SOLI Chamber Ensemble Plays Messiaen & Rodríguez

The San Antonio-based SOLI Chamber Ensemble performs Olivier Messiaen’s monumental "Quartet for the End of Time" plus Robert Xavier Rodríguez’ "Les Niais Amoureux" and "Música, por un tiempo" (commissioned by SOLI).

Stephanie Key, clarinet Ertan Torgul, violin David Mollenhauer, cello Carolyn E. True, piano

The San Antonio-based SOLI Chamber Ensemble is dedicated to the performance of 20th and 21st-century classical music, including works commissioned by the ensemble. SOLI has received grants from the Genevieve McDavitt Orsinger Foundation, the Russell Hill Rogers Foundation, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Meet the Composer, the Mid-America Arts Alliance and the National Endowment for the Arts. In addition to their subscription season, SOLI performs on the Texas Commission for the Arts Touring Roster and on numerous children's concerts. SOLI's core members are Stephanie Key, clarinet; Ertan Torgul, violin; David Mollenauer, cello and Carolyn E. True, piano.

STEPHANIE KEY is Assistant Principal Clarinet with the San Antonio Symphony, a member of the Houston Ballet Orchestra and a member of the music faculty of Trinity University. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from New England Conservatory of Music in Boston with Distinction in Performance. She has commissioned several works for clarinet and has performed throughout the United States and internationally, including performances of works by John Cage and Steve Reich, under the composers' direction.

ERTAN TORGUL is Concertmaster of the San Antonio Symphony, and he performs with The Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego, the Music in the Mountains Festival in Northern California, the Music in the Mountains Festival in Durango, Colorado, The Cactus Pear Chamber Music Festival in Texas and the Sun Valley Symphony in Sun Valley, Idaho. A native of Turkey, he began his violin studies at the Ankara State Conservatory and received his Performer's Diploma from Indiana University. He has performed as a member of the Sacramento Symphony and the New World Symphony, and he has toured internationally as a founding member of the prize-winning Plymouth String Quartet. Torgul plays the 1732 “Arkwright-Lady Rebecca” Stradivarius violin.

DAVID MOLLENAUER is Assistant Principal Cellist with the San Antonio Symphony and a member of the music faculty of Trinity University. During the summer he performs with the Grand Teton Music Festival. He received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Harvey Shapiro. He also studied with Lynn Harrell at the University of Southern California, and he has coached with the Juilliard Quartet and Yo-Yo Ma.

CAROLYN TRUE is a member of the music faculty of Trinity University. She received a Performer’s Certificate and a DMA from the Eastman School of Music, with additional study at the Conservatoire National de la Musique de Lyon. She is a prize winner in such national and international competitions as the Kapell International, Music Teachers National Association and the Eastman Concerto Competitions, and she has performed throughout the United States and in Tours, Paris, Lyon, Biarritz and Graz. She has performed many premieres and has recorded works of Ligeti, Bach/Brahms, Beethoven and Bennett.

Music by ROBERT XAVIER RODRIGUEZ is regularly performed in American, Latin American and European musical centers, with over 2000 operatic and orchestral performances in recent seasons by such organizations as the New York City Opera, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Vienna Schauspielhaus, Cleveland Orchestra and the Houston, Dallas, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, National, Boston and Chicago Symphonies. Rodríguez has served as Composer-in-Residence with the San Antonio Symphony and the Dallas Symphony. Thirteen CDs featuring his music have been recorded (1999 Grammy nomination), and his more than 100 works are published by G. Schirmer. He holds the Endowed Chair of University Professor at UT Dallas, and he is active as a guest lecturer and conductor.