Arts Alive San Antonio

by Jasmina Wellinghoff, Editor

Founded as an ensemble in 2018, the AGARITA Chamber Players has become an active and very visible chamber music group, popping up in concert halls, in the parks and other public spaces, and in schools around the city. Their 2023-24 season promises more of that, plus appearances by illustrious guest artists, and concert themes that include American folk music-inspired compositions, a collaboration with
a live theater performance, and a concert inspired by Colombian music.

“The season is put together by artistic director Daniel Anastasio but we all contribute to it,” said violist Marisa Bushman, who is managing director for the ensemble. “We all decide together whom we would like to be featured in the upcoming season with us, but after that is all settled, he is the one who devises the programming, and the person who handles the details of the collaborative process with guest artists. A similar process also takes place when decisions are made about the actual programming. The ensemble keeps a list of potential guest musicians that they would like to work with, and it makes sure that each season has a balance of different artistic forms, different collaborators and locations.

“Next season is again a very exciting season for us,” she noted. “We’ll be bringing back classical guitarist Pablo Sainz-Villegas to play with us at the Botanical Garden. Last year we had a wonderful connection with him. We are so lucky that he will be returning to San Antonio during his U.S. tour. Another thing we always love doing each season is returning to the Motherhouse Chapel at the University of the Incarnate World. And that program this year, like the one last year, will feature just Agarita, the four of us, interacting with that magnificent space.”

In addition to the more traditional type of concerts, AGARITA also performs in parks and other public places across the city, through an initiative it calls Humble Hall. The latter refers to a truck equipped with a small platform in the back where musicians play for whoever is around to listen.

No matter where performed, all AGARITA concerts are always free to the public. How can they sustain that practice? We asked.

What makes it possibly is diligent fund-raising throughout the year, plus grants like the recent 3-year-grant from the San Antonio Area Foundation, for $15,000 each year. “We have quite a list of foundation and corporate sponsorships,” noted Bushman. “And we also have over 550 individual donors. The community is supporting this for their neighbors.”

In addition to Anastasio and Bushman, the quartet consists of violinist, Sarah Silver Manzke, and Bushman’s husband, cellist Ignacio Gallego.

AGARITA was formed back in 2018 when Daniel Anastasio returned to San Antonio to be a professor at San Antonio College. Bushman and Manzke had become friends through the San Antonio Symphony, and one thing led to another as they all liked the idea of playing together. Bushman had also played with Anastasio several times before. “We all got together and said, ‘Let’s do something different and new in this town.’ San Antonio is our home and we wanted to have a stake in the arts here. It seemed like the

right moment.”

All have other jobs, too. As already mentioned, Anastasio teaches as SAC, Manzke is marketing director for Blue Sky of Texas Retirement Community (She has an MBA degree in addition to her musical education) and Gallego was orchestra director at Alamo Heights High School until recently and runs a teaching studio at present. He is also in charge of Agarita’s school program As for Bushman, her energy is entirely devoted to Agarita, both as a musician and as the executive director of the organization.

“We have been fortunate to be able to increase our budget each year, and increase artistic and administration salaries for all of us,” said Bushman. “It also makes it easier to bring the guest artists of their choice to San Antonio.

“For us, it’s a wonderful experience to be able to bring people from outside of San Antonio,” explained Bushman, but we still collaborate with different organizations and artists here.” In the coming season these local collaborations will include the Public Theater of San Antonio, The Carver Community Cultural Center and the Incarnate Word Chapel. Just recently, AGARITA performed a memorable “traveling” concert” at the San Antonio Museum of Art by playing in different galleries music from the historical periods represented by each gallery.
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So here’s what’s coming up: Sept.2 at 7:30 p.m. AGARITA + Members of the Parker Quartet; Music inspired by the diverse influence of American folk music; composers: Antonin Dvorak, Jessie Montgomery, Florence Price, Julia Wolfe, Steve Reich, John Williams, and George Gershwin (Bennack Music Center, UIW, 4301 Broadway, 78209)

AGARITA at the Motherhouse Chapel, Oct. 19 at 7:30 p.m.; program not available; UIW, 4503 Broadway, 78209

AGARITA + Public Theater of San Antonio; January 27, 2024 at 7:30 p.m. No specifics.

AGARITA + Pablo Sainz Villegas; February 24, 2024 ay 7:30 p.m.; Works by Astor Piazzolla, Heitor Villa-Lobos and more; the program will also feature a commissioned work by Laura Vega; Betty Kelso Center, SA Antonio Botanical Garden, 555 Funston Pl, 78209

AGARITA + Santiago Canon Valencia; April 27 at 7:30 p.m.; diverse program inspired by Valencia’s Colombian roots; Carver Community Cultural Center, 226 N. Hackberry, 78202

AGARITA + The Witte, June 18, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.; Dawson Family Hall, Witte Museum, 3801 Broadway, 78209