Kelley O’Connor is keeping a busy schedule this week and next with SOLI Chamber Ensemble. The Feature Focus guest artist has already appeared with host Barry Brake on KPAC (88.3 FM), has spent time with students at Edison High School, and has masterclasses with university students and choirs tucked in between a recording session and the upcoming concert on Tuesday, January 20, at Ruth Taylor Recital Hall at Trinity University (pre-concert talk: 7:00; concert: 7:30).
Listen to the complete on-air interview here, or listen to musical excerpts below.
While on air and in rehearsal, Kelley and the Ensemble discussed the newly commissioned works. O’Connor noted, “(it is)… such a joy to perform new music with sensitive colleagues eager to leave a legacy of commissions. Creating new music is unlike any other music-making experience I have had. Completely tapping into our creative minds, and asking us to expand our skills and be present.”
The first of the three commissions, In This Earth by Nicolás Lell Benavides, with texts by Rudolfo Anaya “…has a really natural, storytelling quality to it. The music and words work together in a way that feels warm and grounded, inviting you to settle in and listen as themes of home, memory, and identity gently unfold.”
Ich by Anne Guzzo features texts by noted German poet Ingeborg Bachmann. “Anne Guzzo is a composer known for her emotionally direct, finely detailed music and her deep engagement with literary voices,” Kelley says. “In this new piece, setting text by Ingeborg Bachmann, she channels the strength, complexity, and inner resolve of a powerful woman’s perspective, giving the words both intensity and vulnerability.”
Lastly, SOLI commissioned a new orchestration of Peter Lieberson’s well-loved setting of the Neruda Songs, a work Kelley knows well and has performed and recorded numerous times. “Performing Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs with SOLI Chamber Ensemble in this new arrangement is a profound joy. The intimacy and imagination of the setting revealed fresh colors and emotional depth in the music. Sharing this experience with such committed, sensitive collaborators made it especially meaningful.”
“Listen for the way Lieberson fuses the natural rhythm and sensuality of Neruda’s poetry with a richly expressive vocal line that feels both intimate and expansive. Notice how the instrumental colors mirror the emotional shifts of the text, creating a sound world that moves fluidly between tenderness, longing, and ecstatic intensity.”
The culminating concert of O’Connor’s Feature Focus residency is Tuesday, January 20, 2026 at Ruth Taylor Recital Hall, Trinity University. The event features a pre-concert talk at 7:00 pm; music starts at 7:30 pm. Tickets are free, and RSVPs are accepted here.
Photo credits: SOLI Chamber Ensemble: Joel Mott; Nicolás Lell Benavides: Samantha Godoy.