In past years, the New York City Opera's annual series "VOX: Showcasing American Composers" has showcased works by such Pulitzer Prize winners as Charles Wuorinen, Lewis Spratlan and David Del Tredici.

Next spring, Patrick Soluri of Louisville will join that select company. His short opera "The Inferno of Dante: Canto V" will be one of a dozen or so operas that will receive a full concert reading (with full orchestra and singers from the company) in early May. Soluri graduated from the University of Louisville with a master's degree in composition last May.

He was a recipient of the Moritz von Bomhard Fellowship in Music Composition, a scholarship program funded by the late founder of Kentucky Opera that supports students with an interest in dramatic vocal composition.

Prior to his studies at U of L, Soluri, a native of New York City, studied with notable composers Tobias Picker at Bennington College and Aaron Jay Kernis at the Manhattan School of Music. Picker's "Emmeline" rose to national acclaim when performed by the New York City Opera. Kernis, of course, was the 2002 recipient of the U of L Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition.

For his thesis project, Soluri composed a setting based on John Ciardi's translation of Dante's passionate, tragic tale of the lovers Paolo and Francesca. Long fascinated by Dante's epic, Soluri plans to continue mining this vein.

"It's a medieval poem that deals with politics and culture of a time and place far removed from us," he said, "but it's a timeless journey of discovery and transformation."

- Marty Rosen, Special to The Courier-Journal