Guest contributor: Stephanie Key
San Antonio was buzzing in late January as SOLI welcomed our first-ever Artist in Residence: Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor. And she has set the bar very high indeed!
Engaging the Next Generation
She dazzled our gala audience at the Non-Stop Music Fête and, throughout the week, worked tirelessly with young vocal students at Edison, Lee, and Alamo Heights High Schools, as well as the University of the Incarnate Word and Trinity University. She inspired all of us with invaluable tips on vocal techniques, warm-ups and support ideas, and life- and career-building nuggets of wisdom.
World Premieres
SOLI had the luxury of rehearsing for several days with her on two newly commissioned works, which received their World Premiere performances that weekend. Composer Anne Guzzo was able to join us for the performance of her new work Ich for mezzo, clarinet, and piano, based on the poetry of Ingeborg Bachmann. Students enjoyed a day of inspiring compositional lessons and activities with Dr. Guzzo at Trinity. Nicolás Lell Benavides created an inspired work for Kelley and SOLI, using the beautiful poetry of Rudolfo Anaya.
View a clip of Ich here.
View a clip of In This Earth here.
A “Musical Powerhouse” Re-envisioned
In addition to a work from Texas-based composer Michael Ippolito, the performance was rounded out by the re-envisioning of a musical powerhouse that Kelley has championed around the globe. In celebration of the 20th anniversary of Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs, SOLI invited Paul Bateman to re-orchestrate the work from its original symphonic setting to SOLI’s quartet instrumentation. We also squeezed in a day of recording the Neruda Songs before presenting the entire program Tuesday night to a wonderfully appreciative audience!