SOLI Chamber Ensemble

The Hugh Hodgson School of Music (HHSOM) welcomes the SOLI Chamber Ensemble in residency October 19-20. Their residency begins with a concert on Thursday, October 19 at 7:30 p.m., followed by a day of workshops and master classes from 2-7 p.m. with composition and performance students.

SOLI Chamber Ensemble has been giving voice to 20th- and 21st-century contemporary chamber music since 1994, engaging audiences with unique 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.

The concert will be presented in Ramsey Concert Hall at the UGA Performing Arts Center, 230 River Road, Athens, GA, 30602. This concert is free. No tickets required. The workshops on Friday will be in the Dancz Center for New Music in the Hugh Hodgson School of Music, 250 River Road, Athens, GA, 30602. The residency is open to the public.

ABOUT SOLI

SOLI’s engagement with the dynamism of 21st-century music includes a strong commitment to

commissioning new works from established and emerging composers. In its first 29 years, SOLI has

commissioned and premiered over 100 new compositions from some of today’s most exciting voices,

including Shulamit Ran, Kinan Azmeh, Clarice Assad, D. J. Sparr, Darian Donovan Thomas, Armando

Bayolo, Scott Ordway, Pierre Jalbert, Steven Mackey, Matthew Aucoin, Xi Wang, Alexandra Gardner,

Ethan Wickman, Carl Schimmel, Ned Rorem, Paul Moravec, Robert X. Rodriguez, Elliott McKinley, Peter

Lieuwen, David Heuser, Tim Kramer, and many others. SOLI has presented several of these works on

their commercially-released recordings The Clearing and the Forest (Acis), Música por un tiempo

(Albany), Overland Dream (MSR), and Portraits and in their digital productions.

The San Antonio-based ensemble presents a regular season of concerts and is as comfortable in concert

halls as they are in museums, art galleries, jazz clubs, and other venues that allow audiences to enjoy

music in a more relaxed, informal setting. SOLI creates special projects and collaborations with other

organizations, such as Ballet San Antonio, Attic Rep Theater Company, Youth Orchestras of San Antonio,

and Musical Bridges Around the World. In 2017, SOLI embarked on a major collaborative effort with the

Children’s Chorus of San Antonio, San Antonio Chamber Choir, and soloist Tynan Davis to realize

composer Ethan Wickman’s cantata, Ballads of the Borderlands, in celebration of the 300th anniversary

of the City of San Antonio. In April 2021, SOLI presented ((HERE)) by San Antonio-native multi-disciplinary artist 

Darian Donovan Thomas with texts by San Antonio Poet Laureate Andrea "Vocab" Sanderson.

In addition to the Chamber Music America awards, SOLI has received awards and grants from the Aaron

Copland Fund for Music, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Amphion Foundation, the Ditson

Foundation, New Music USA’s Creative Connections, the Eastman Institute for Music Leadership, Meet

the Composer, The Russell Hill Rogers Fund for the Arts, the Argosy Foundation, The Tobin Endowment,

the Texas Commission on the Arts, and the City of San Antonio’s Department of Arts & Culture.

SOLI’s vision brings new music alive through a rich education program for the next generations of

creators and patrons aged 8-88. As Ensemble in Residence at Trinity University (San Antonio, TX) since

2008, SOLI performs on campus, conducts open rehearsals, coaches student chamber groups, and

works with student composers. Academic residencies have taken their artistry and experience to

campuses throughout the U.S. and to Alba, Italy.