Stephanie and Scott discussed their work and the new album with Texas Public Radio host Barry Brake – click the link below to hear the interview and excerpts!
SOLI’s latest album, The Clearing and the Forest, was released on April 14, 2022 by Acis Productions and is available on all streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, Tidal, and others. Premiered by SOLI in 2019 as a fully-staged production, the work, written by composer and multimedia artist Scott Ordway, explores the relationship between landscape, migration, and refuge. SOLI members recorded the material over four days in early January 2022 with engineer Alex Brusencev and Ordway at Trinity University in San Antonio.
The original work was conceived as a multi-sensory evening, complete with a set composed entirely of botanical materials, evoking human movement over vast expanses of land. “In 2018, I watched the forced separation of small children from their families at the US border with horror,” said Ordway. “I was immediately moved to create a work through which I could boldly, plainly, and publicly affirm my support for the rights of refugees as well as our sacred, ancient, and transcultural obligation to provide shelter to those who seek it. In this piece, I sought to forcefully and unequivocally articulate my own views on a subject which continues to divide our society.”
Reflecting on the work and its relevance today, SOLI 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. Scott has captured the essence of movement, of change, of loss and separation, of new hope and becoming — all in a single piece.”