The program includes 16th century compositions in both Spanish and in Nahuatl (the language of the Aztecs) dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe, and played on instruments used in that period.
Admission is free to all students through high school age and to CBC students with their photo ID’s. Other adults will pay $7 at the door if they do not hold BCA season membership tickets.
SAVAE made its debut in 1989 at San Antonio’s historic San Fernando Cathedral, presenting Latin American music from the colonial period.
In the years that have followed, SAVAE has made five recordings and been heard on the soundtrack of a major Hollywood release, on television documentaries and on National Public Radio broadcasts.
SAVAE has toured throughout the United States: from New York to Seattle, and from Baton Rouge to Milwaukee. The International Baroque Festival of Bolivia presented SAVAE in its Misiones Chiquitos series, marking the ensemble’s foreign debut.
With its home in San Antonio, the United States’ most colorful Latino city, it is no surprise that SAVAE made its mark with unique recordings of ancient music from Latin America, including the Billboard magazine’s praise for their CD, “Guadalupe: Virgen de los Indios.”
SAVAE’s inventive approach to the fusion of pre-Colombian and European musical elements won the ensemble an invitation to record Academy Award-winning composer Todd Boekelheide’s original score for the award-winning documentary, “Discovering Dominga.”
SAVAE’s recording of ancient Middle Eastern music, “ Ancient Echoes,” features the ensemble’s exploration of music and dialects from the Holy Land.
It was World Library Publications’ (SAVAE’s record label) number-one seller for two consecutive years, and received rave reviews for its inspiring blend of scholarly research and creative flair. Director Ridley Scott included a track from that recording in his 2005 feature film, “The Kingdom of Heaven.”
The ensemble’s artistic director, Christopher Moroney, has created ground-breaking new compositions and arrangements for SAVAE by delving deeply into the history and culture of the music he prepares for the group to perform and record. He has traveled to Mexico, Peru, Bolivia and Palestine/Israel to conduct research.
Moroney’s exciting reconstruction of Aztec ceremonial music won him a commission to compose a piece for The Sport of Life and Death, a traveling museum exhibition of Pre-Colombian artifacts related to Aztec culture. Musicologist Theodore Burg called Moroney’s work on Ancient Echoes “a well-researched, well-recorded musical journey...with an intriguing, timeless effect.”
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