Spectra

SOLI Chamber Ensemble’s next season concert at the San Antonio Botanical Garden is Spectra on January 31. Works by Canadians Jocelyn Morlock and Malcolm Forsyth, Americans Carlos Simon and Brian Bondari, and Mexicans Arturo Marquez and Gabriela Ortiz shape this concert that considers 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 – is an equally integral part of the experience for the listener. Spectra features the world premiere of Planetscape by San Antonio composer Brian Bondari.

The audience is invited to explore Carlos Simon’s transcendent reimagination of Be Still and Know, the simmering vitality of Arturo Marquez’s Zarabandeo, and motivic patterns reminiscent of the vast frontier plains in both the western United States and northern Mexico in Trifolium by Gabriela Ortiz. At once delicate and majestic, The Jack Pine by Jocelyn Morlock captures the rejuvenation of life clinging to a rocky hillside from the absolute destruction and stillness of a forest fire. And Malcolm Forsyth’s Eclogue is an eloquent dialogue of the dazzling varieties inherent in the sonorous and radiant registers of the solo cello.

Audience members acquainted with epic and classic video games will find Brian Bondari’s commission for SOLI, Planetscape, reminiscent of familiar melodies. Drawing on memories of The Legend of Zelda, Castlevania, Runescape, World of Warcraft, and others, Bondari’s new work is a fresh and original approach to the soundtrack of this distinctly American pastime and is both approachable, and unapologetically melodic.

‘Planetscape’ by Brian Bondari has been made possible with support from the Individual Artists Project Grant Program of the San Antonio Arts Commission.