One of the complexities of Angel Island by Huang Ruo is that vocal parts are alternately in English and Chinese. For American choral groups, who are familiar with practicing Italian, German, French, and Latin diction, Chinese is not a common language with which they often have experience. And for this project, it was important to get it right.

This bonus is an excerpt of Charlton’s interview with Sidney Chen of Volti. Volti is the vocal ensemble that was instrumental in the development and world premiere of Angel Island.

In this clip, they are discussing the nuances of Chinese language, phonetics, and coaching the ensemble through the oratorio’s text.

They also share stories about both Charlton’s and Sid’s personal relationship to learning Mandarin Chinese.

Volti has an exciting calendar of music events planned for 2025, including a new commission from LJ White with Left Coast Chamber Ensemble in January and February and a program dedicated to “environmentalism in music” in June. Learn more at www.voltisf.org.

And see what Sid Chen is up to at sidneychenarts.com.

Featured music from The Angel Island Oratorio composed by Huang Ruo. Performed by Del Sol Quartet & United States Air Force Band's Singing Sergeants / National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, recorded and edited by Suraya Mohamed.

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This episode is a bonus from the "Angel Island" season of Sounds Current. If you haven't already, we encourage you to go back to "Part 1: A Haunting History" and listen to the full 4-part story. Sounds Current is produced and edited by The Creative Impostor Studios and hosted by Charlton Lee.

Happy New Year!

We'd love to see you in 2025 and we have 3 upcoming concerts to share with you.

• Wednesday, January 29, 2025
• Herbst Theatre

Carla Kihlstedt and Del Sol Quartet will perform Kihlstedt’s 26 Little Deaths, inspired by Edward Gorey’s macabre alphabet book, The Gashlycrumb Tinies. Moving between art song, pop song, and cabaret, this hour-long song cycle captures the pathos, humor, and wit of Gorey’s iconic images.

• Saturday, February 1, 2025
• Miner Auditorium

Del Sol is honored to be a part of the West Coast premiere of Kendrick Scott’s multimedia project Unearthed. Combining poetry, visuals, string quartet, and a jazz ensemble, this moving work memorializes the Sugar Land 95 – the 95 unidentified Black prisoners and forced laborers found buried in the Texas town of Sugar Land in 2018.

• Friday, February 14, 2025
• Duncan Recital Hall, The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University

We are excited to announce Del Sol Quartet as one of Chamber Music America’s inaugural Ensembles in Residence! The Quartet will be presenting a program (TBA) as part of CMA’s Friday Festival event.

Learn more about these and other upcoming events at delsolquartet.com/calendar.

Hear our behind the scenes conversation about producing the award-winning season 1 of Sounds Current with our producer and editor, Andrea Klunder, from her podcast The Creative Impostor.

But, wait! This episode isn’t just about creating a podcast.

It’s about the joys and tension of being part of a chamber ensemble, pushing yourself to do something new in order to move society, and making art that means something valuable even when, and especially if, it doesn’t make sense economically.

Oh and you will hear us mention briefly the Yampa River trip and the Pandemic Joy project, though we don’t go into detail. If you want to learn more about these and other Del Sol projects past and present, please visit DelSolQuartet.com.

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