More about El Salto

El Salto ("the leap") is a forum for new classical music, presented in an atmosphere of focused inquiry.  Alongside performances of contemporary music, El Salto features short readings from literature, journalism, philosophy, and other sources, a short talk, and a new, easy (and optional) kind of congregational song.

El Salto is a single, unified fabric of music and texts, loosely joined around a theme.  This format places music in a context where all of the listener’s faculties–intellectual, emotional, and spiritual—are awake. El Salto posits that, when a listener hears music in this context, he or she will instinctively attach various associations to it that would not be suggested by a traditional classical concert setting.  For example, a reading might linger in one’s mind during the music, or the overall theme of the event might make one think of the music a certain way.  The hope is that the music will take on meanings and significance that it would not have when heard in the isolation of traditional concert format. 

El Salto is intended as an alternative not only to concert format, but also to religious worship.  El Salto defines itself apart from any religious doctrine, drawing equally from many sacred and secular perspectives.  El Salto addresses “spiritual” (always a tricky word) issues in the broadest way possible while attempting to remain hard-hitting, rigorous and smart in its approach to the dilemmas and mysteries of everyday life. 

El Salto is named after a mountain near Taos, New Mexico.