While growing up in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Sonia Morales-Matos and her five brothers each played a musical instrument.
Sometimes, the six siblings performed together — sort of.
“Well, not together — at the same time — in our house on Sunday,” said Morales-Matos, one of whose brothers is Central Ohio Symphony music director Jaime Morales-Matos.
“It was a madhouse,” said Sonia Morales-Matos, now a composer and music educator in Cincinnati. “Everybody knew where we lived because, from the corner of the street, you could hear the music.”
On Saturday, three members of the family will unite to make music.
For the Central Ohio Symphony’s season-opening concert, Jaime Morales-Matos will lead a program featuring a pair of pieces composed by his sister; their brother, Rolando, will serve as a percussionist on one of the pieces.
Occasionally, siblings of the music director have collaborated with the symphony.
“I wish we can do it more often,” Jaime said. “Scheduling is a problem, and the opportunities to play together is sometimes difficult.”
Although Jaime, like Sonia, makes his home in Cincinnati, the other siblings are scattered across the United States.
Rolando, a percussionist who performs as part of the Broadway production “The Lion King,” resides in New Jersey. Mariano, a composer, lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico; cellist Jesus and clarinetist Ricardo both make their homes in Philadelphia.
Family gatherings can be a challenge.
“We used to get together for Thanksgiving, … but we have not been able to be the six of us together,” Sonia said. “(The) last time that we were together, it was for Jaime’s wedding (in 2014).”
Warren Hyer, executive director of the symphony, was in attendance at that event.
“My joke is, ‘We went to a concert and a wedding broke out,’” Hyer said.
At Saturday’s concert, however, the family’s talent for making music will be front and center.
After an opening fanfare to celebrate the symphony’s 40th anniversary — composed by Delaware Hayes High School senior Noah Goulet — the musicians will turn to the first of two works by Sonia: “Tembanduma’s Court Dance,” a selection from an opera in progress.
“Tembanduma is a character from poetry,” Sonia said. “It represents this African queen who has come to the Americas, to the Caribbean, as a slave.”
Rolando will play bomba drums on the piece; a second percussionist, Raphael Torn, will also play.
“I’ve seen Rolando, other than at the wedding, perform once in Indianapolis,” Hyer said. “He may be just the sheer physical talent of all of them.”
Next up is “Pajaides [sic, Paisajes] for Cuatro and Orchestra,” which Sonia composed in honor of Puerto Rico. Maribel Delgado will serve as the soloist on the cuatro, an instrument similar to a guitar (but with four strings instead of six) that has a long association with the family’s native land.
“People will be transported, listening to the music, to all these different places,” Sonia said.
The symphony will wrap up with a performance of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Symphony No. 2” — a traditional note on which to end an eclectic musical evening.
“We have a young composer; we have a Latin composer; and then we have an established, major composer,” Jaime said, “so it’s music for everyone.”
tonguetteauthor2@aol.com