San Antonio's Agarita is back with a new season, bringing classical music to unexpected corners of the city. From the San Antonio Botanical Garden to Pearl's Stable Hall to the quartet's newly expanded Southtown home base, the ensemble is knocking the wind out of any notions that chamber music is reserved for an elite few.

According to a news release, Agarita has a slate of seven free community concerts, numerous smaller shows, and other programming at the ensemble's Southtown home, and plans to release a debut album. The group includes pianist Daniel Anastasio, viola player Marisa Bushman, cellist Ignacio Gallego, and violinist Sarah Silver Manzke.

Bushman, who also serves as Agarita's co-founder and executive director, called the new season the ensemble's most ambitious one yet.

"We're recording our first album with international guitar sensation Pablo Saínz Villegas, expanding our community reach and growing into new artistic collaborations," Bushman said in a statement. The decision to expand the Agarita Loft just after opening its doors in 2024 as our headquarters and gathering space speaks to the deep resonance we've had with our community. We're pushing boundaries, honoring heritage, and continuing to redefine what classical music and the arts can mean in San Antonio."

Community concerts
Agarita's current season kicks off on September 6 with a free concert at the Chapel of the Incarnate Word inspired by Max Richter's reworking of Vivaldi's famed series of violin concertos, The Four Seasons. Other highlights include collaborations with Grammy-winning composer/singer/violinist Caroline Shaw and famed Spanish classical guitarist Pablo Sáinz Villegas.

Villegas will also feature on the group's debut album, part of a year-long effort. Due out spring 2026, the recording will feature original commissioned works by Andrea Casarrubios, Clarice Assad, Javier Farias, Ethan Wickman, and Chris Rogerson.

As always, the ensemble engages with the broader culture in unexpected ways. This season, Agarita will team up with students from local art program SAY Sí and take on a Katherine Pukinski piece that includes spoken interludes sharing scientific and medical information about infertility, pregnancy loss, and resilience in the face of personal loss.

And in June 2026, the group will even engage with fashion. The season's closing concert will highlight designs from Nilgun Derman of Pearl's Niche Clothing Co. in an eclectic musical sweep through the ages, from the Renaissance to modern America.

Agarita will collaborate with guitarist Pablo Sáinz Villegas on March 22, 2026. Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for NARAS

Loft concert series
In addition to the free community performances, Agarita is partnering with the Composers Alliance of San Antonio (CASA) in presenting a series of newly commissioned musical compositions celebrating inspirational locations in and around San Antonio.

Titled Places in South Texas, the project commemorates CASA's silver anniversary. The pieces will premiere on August 29 and November 5 in two Loft Concert Series events, and then a "video postcard" of each will be released on CASA's YouTube channel. Anyone can check out the YouTube channel and stay tuned to the progress of Agarita and CASA's ongoing collaboration.

Community concert/lecture series
Agarita has other ways of engaging the public, including a series of intimate concerts presented at the Agarita Loft, the ensemble's Southtown home base. These shows are filled with premieres as well as favorite classic pieces. Agarita has 11 loft-based concerts slated for 2025-2026, starting September 17.

The ensemble also offers public lectures at the Agarita Loft, with group member Daniel Anastasio leading five thought-provoking discussions over the duration of the new season, beginning October 8. Additionally, there will be four free public talks aligned with community concert themes at the Agarita Loft, starting September 3.

Gallery fun
Speaking of the Agarita Loft, representatives for the ensemble said the Southtown space has been recently expanded with the acquisition of 1,642 square feet of adjacent room, growing seating for up to 100 guests, and doubling capacity for Agarita's community gallery that launched in early 2024.

The gallery houses various art exhibits, curated by local artist Jon Hinojosa, that explore the themes of heritage, identity, and creative expressions. Six such exhibits are planned for the Agarita Loft Gallery over the next year, including "Raíces y Recuerdos - San Antonio Stories," which opens August 20. The gallery also accommodates artist talks and family workshops.

Music on the road
The ensemble, through its "Agarita Inspires!" initiative, plans 40 performances at local school auditoriums and libraries during the 2025-2026 season.

Meanwhile, the ensemble is putting on its non-Agarita Loft shows again by rolling out its mobile concert hall, called the Humble Hall. Group members say the Humble Hall allows them to expand their outreach via free performances in various locales across the San Antonio area.

According to a news release, Agarita engaged nearly 25,000 people from all kinds of backgrounds through its performances in 2024-2025 — a huge leap from the 1,200 attendees that the ensemble encountered during its inaugural 2019-2020 season. Additionally, the ensemble has served more than 14,000 local students through its Agarita Inspires! program.