“Will and Soul” Concert featuring Loop38

Rothko Chapel

Loop38 explores human creativity, perseverance, and all that binds us all together. Works by George Lewis and Chen Yi look inward, considering humanity's inherent creativity and life force, while Carolyn Chen's work looks outward, contemplating our relationship with the environment. Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton joins the musicians of Loop38 to present the world premiere of a work by Martha Horst based on D.E.E.P.’s poetry about hope, aspiration, and the power of creation. About Loop38 Loop38 is a boundary-pushing, artist-driven new music ensemble based in Houston, Texas, that aims to build community around innovative, stimulating, and culturally relevant musical experiences. Loop38 specializes in the performance of contemporary classical music for solo instrument, chamber ensemble, and large ensemble—instrumentations that collectively allow the full timbral spectrum of an orchestra while showcasing the virtuosic solo capabilities of its performers. Named after the 38-mile freeway (“the loop”) that encircles our hometown, Loop38 focuses on presenting distinctive and memorable aural experiences that push stylistic boundaries, feature underrepresented voices, and incorporate meaningful collaborations with composers and artists of other disciplines. About Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton, poet Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton is an internationally known writer, librettist, educator, activist, performer, and the first Black Poet Laureate of Houston, Texas. Formerly ranked the #2 Best Female Performance Poet in the World (PSI), Her work has appeared in Houston Noir by Akashic Press (2019), Black Girl Magic by Haymarket Books (2019), the Texas Observer, and Fjords Journal, and on such platforms as NPR, BBC, ABC, Apple News, Blavity, Upworthy, and across the TedX circuit. Honored by Houston Business Journal as a part of their 2021 40 Under 40 class, She has served as a contributing writer to Texas Monthly, Glamour Magazine, and ESPN’s The Undefeated. This season, Plumshuga: The Rise of Lauren Anderson has its world premiere at STAGES Houston, which D.E.E.P. directs and wrote the book for. She also is slated to perform in Unison for Da Camera Society of Texas, which she also wrote poems for. Her recently published memoir, Black Chameleon (Henry Holt & Co, 2023), explores the use of modern mythology as a path to social commentary. About Martha Horst, composer Martha Horst is a composer who has devoted herself to the performance, creation, and instruction of classical music. Ms. Horst has won the Copland Award, the 2005 Alea III International Composition Competition for her work Threads, and the Rebecca Clarke International Composition Competition for her work Cloister Songs, based on 18th century utopian poetry. She has held fellowships at the MacDowell Colony, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Wellesley Conference, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and Dartington International School in the UK. Her work Piano Sonata No. 1, recorded by acclaimed pianist Lara Downes, was released nationally by Crossover Media. Dr. Horst is a professor of composition and theory at Illinois State University and has also taught at the University of California, Davis, East Carolina University, and San Francisco State University. She recently served as the composer-in-residence for the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra in Chicago, IL. This program is supported in part by funding from Texas Commission for the Arts, Houston Arts Alliance, and Poets & Writers.