Silvia Santinelli

Silvia Santinelli, COSA Co-Founder 

As co-founder and now member of COSA’s Education Committee, I am delighted and honored to participate in this new venture. For those of you who do not yet know me, let me share with you a few facts about myself.

I am a pianist of Mexican and Italian descent who now thinks of San Antonio as her home. I was introduced to the world of music when I was five years old, when my mother enrolled my sister and me for piano lessons at our local music school in Mexico. I am very fortunate to have been immersed in the classical music field since then, with the help of my teachers and parents, and through numerous competitions and performances that enriched my musical knowledge to become the musician that I am today.

While I was studying for my doctorate, I became inspired by the music of Spanish composers of the late 19^th and early 20^th century. I discovered a lot of musical traits that are a product of that culture’s inherent human characteristics, such as their passion and zest for life that still includes a very tragic and melancholic side, which I believe adds a profound significance to their existence. I felt drawn to not only the music but to the art based on Spanish themes as well. I am fond of the American painter John Singer Sargent, and I own a three-quarter size replica of his magnificent work, El Jaleo, which exhibits a brilliant representation of that wonderful song and dance form of Spanish music we commonly recognize as Flamenco.

A great part of my musical upbringing took place in this great city. San Antonio created a window of opportunities, and a number of wonderful people sponsored my piano education with the late Robert Avalon. It is hard to believe that some of the wonderful friendships and relationships that I maintain today are a product of those formative years. (Thank you all for those generous contributions and your intention to help develop the talent of two young Mexican girls.) 

2012 Music as Muse Visual Arts Prize Winner

Congratulations to our 2012 Music as Muse Visual Arts Prize winner, Amy Morales.
Amy Morales is a 17 year old senior at the Edgewood Fine Arts and Career academy and is ranked top ten in her class. She also is a student at a local  after school art program, SaySi. She is planning to further her education and major in the fine arts. Amy has participated in several competitions including Visual Arts scholastic Event and Scholastic Art and Writing event. Amy is actively involved in the local art community and is the president of the Art Club at her high school. She enjoys experimenting with different types of mediums including watercolor, ink and welding. Currently her series of work portrays a mix of figurative drawing and anthropomorphic elements. You can view her prize-winning work below.

Questions Unanswered

2012 Music as Muse Poetry Prize Winner

Congratulations to our 2012 Music as Muse Poetry Prize winner, Alice Frederick.

Alice Frederick is a senior at Keystone School, where she is an active third-year member and editor of the school's Literary Magazine. She devoted three weeks this past sumer to a Creative Writing course as part of the Educational Program for Gifted Youth at Stanford University. In addition to writing, Alice stays involved with the student body as president of the Keystone chapter of the National Honor Society and as a four-year Student Council Representative for her class. She has served as vice president of Spanish Club and participates heavily in Keystone's theater program. Alice also avidly pursues music as Student Leader of the Junior Tuesday Musical Club, violinist in the Youth Orchestras of San Antonio, and co-founder of her school's a cappella group, the Keytones. 

This year, our judge in poetry was Lloyd Schwartz, author of the poetry collections Cairo Traffic and Goodnight, Gracie. Schwartz was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music Criticism for his work with the Boston Phoenix. Of Alice Frederick's poem, Schwartz wrote: "'The Allegory' is a mysterious, scary poem about looking for a path to some kind of answer and not quite finding one, just as Charles Ives does in "The Unanswered Question." It's a poem about mystery, and the image of trying to find one's way through a cave seems a perfect way to convey this effort. This is a very well-written, intriguing, and sophisticated poem--and meets its challenge superbly."

2012 Music as Muse Prize

COSA Youth Renaissance is pleased to announce its first annual Music as Muse Prize. The contest is open to all high school seniors in the San Antonio and surrounding area. This year, the contest welcomes works of poetry and visual art. However, all works submitted must be based on the musical work The Unanswered Question, by composer Charles Ives. Listen to the piece, let it inspire you to create a new work of your own, or write about how it makes you feel! We look forward to reading and viewing your submissions. But here are a few guidelines you must follow.

For poems: Only one poem per author allowed. Your poem must not exceed 90 lines. Please submit your poem as a pdf file, and label the file with only the name of your poem. Remember, all poems must be based on the theme listed above. The deadline for submissions is October 5, 2012. Email your submission to: musicasmuse@chamberorchestrasa.org. Include your name and title of poem in the subject box of the email (e.g. Jane Doe: Ode to Ives). In the body of the email, please include your name, high school, phone number, email address, and title of poem. Do not include your name or any identifying information on your submission. For any questions, contact Barbara Perez at musicasmuse@chamberorchestrasa.org.

For visual art: Art in any medium is acceptable, except video and film. The artwork must be based on the theme listed above. Please submit a quality image of your work as a jpeg file, and label the file with only the name of your art piece.  The deadline for submissions is October 5. Email your submission to: musicasmuse@chamberorchestrasa.org. Include your name and title of poem in the subject box of the email (e.g. Jane Doe: Ode to Ives). In the body of the email, please include your name, high school, phone number, email address, and title of poem. Do not include your name or any identifying information on your submission. For any questions, contact Barbara Perez at musicasmuse@chamberorchestrasa.org. 

Four finalists from each category will be contacted and chosen to present their work at the COSA Inaugural Concert on October 26, 2012. All finalists will receive three tickets to COSA's Inaugural Concert and publication on the COSA Youth Renaissance blog. Winners of the contest will be announced at the concert and will receive a prize of $500. 

COSA Inaugural Concert

Have you ever wondered why you feel drawn to a particular piece of music or composer? This and many other mysteries about music and our human existence will be addressed by Dr. Kathleen Higgins, renowned Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas in Austin, at our 2012 Inaugural Performance on October 26th. Her lecture, paired with musical performance, will address how musical works and philosophical topics interweave and relate to “our essence of being”. Carlos Izcaray, famed Venezuelan conductor, will lead our orchestra in their performances. The works to be performed will span five centuries and seven artistic periods of musical and philosophical history addressing the continuing debates among music and philosophy enthusiasts: tonality in music and the essence of being.

Music and Poetry

Poetry has always held ties to music. The rhythm of a line of verse, the cadence of a word pronounced, the pleasing rhyme and pattern of similar sounds—for the writer, music exists in the very language we use. Beyond the musicality of words themselves, writers have also (and often) used music as the subject of their work.

For example, in his poem “Ellen West”, Frank Bidart writes of the opera singer Maria Callas. In his collection Jelly Roll, poet Kevin Young celebrates blues music. And in the poems of Jack Kerouac, one hears the jazz music of the 1960s echoing from the page. From cantatas to fugues to 12 bar blues, music has proven itself to be an ideal source of inspiration for poetry.

For our Music as Muse contest, COSA invites writers to submit a poem inspired by The Unanswered Question, a 1906 composition by Charles Ives. Celebrate the dynamic duo of poetry and music by listening to Ives' composition and writing an inspired poem of your own. Full guidelines are available on the COSA blog. Click here to hear The Unanswered Question. 

Cantatas

A cantata is a vocal composition originated in the 17^th century and made famous during the Italian Baroque era. The composition is generally an expressive narrative that consists of a progression of arias, duets, and choruses. Cantatas may be either sacred or secular in subject and can vary in the number of singers required. Sacred cantatas were often hymns of praise and used a holy text as their narrative basis. On the contrary, secular cantatas were not religious in nature and often told historical or pagan-based narratives.    

In all of music, some of the most beloved cantatas are those of composer Johann Sebastian Bach. During his career, Bach composed over 200 cantatas. Cantata No. 140 is one of the most well known and praised of his sacred cantatas. The work is a chorale cantata, or one that draws on the texts and melodies of Lutheran hymns. After Bach’s death in 1750, the cantata became less frequently composed, but no less admired. 

Johann Sebastian Bach

Born on March 21, 1685, celebrated German composer and organist Johann Sebastian Bach remains one of the music world's most influential figures. A deep love for music was common in Bach's family, with an extended family of musicians (including his father) sharing the Bach namesake. His own love of music began early on and was encouraged by father, who taught him to play the violin and harpsichord. When Bach's father died, he remained with his older brother, who taught him to play the organ. Thanks to this early music education, Bach later became an virtuosic organist, for which many of his compositions are written.


Throughout his early career, Bach held various posts as a musician, including a violinist position in Weimar and an organist position at the Neue Kirche in Arnstadt. In 1707, he married and continued to focus on composing his own work. A decade later, Bach was named director of chapel music at the royal court of Anhalt-Cöthen, and in 1723, was named Cantor of the choir at St Thomas's in Leipzig (the last appointment of his career).


Bach died on July 28, 1750, leaving over 1,100 compositions. Spanning several musical genres, Bach's works are hailed by many as some of the most complex and influential of any composer. For more on Bach's life and work, visit the J.S. Bach website or watch the BBC Great Composers Series (parts 1 and 2) available online.