Events

Festival of Premieres: Brian Nabor’s “Soul Bop”

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  • Date: January 31, 2025
  • Time: Available Through Jan 31
  • Venue: Streaming Online

Through the month of January, CMSCVA celebrates our contribution to the chamber music repertoire with an online digital festival of pieces we have commissioned and premiered. Enjoy works written for CMSCVA in the past four years that have transformed the chamber music repertoire and delighted audiences throughout Richmond.

Up next is Soul Bop, a quintet for strings by Louisiana-based composer Brian Nabors, commissioned by CMSCVA and premiered on February 3, 2023.

CMSCVA had programmed Brian Nabor’s flute piece, Énergie, in 2017. Wanting to create a quintet that would complement Luigi Boccherini’s “Night Sounds in the Streets of Madrid,” we learned of Nabor’s powerful quintet entitled “Caged.” Taken with the compelling message of this piece and excellent use of stringed instruments, we thought Nabors would be the perfect composer for a new string ensemble commission.

Inspired by the nocturnal and urban themes of Boccherini’s quintet, Nabor’s Soul Bop combines emotional, flamboyant declaration with gritty dance music drawing on various African American musical traditions. The result is an updated but surprisingly well-matched companion to Boccherini’s Night Sounds in the Streets of Madrid. The piece was also written for period instruments with gut strings, which Nabors highlighted with crunchy harmonies and strong articulations.

About his piece, Nabors writes:

Soul Bop for string quintet was commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia for the Cramer String Quartet and cellist James Wilson for CMSCVA’s 2022-23 season. The work explores the stylistic crossings of Soul, Gospel & Folk music with hints of the contrapuntal Baroque. The opening soulful recitative gives way to a colorful, explosive sonic journey.”

Click here to watch a performance of “Soul Bop” with:
Annie Garlid, historical viola
Kate Goddard, historical violin
Jessica Park, historical violin
Michael Unterman, historical cello
James Wilson, historical cello