ROCO Unchambered: Kaleidoscope

“Konza Parable”, a ROCO commission, is inspired by the Konza Prairie’s lifecycle of burning and rebirth.

ROCO’s 16th season continued with “Kaleidoscope,” the second performance of ROCO’s musician-curated Unchambered series—streamed live in partnership with and from The Alta Arts, an organization celebrating cultural arts and architecture in southwest Houston.

Featuring ROCO’s principal winds, the nature-inspired program presented two world premieres by ROCO’s composer-in-residence Alyssa Morris: “Konza Parable” for wind quintet, inspired by the seasonal fires of Kansas’s Konza Prairie, and “Shine” for oboe and percussion. Valerie Coleman’s blues fantasia “Red Clay & Mississippi Delta”, plus William Grant Still’s “Miniatures for Woodwind Quintet” completed the program.

With ROCO musicians:

Brook Ellen Ferguson,

flute Alecia Lawyer, oboe

Nathan Williams, clarinet

Kristin Wolfe Jensen, bassoon

Gavin Reed, horn

Andreea Muţ, piano