Jason Kao Hwang’s Spontaneous River, based in New York City, is an orchestra of 37 string improvisers plus drum set. It is only in recent years that more and more string players have engaged in the art of improvisational music. Spontaneous River is an ensemble and a community that represents this emerging movement. The power of Spontaneous River is drawn from both the sonic unity of strings and the undeniable individualism of each musician’s “voice.” Mr. Hwang’s composition, Symphony of Souls is a spontaneous flow of notated passages and conducted improvisations that sing stories of life journey through an abundant sound emanating from blues, jazz, classical and world sources. As Dr. Thomas Stanley writes in the liner notes, “The orchestra is then summoned to explore soul as both a nexus of dialog and as the motive force compelling action and interaction. “I felt in this one unified sound, I could hear the voice of each soul,” Jason recalls, “The music was a whole tree, but you could hear each individual leaf in motion.” COMPOSER/ CONDUCTOR/ VIOLIN: Jason Kao Hwang DRUMS: Andrew Drury VIOLIN: Trina Basu, Sarah Bernstein, Charles Burnham, Julianne Carney, Mark Chung, Fung Chern Hwei, Rosi Hertlein, Elektra Kurtis, Gwen Laster, Marlene Rice, Dave Soldier, Curtis Stewart, Midori Yamamoto, Helen Yee VIOLA: Leanne Darling, Nicole Federici, Judith Insell, Eric Salazar, David Wallace GUITAR: Cristian Amigo, Bradley Farberman, James Keepnews, Dom Minasi, David Ross, Tor Snyder, Hans Tammen CELLO: Martha Colby, Loren Dempster, Daniel Levin, Tomas Ulrich, Shanda Wooley STRING BASS: Michael Bisio, Ken Filiano, Francois Grillot, James Ilgenfritz, Clifton Jackson, Tom Zlabinger