Songs for Poe: A Gothic Birthday Tribute feat. Sombrus Ensemble

In this debut program, Sombrus Ensemble presents the first performance of its distinctive repertoire: a premiere of newly composed songs set to the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe, created in celebration of the gothic master’s birthday. The program brings together musical settings of poems from Poe’s youth, newly written incidental music, and selected classical works that resonate with the Poesque spirit. Moving between song, atmosphere, and reflection, the concert traces Poe’s poetic world across intimacy, melancholy, and wonder, offering audiences an immersive musical encounter with the shadows and intensities of his imagination.

Sombrus Ensemble

A one-of-a-kind trio of voice, pipe organ, and electric guitar, Sombrus Ensemble creates a singular sound world at the intersection of atmospheric rock, contemporary classical music, and gothic aesthetics. The ensemble presents newly composed works and reimagined classical pieces that linger in the darker corners of human experience, flowing between intimacy and intensity — from hushed, haunting textures to vast, cathedral-like waves of sound — in what they describe as an “atmospheric rock oratorio.”

Drawing on the classical training of its members while intentionally blurring genre boundaries, the trio brings together vocalist Ariana Parks, a multidisciplinary musician spanning classical piano, elite choral singing, and pop/rock; pipe organist Mark Willey, an audio engineer and filmmaker rooted in the organ and liturgical tradition; and Dr. Felipe Garibaldi, Music Director, an eclectic Brazilian-born performer, composer, and scholar whose work ranges from classical and Latin guitar to progressive rock and contemporary composition. Together, they cross stylistic boundaries to expand the expressive possibilities of contemporary music, conjuring a dark, immersive atmosphere that drifts between deep inner reflection and wondrous, haunting soundscapes.