SOLI Chamber Ensemble: Voiced

• ensembleNEWSRQ

SOLI Chamber Ensemble presents Voiced on February 27, giving voice to our cultures and traditions with guest artists ensembleNEWSRQ. The concert begins at 7pm at the San Antonio Botanical Garden's Betty Kelso Center and features works by Kevin Puts, Lou Harrison, Jared Impichchaachaaha' Tate, Ludmila Samodaieva, and Trevor Weston's Pinkster Kings, a "captivating marriage of sound and story" with guest narrator Kimberlyn Montford.

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. The Ensemble welcomes George Nickson, percussion, and Samantha Bennett, violin, (ensembleNEWSRQ) to the stage to present this work along with guest narrator Kimberlyn Montford from Trinity University.

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. Rounding out the concert is Ukranian composer Ludmila Samodaieva's Yesterday and Tomorrow (Вчера и завтра), impressions captured by a composer while a refugee in Paris this past year during the war.

About SOLI Chamber Ensemble

SOLI Chamber Ensemble has been giving voice to 20th- and 21st-century contemporary chamber music since 1994, mesmerizing audiences for nearly three decades with their engaging performances, ensuring the future of new music through educational initiatives, and continually renewing their commitment to the music of living composers through performances and commissions. Winner of the 2013 Chamber Music America and ASCAP Adventurous Programming Award and a 2020 Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Grant, SOLI continues to champion new works, new contexts, and new audiences for the music of our time.

About ensembleNEWSRQ

ensembleNEWSRQ strives to manifest the creativity of the current generation and inspire audiences to participate in musical culture in a profound way, through high-level curated concert experiences that sustain and transform the relevance of contemporary classical music.