One of San Antonio’s chamber groups, Agarita, is heading to the East Side’s Carver Community Cultural Center on Friday evening for a performance.
“We are a piano quartet here in San Antonio, that is comprised of violin, viola, cello and piano. And our mission is to collaborate with other artists of different genres,” violinist Sarah Silver Manzke said.
This collaboration features a journey along the length of the Rio Grande, as seen through the written word and photographs.
“It’s called Postcards From the Border, and it features Joel Salcido, a wonderful photographer, and writer Oscar Casares. Oscar wrote postcards to his daughter, and Joel photographed what they saw,” Manzke said. “And what we’re doing is pairing music to the wonderful images and messaging of this trip.”
Salcido’s photographs will be projected on a large screen behind the Carver stage. If you’re thinking this all sounds familiar, there’s a reason. Salcido and Casares did their collaboration without the music for a major magazine.
“They did a series that was called Postcards From The Border that appeared last year in Texas Monthly.”
Agarita’s choices of what music to perform are, like the border itself, a crossroads of culture.
“The final piece on the program is a medley, and it takes from a little bit of everything. German dance influences, it has some conjunto influences, a Strauss waltz in there,” Manzke said. “Basically, it just shows that the roots of what you see at the border come from so many places and involves so many different cultures and people.”
If your entertainment budget is stretched a bit tight right now, Manzke said not to worry.
“That’s right, we have free concerts. We really believe that what we do and the art we’re making and the music we’re creating—we want it to be accessible and available to everyone in the community,” she said.
