Wingèd Soliloquies
August 2026
A dancer stands alone in the center of the room.
The audience has settled. She is illuminated in a solitary, open space. She is still, fully present.
For three days, they have worked. Each morning, a different musician in the corner of the studio — oud, djembe, voices from disparate traditions, different configurations of artists — and she simply listened with her body and let the music move through her. By the third day, something changed. The music enveloped. Musicians appear in different corners. Actors tell their stories for the first time. Projections move across the walls, the floor, her own body — images made in response to three days of listening. The audience surrounds them, on all sides. There is no front. There is no correct perspective. Every member has their own view. Audience and performer alike respond to a collective energy that has been waiting to show itself.
This is what Wingèd Soliloquies reaches toward.
What It Is
Wingèd Soliloquies is a long-term collaborative multidisciplinary project conceived by composer, violinist, oudist, and cultural conductor Roberto Paolo Riggio, as an act of faith in what happens when artists from different worlds commit to the journey of creative encounter together.
It is process-oriented by design. The gatherings — workshops, retreats, peñas, jams, rehearsals — are the process through which they develop their work. As Kahlil Gibran wrote in The Prophet, “Work is love made visible.” Whatever emerges from the encounter becomes the play.
The project brings together musicians, dancers, actors, and visual artists from Austin’s Persian, Arabic, West African, South Asian, Latin American, Mediterranean, Romani, and other traditions to allow for a deep, cross-cultural, immersive encounter. Every artist teaches and learns from every other. There is no hierarchy of traditions.
The circle only expands. It never contracts.
The Story Behind It
The project draws its primary metaphor from Mantiq al-Tayr — The Conference of the Birds, also translated as The Canticle of the Birds — written in 12th-century Persia by the Sufi poet Farid ud-Din Attar of Nishapur.
All the birds of the world gather and set out on a journey to find the Simorgh: the sovereign of birds, the embodiment of divine truth. Guided by the Hoopoe, the cohort embarks upon a rich journey, telling stories along the way, and eventually passing through seven valleys of trial and transformation. Most fall away; only thirty survive to reach the Simorgh’s mountain. There, in the most devastating and beautiful twist, they discover a reflection of themselves: that simorgh in Persian means thirty birds: that, in their diversity, their struggle, and their togetherness, they were only seeking their own reflection.
Wingèd Soliloquies uses the poem as a map, not as an outcome. The birds are the artists. The journey is the creative process. And the Simorgh is already present in the gathering itself.
Roberto first encountered the poem in 2001, when his ensemble the Gypsies (now Atash) was hired to perform music for Peter Brook’s theatrical adaptation at a theater-in-the-round in Austin. The seed planted that evening has been growing for twenty-five years.
How It’s Built
Wingèd Soliloquies develops through distinct phases — workshops, community gatherings, and public vignette performances — each building the repertoire, relationships, and artistic depth that the culminating event requires.
Distinct cohorts develop in parallel: a women’s choir bringing together singers from Arabic, Hindustani, Persian, Balkan, Sephardic, Latin American, and Early vocal traditions; trova singer-songwriters; world music instrumentalists; dancers; actors; and visual artists. Each cohort develops its own internal language before coming together in conversation with each other.
Each phase produces something: a mini-performance, a public session, a documented encounter. The process serves as much to enrich the artists themselves as it does to produce public-facing output. It seeks to rekindle what Roberto calls the original fire: the reminder of why each participant chose their art in the first place.
The Journey So Far
2001 — First encounter with The Conference of the Birds at a theater-in-the-round in Austin. Roberto’s ensemble performs incidental music for Peter Brook’s theatrical adaptation. B. Iden Payne Award for music.
Fall 2022 — Wingèd Soliloquies, Part One. First formal iteration with Bereket, the Middle Eastern music ensemble at UT Austin. A semester of transcription, rehearsal, collaboration, and a culminating concert.
Spring 2023 — Wingèd Soliloquies, Part Two. Second iteration with Bereket. Continued development of the ensemble-as-laboratory concept.
March 2024 — Alones del Canto, una Peña de Trova. Halcyon Mueller, Austin. A self-organizing, non-hierarchical gathering of Austin’s Latin American trova singer-songwriters. Funded by the City of Austin Live Music Fund.
2024–present — Wingèd Soliloquies Women’s Choir. Initiated through workshop sessions at The Rosette, Austin Classical Guitar. Singers from Arabic, Hindustani, Persian, Balkan, Sephardic, Latin American, and Early vocal traditions meeting regularly and developing a shared repertoire.
February 2026–present — Maqam Gathering. Monthly at Riches Art Gallery, East Austin. A community gathering exploring the modal traditions of the Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and related musical worlds. Co-hosted with ethnomusicologist Dimitris Gkoulimaris and Persian classical musician Hamid Reza Fallahi. Co-presented with Beitna and BRB Coffee.
2027-28 Vision
The arc of 2027–28 moves toward a culminating theatrical event — bringing together all of the project’s cohorts in a theater-in-the-round in Austin, surrounding the audience on all sides, immersing them in the gathering rather than asking them to observe it from outside.
The journey toward that event includes workshops, ensemble development sessions, and public performances throughout 2027, each building the community and the repertoire that the culminating event will require. AMAI will engage artists through its existing community networks and open workshops. Each phase produces something the audience can witness.
The culminating event is not conceived as a final product. It is the first major public iteration of an ongoing process: the thirty birds, arriving at the mountain, looking in the mirror, and finding each other.
Target: 2027–28. Details to be announced at amai.music.
Get Involved
Are you an artist? Wingèd Soliloquies is built through genuine community. If you work in a musical, theatrical, dance, or visual arts tradition and are interested in participating in workshops or future iterations, we want to hear from you.
Are you an audience member? Sign up for AMAI’s mailing list to be notified of upcoming Wingèd Soliloquies events, workshops, and public performances.
Are you an organization or institution? AMAI welcomes partnerships with aligned organizations, venues, and institutions. Get in touch to explore what a collaboration might look like.