Sodelo, the Southern Delaware Orchestra, launches its new season next month with a concert celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, with concerts in Georgetown and Lewes.
Titled “Ritmos Latinos,” the concert features masterworks by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Maurice Ravel, as well as a concerto for guitar and orchestra and dance music by Mexican composer Arturo Márquez.
“I think what's really interesting about the program as a whole is that it's really, in a way, Spain imagined from the outside,” says Sodelo’s concertmaster, Justin Chou.
Sodelo is still a relatively new orchestra, founded in 2022 as a string ensemble. Shortly after its creation, the orchestra expanded into a full symphony orchestra, holding auditions and adding a full cohort of woodwinds, brass, and percussion to its ranks. The orchestra has been conducted since its founding by James Allen Anderson.
In recent years, Sodelo has also expanded its geographic footprint, holding concerts around southern Delaware, like this concert’s performance in Georgetown, as well as its home stage at Cape Henlopen High School in Lewes.
“What's really great about that is that we bring our music to areas that maybe typically don't get live orchestral music,” Chou says.
“Ritmos Latinos” promises to be an exciting, fast-paced show, and Chou says he hopes it shows audiences a different, less staid, side of classical music.
“Orchestra music can be really a lot of fun,” he says. “It's not this sort of stoic and reserved experience. It can be one that's really passionate and gets people out of their seats and really enjoying the music.”
Sodelo performs at Sussex Central High School in Georgetown on October 3 and at Cape Henlopen High School in Lewes on October 4.
Delaware Public Media's arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
