2020) | violin, cello, piano
World Premiere
Elliott Miles McKinley | Symphony No. 2 for Four Players, op. 79 (2023)* | clarinet, violin, cello, piano
World Premiere
* SOLI Commission
30x30x30 is a new music initiative in honor of SOLI Chamber Ensemble’s 30th anniversary, supporting early-career composers. Thirty new or recently-composed compositions have been selected from nearly 300 submissions and will be presented in a series of performances beginning in May 2024. SOLI has convened a Project Team of artists to facilitate 30x30x30, and a consortium of Project Partners will curate and present these new works in performances across Texas and the country during the 2024-2025 season. Be sure to tune in next year to hear these fantastic works!
2022 - 2023 Season Recap
Giving Voice
Celebrating music from a wealth of cultures.
Season 29 explored the voices of today’s composers: musics rooted in heritage and culture, or inspired by nature or tradition, using contemporary sounds to weave together a complex story, transcend conflict, or give voice to community. These programs centered the music of cultures that have been widely unsung throughout history.
2022 - 2023 Concerts and Events
Rooted: SOLI presents works that fuse together nature, arts, and ideas, inspired by the San Antonio Botanical Garden’s current exhibit, Rooted (large-scale sculpture by Steve Tobin). Angélica Negrón mirrors electricity’s element of surprise in nature through her use of electronics; Christopher Vu reflects on the degree of disorder and randomness in the universe; and Kati Agócs captures the present-day idea of “alone together.” The concert’s centerpiece is I Remember You by emerging African-American composer Benjamin Horne, winner of the first Cross-Country Chamber Consortium award, of which SOLI is a founding member.
Program
Rodriguez, Andrew | Dark Water (2015) | clarinet, violin, cello, piano
Negrón, Angélica | Columpio (2008) | toy piano, electronics
Kim, Hee Yun | RIP 2020 (2021) | clarinet, soprano
Horne, Benjamin | I Remember You – World Premiere (2022) | clarinet, violin, cello, piano
Yurina, Ludmila | Irrlicht (2000) | solo cello
Agócs, Kati | Thirst and Quenching (2020) | solo violin
Vu, Christopher | Holy Mess (2018) | clarinet, violin, cello, piano
Open Mic Night VI:
SOLI’s annual community event in partnership with Texas Public Radio highlights San Antonio’s closet crooners and avid weekend-warrior performers presenting their favorite classical works written after 1970.
Open Mic Night was open to the public this year for the first time since 2019 and Texas Public Radio recorded the event for broadcast on Performance Saturday! Click the link to hear the full event courtesy of TPR.
Woven: The repertoire for SOLI’s second concert of the season features composers who weave the sounds and spirit of their cultural heritages into contemporary classical works. Latin Grammy-award-winning composer Gabriela Frank’s Hilos “…alludes to the beauty of Peruvian textiles, both in their construction and in their pictorial content of everyday life” and creates sonorities evocative of indigenous music. African-American composer Shawn Okpebholo’s compositions have been described as “devastatingly beautiful” and “fresh and new and fearless,” and his ethnomusicological fieldwork in both East and West Africa often finds its way into his music. SOLI will give the world premiere of CONFLUX by San Antonio native Niccolo Athens, known for blending the Western tonalities and heritage of his youth with the Eastern modes and harmonic palate of his adopted home Tianjin, China. Watch his interview here.
Program
Athens, Niccolo | CONFLUX – World Premiere (2022) | clarinet, violin, cello, piano
Frank, Gabriela Lena | Hilos (2010) | clarinet, violin, cello, piano
Frolyak, Bohdana | Three Miniatures (2009) | violin, cello, piano
Okpebholo, Shawn | ‘Take It Easy, But Take It’ (2021) | violin, piano
Voiced: Giving voice to our cultures and traditions is at the heart of SOLI’s final concert of the season, presented with guest artists EnsembleNEWSRQ. The Afro-Dutch traditions of the colonial period and the contributions of Africans to the formation of New York and the country are deftly illuminated in Trevor Weston’s Pinkster Kings, scored for SOLI’s instrumentation plus percussion and narrator. See the interview with the composer here. Originally written in 2001 and just as applicable in today’s climate, Kevin Puts’ And Legions Will Rise affirms the power in all of us to transcend during times of tragedy and personal crisis. Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate’s Shawi’ Imanompa’ (Raccoon Talk)”, based on an ancient Chickasaw Raccoon Song, includes a unique opportunity for the audience to exercise their voice in the performance – creating textures of sounds evocative of the animals’ chattery troublemaking nature.
Program
Puts, Kevin | And Legions Will Rise (2001) | clarinet, violin, marimba
Harrison, Lou | Varied Trio (1987) | violin, piano, percussion
Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, Jerod | Shawi’ Imanompa’ (Raccoon Talk) (2019) | violin, audience
Samodaieva, Ludmila | Yesterday and Tomorrow (2022) | clarinet, piano
Weston, Trevor | Pinkster Kings (2020) | clarinet, violin, cello, piano, percussion, narrator
electric guitar, cello, and piano
2021 - 2022 Season Recap
Soli's Album DEBUT - APr. '22
The Clearing and the Forest
Reflecting on SOLI’s latest album and its relevance today, Artistic Director Stephanie Key noted, “In a world where we live with the comfort of both time and safety, The Clearing and the Forest immediately resonated with us. We often forget that we are fluid, ever-changing, and not in charge of our future. It took a pandemic to bring that starkly home for us. The album has captured the essence of movement, of change, of loss and separation, of new hope and becoming — all in a single piece.”
Listen to The Clearing and the Forest on all streaming platforms, including the ones linked above!
2021 - 2022 Concerts and Events
Tableau in Frida Kahlo’s Oasis: The Frida Kahlo Oasis at the San Antonio Botanical Garden was the inspiration for a vibrant evening filled with fusions of dance rhythms, jazz, and contemporary expressions. The Zarabandeo of Arturo Marquez accompanied the music of Robert Xavier Rodriguez, including the Concert Suite from Rodriguez’s opera, Frida, with guest artist Jacquelyn Matava, mezzo-soprano.
Program
Marquez, Arturo | Zarabandeo (1995)
clarinet and piano
Freckmann, Yvonne | Postcard Miniatures (2020) World Premiere
Deep True – for solo piano
Serene – for solo cello
Rodriguez, Robert Xavier | Concert Suite from ‘Frida’ (1991)
mezzo-soprano and piano
Jacquelyn Matava, guest artist
Rodriguez, Robert Xavier | Lull-a-Bear (1990)
transcribed from Ursa for cello and piano
Prado, Aaron | Ofrenda (2015/2021)
clarinet, violin, cello, and piano
Original concert program available here
Fractals: This concert was an exploration of infinite color, shape, and voice – as composers weaved new sounds and combinations into the ever-evolving kaleidoscope of music. It featured works by Xi Wang, Quinn Mason, San Antonio-native Aaron Prado, and the world premiere of a new work by internationally acclaimed Syrian-American composer Kinan Azmeh.
Program
Prado, Aaron | Suite for the Between Time (2021)
clarinet, violin, cello, and piano
Say, Fazil | Cleopatra (2010)
solo violin
Wang, Xi | Rhapsody (2005)
solo cello
Mason, Quinn | Three Pieces for Clarinet Solo (2020)
solo clarinet
Ortiz, Gabriela | Estudios entre preludio (2007)
solo piano
Azmeh, Kinan | Four Essays on Solitude and Other Ambiguous Emotions World Premiere
clarinet, violin, cello, piano
Original concert program available here
Reflection on 100 Years of Tango: A concert and special event in support of SOLI, this concert celebrated Astor Piazzolla’s 100th birthday with the colors of movement as heard through music. Piazzolla’s genius is reflected in the infinite ways he stretched the genre of the Tango, inspiring many to capture their heritage on the creative canvas. Arrangements by Clarice Assad and Ofrenda by San Antonio composer Aaron Prado complement an evening highlighting the Tango’s many hues.
Program
Piazzolla, Astor | Tango-Etude No. 1 (1987)
solo clarinet
Piazzolla, Astor | Bordel, 1900 from ‘Histoire du Tango’ (1986)
violin and piano
Piazzolla, Astor | Oblivion (1982)
violin, cello, and piano
Prado, Aaron | Ofrenda (2021)
clarinet, violin, cello, and piano
Piazzolla, Astor | Grand Tango (1982)
cello and piano
Piazzolla, Astor; arr. Clarice Assad | Yo Soy Maria from the opera ‘Maria de Buenos Aires’
violin, clarinet, cello, and piano
Piazzolla, Astor; arr. Clarice Assad | Los Pajaros Perdido
clarinet, violin, cello, and piano
Piazzolla, Astor | Milonga en re (1967)
violin and piano
Piazzolla, Astor | Libertango (1974)
clarinet, violin, cello, and piano
Original concert program available here
Open Mic V: SOLI’s fifth-annual community event in partnership with Texas Public Radio highlighted San Antonio’s closet crooners and avid weekend-warrior performers who presented their favorite classical works written after 1970. This year’s live microphone was staged at TPR’s new Malú and Carlos Alvarez Theatre and recorded for rebroadcast on KPAC’s Performance Saturday.
Spectra: Works by Canadians Jocelyn Morlock and Malcolm Forsyth, Americans Carlos Simon and Brian Bondari, and Mexicans Arturo Marquez and Gabriela Ortiz shaped this concert that considered the spectra of music and culture of our continent. From auroral and ethereal to lighthearted to earthy, every voice – no matter their position or heritage or point of origin – was an equally integral part of the experience for the listener. Spectra featured the world premiere of Planetscape by San Antonio composer Brian Bondari.
Program
Morlock, Jocelyn | The Jack Pine (2010)
solo piano
Forsyth, Malcolm | Eclogue (1998)
solo cello
Bondari, Brian | Planetscape (2021) World Premier
clarinet, violin, cello, and piano
Marquez, Arturo | Zarabandeo (1995)
clarinet and piano
Simon, Carlos | Be Still and Know (2015)
violin, cello, and piano
Ortiz, Gabriela | Trifolium (2005)
violin, cello, and piano
Original concert program available here
Prisms: SOLI’s season was an invitation to look into the core of music, see its infinite array of colors and patterns, and hear the complete aural spectrum. April’s concert was no exception and brought the audience into the eye of the prism – to the point at which change happens. The concert featured the world premiere of Holbein Dances by Cuban-American composer Armando Bayolo and works by Jessie Montgomery and Edna Alejandra Longoria with a special memorial presentation of works by Louis Andriessen (1939 – 2021) and George Crumb (1929 – 2022) with guest artist Jacquelyn Matava, mezzo-soprano.
Program
Frolyak, Bohdana | “Melody” from Three Miniatures in C (2009)
clarinet, violin, cello, and piano
Longoria, Edna Alejandra | Caos y resistencia (2020) San Antonio Premiere
solo piano
Crumb, George | Apparition (1979)
soprano and amplified piano
Montgomery, Jessie | Peace (2020)
violin and piano
Andriessen, Louis | Selections from “The Memory of Roses”
soprano and piano
Bayolo, Armando | Holbein Dances (2021) World Premiere
clarinet, violin, cello, and piano
Original concert program available here
2020 - 2021 Season Recap
Top row photos accredited to Francisco Cortes, efephotography
Moments of SOLIcitude and Digital Series
Bringing Music to You.
In response to the challenges of COVID-19, SOLI presented new performances and revisited highlights from previous seasons in a virtual series called Moments of SOLIcitude. The series playlist is available for viewing and listening on YouTube.
Additionally, SOLI’s pandemic efforts brought in-person concerts to the home. Electrified Air, Beethoven Reimagined, and Fanfare Con Fuoco are available on YouTube
2020 - 2021 Concerts and Events
Through the Eyes and Lens of the Beholder: This concert focused on a composer taking another artist’s work— be it image, music, or poetry—and refashioning it into their own music and voice. Included were the Texas premiere of Jennifer Jolley’s Recomposed Scriabin, a new arrangement for SOLI by San Antonio composer James Scott Balentine, and the world premiere of till our bodies into the night slip by Michael Matthews, a featured artist in FOTOSEPTIEMBRE 2020. Watch the performance of Aaron Jay Kernis’ Fanfare con fuoco here.
Program
Fanfare con fuoco (2002) | Aaron Jay Kernis (b. 1960)
for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano
Dialoghi (2006) | Steven Stucky (1949 – 2016)
for solo cello
Red (2007) | Elena Ruehr (b. 1963)
for solo violin
till our bodies into the night slip (2005/2020) | Michael Matthews (b. 1950) World Premiere
for clarinet/bass clarinet, cello, and piano
Etude, Op. 8 No. 1 | Aleksandr Scriabin (1871-1915)
for solo piano
Recomposed Scriabin (2017) | Jennifer Jolley (b. 1981) Texas Premiere
for solo piano
Double-Dog Dare (2019) | James Stephenson (b. 1964)
for solo clarinet
Asking a Shadow to Dance (2013/2019) | James Scott Balentine (b. 1947) World Premiere
for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano
Beethoven Reimagined: In 2012, SOLI Chamber Ensemble commissioned four composers to create a call and response to the revolutionary final movement of Beethoven’s final string quartet. SOLI revisited this fascinating journey in honor of the composer’s 250th birthday in a live online SOLI DIGITAL event. Watch the video here.
This event was dedicated in loving memory of Marjorie Lynn Mollenauer (Jan 28, 1937 – Dec 7, 2020).
Program
Grosse fuge, op. 133 (1826/2011) | Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) | Brian Bondari (b. 1979)
for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano
Encounter Beethoven’s Grosse fuge (2011) | Xi Wang (b. 1978)
for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano
Groove Parade (2012) | Doug Balliett (b. 1983)
for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano
Romanza-Duettino (2012) | Dan Welcher (b. 1948)
for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano
Grosse fuge Fantasy (2012) | Paul Moravec (b. 1957)
for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano
Open Mic Night IV: SOLI’s 4th season Contemporary Classical Open Mic Night in partnership with Texas Public Radio. Closet crooners, budding impresarios, and avid weekend-warrior performers took the stage for a Livestream event with their favorite contemporary classical work on Sunday, February 28, 2021
Electrified Air: A Digital Event in collaboration with Grammy award-winning electric guitarist D. J. Sparr. This innovative evening fused the sounds of diverse contemporary music spheres – phasing, loops, and funk met rock, flavors of jazz, and contemporary classical harmonies to bring electrifying energy to the ear. Watch the video here.
SOLI’s digital event included the world premieres of three works: Hammer and Nail by Anthony Joseph Lanman, A Singing Planet by Olivia Kieffer, and the SOLI commissioned work A Bell Outside a Bell Inside a Bell by D. J. Sparr. Click here to watch a special animated graphical score of Hammer and Nail!
A special “thank you” to St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Machine Says Yes, and Zinc Media Pro for their incredible support and creative energy on this project!
Program
Vim-Hocket, Calm (1997) | D. J. Sparr (b. 1975)
for electric violin, and electric guitar
Hammer and Nail (2016) | Anthony Joseph Lanman (b. 1979) World Premiere
for piano and electric guitar
movements from Little Black Book (2012) | Armando Bayolo (b. 1973)
for electric guitar
Pepto-Bismol Pink (2016) | Jay Mobley (b. 1988)
for clarinet and electric guitar
A Bell Outside a Bell Inside a Bell (2019-2020) | D. J. Sparr World Premiere
for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano
movements from A Singing Planet (2013) | Olivia Kieffer (b. 1980) World Premiere
for electric guitar
Troica (1998) | Marc Mellits (b. 1966)
for violin, electric guitar, and piano
Our Friend Adam (2007/2020) | Ryan Brown (b. 1979)
for bass clarinet, violin, electric guitar, cello, and piano
Stories from the Voices Within: This concert featured the world premier of the violin and piano arrangement of Elegy (for those we lost) by Aaron Jay Kernis, movements from Chick Corea’s Children’s Songs, and the world premiere of ((Here)) by Darian Donovan Thomas. Featured artists for the performances included San Antonio Poet Laureate and Hip-Hop artist Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson and noted flamenco dancer Tamara Adira.
Click here to watch an interview with several of the artists featured in this concert!
violin, cello, and piano
For the End of Time: A New Beginning – a live broadcast from the Malú and Carlos Alvarez Theater at Texas Public Radio’s new studio headquarters. Listeners were able to tune in to KPAC 88.3 FM or online at tpr.org to hear the concert live on Sunday May 16.
Highlights:
- In Spring 2020, Pulitzer prize and Grammy-award winning composer Aaron Jay Kernis dedicated a new piano piece, Elegy (for those we lost), “to the families of loved ones who passed away from the coronavirus and to the doctors, nurses, and other health-care professionals who worked so tirelessly to save those loved ones.” SOLI was honored to present the violin and piano arrangement of Elegy. Click here to read more about this stirring work.
- Olivier Messian wrote Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of Time) for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano while imprisoned during World War II. SOLI’s broadcast performance commemorated the 80th anniversary of its premiere in 1941 in Stalag VIII-A, a prisoner-of-war camp in Görlitz, Germany (now Zgorzelec, Poland).