Voices 21C
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    • 2022 ACDA Conference (Boston)
    • 2020 ACDA Conference
    • 2019 Choralies Festival
    • 2018 Mexico City
    • 2017 Here I Am
    • 2016 Pain & Promise
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2018 - VOICES 21C

The 2018 Program:
"Somehow This Madness Must Cease"


​March 2 - Massachusetts Music Educators Conference, Seaport Hotel, Boston
March 4 - The Vilna Shul, Beacon Hill

May 26 - NIME6, Boston University
July 15 - United Parish Brookline
August - Cuernavaca and Mexico City
September 15 - "Bridges, Not Walls" Boston University

Program Selections: Mexico City
​August 9

MMEA Conference

In the spring of 2018, VOICES 21C weathered the storm (literally, there was a monsoon going on) to perform for the attendees of the MMEA (Massachusetts Music Educators Association) conference.

​Armed with umbrellas and our mission to enhance global understanding through music, our program, "Somehow this Madness Must Cease" explored the themes of conflict and resolution, despair and hope.

2nd Annual "Voices of Freedom" at The Vilna Shul

VOICES 21C returned to Vilna Shul to take part in "Voices of Freedom," a concert of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim music.

After each choir performs their separate program, we all come together as a symbol of unity and harmony, for a massive choral finale. VOICES was overjoyed to return to Vilna Shul this year, with a program of entirely Muslim music.

National Inquiry in Music Education Conference:
​Boston University

At NIME 6, VOICES 21C presented a version of "Somehow This Madness Must Cease" with a new collaboration.  
The above video is our first appearance with Q, a prolific songwriter who was formerly incarcerated.
​Our collaboration highlights the stigma, judgement, and extreme mistreatment of incarcerated persons throughout the globe.

SEND-OFF:
​United Parish Brookline

Our sendoff concert in Boston at United Parish Brookline, before heading to Mexico City and Cuernavaca. We presented our program given abroad, and featured a second collaboration with Q to close out the program.

The Facebook livestream can be found here.

Workshops with "Les Semillas Estelares"
[Cuernavaca, Morelos]

VOICES 21C spent two days working with Les Semillas Estelares (The Stellar Seeds). The Semillas meet regularly at a cultural center in Cuernavaca called Dragón de Jade (The Jade Dragon) for lessons in music, art, and Tai chi.

We prepared the Semillas for a large concert later in the week, played games together, performed for each other, and even composed a song as a group, called En El Dragón (In the Jade Dragon) which they can sing whenever they come in for rehearsal!
Below are videos of the Semillas performing En El Dragon, and our performance of ​Oye by Jim Papoulis at the Teatro Ocampo!

Adult Workshops [Cuernavaca, Morelos]

By the end of our week in Cuernavaca, VOICES 21C had given over 16 hours worth of workshops to both children and adult singers. Adult workshops included choirs from all over Cuernavaca, as well as members from Costa Rica. 

We discussed the concepts of fear and love that emerged from one of our collaboration pieces, and did many ensemble building activities. Several of the exercises we completed helped everyone to more heavily associate with the emotional material in our upcoming concert program. The work we accomplished was truly spectacular.

Participating Choirs in the 2018 "Dragón de Jade" Chorale:
         
-Coro Cenzontle de Morelos              -Vocal Axolote
         -Coro de Cámara de Morelos            -Alajuela Internacional
         -Instituto de Energías Renovables
We Are | Ysaye M. Barnwell

Workshop and Concert with
Voce in Tempore [Mexico City]

VOICES 21C closed out their time in Mexico by collaborating with Voce in Tempore, at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). These meetings and performances were centered around mutual understanding and common ground.

An especially wonderful memory took place after our last concert of the tour, when Voce in Tempore took off their beautiful jewelry, and put them onto members of VOICES 21C, showing their genuine appreciation for the time we had spent together (pictured left).

Selections from VOICES 21C's portion of the concert are on our SoundCloud page (below)!

Appraisals for VOICES 21C

-En Español                                                        -In English (Coming Soon!)

Full Program:

Trilo, Swedish Folk Song………………………………………….……………........................…….……………………..……Arr. A. Möller 
                                                                                                                                                                     (1965 - )
This Swedish folk tune was sung to welcome fishermen home from the sea. The 
wives would sing with a very forward tone, hoping their song would carry over the 
waves and greet their husbands. Imagine if you will, a sense of actively waiting 
for something; an arrival, a change.

Scripts, “Who Are You?”…………………….....................................……………………...….………………………….….…Music: Orlando Gibbons
                                                                                                                                                                               (1583-1625)
Here VOICES 21C uses Gibbons’ This is the Record of John as a vehicle to introduce 
ourselves, how we tell stories, and the questions we must ask ourselves as a choir.
 
“And we confessed and denied not, and said plainly, “I am not the one.”
And they asked us, what art thou then? 
Have you the answers? And we said, “We do not.”
Are you the prophets? And we answered “No.”
And 
we say, “We are the voice of them that crieth in the wilderness. Transform the way of the world.”


Je me suis embarquée……………………….......…........………………………………......…….…………...…….…… Michael Genese
                                                                                                                                                                      (1994 - )
This unsettling interpretation of poetry by Jean de La Ville de Mirmont brings up 
the uncertain feeling inside of anyone who does not have control over where they 
are going. VOICES 21C finds severe importance in the message of this piece, in light 
of the current global refugee crisis. 

“I have embarked on a ship which dances and rolls from side to side.
My feet have forgotten the Earth and its paths; the supple waves have taught me other cadences-
more beautiful 
than the rhythm of human songs.
To live among you; had I a soul?
”


Til Ungdommen………………………………………...……………………………..............………Mortensen, Arr. Henning Sommero
                                                                                                                                                                     (1952 - )
Translated as “To Youth,” this anti-war poem asks of us how we might respond in 
the face of opposition and war, with the response that we should nurture beauty 
and warmth. 

The Listening……………………………………………….………………...…….……………………………… Cheryl B. Engelhardt
                                                                                                                        
A member of VOICES 21C, Cheryl B. Engelhardt wrote The Listening with inspiration 
from Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech; A Time to Break Silence.

Even When He is Silent…………………………….….............……………………………..…………...….………Kim André Arnesen
                                                                                                                                                            (1980 - )
            “When everything is dark and difficult […] this is about keeping faith, love, and 
hope. I think of the sun as a metaphor for hope.”
                                                                                                                              – Kim André Arnesen 
I believe in the sun even when it’s not shining.
I believe in love even when I feel it not.
I believe in God even when He is silent.

Zikr……………………...........……………..…………………………..…………………..………….……A. R. Rahman, Arr. Ethan Sperry 
                                                                                                                                                           (1971 - )
This arrangement of the Urdu text Zikr is based upon the music of the whirling 
dervishes, Sufi Muslim musicians who perform this style of music from Egypt across 
the Silk Road to Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Thailand, and Malaysia.

Would You Harbor Me?.........................…..………................................................................................Ysaye M. Barnwell
                                                                                                                                                          (1946 - )
We sing this song for those who do not have homes.
We live in a time when an unprecedented 69 million people throughout the world are refugees,
and where closer to home, thousands of Americans are rendered homeless and harbor-less. 
The question of whom we welcome into our homes and into our hearts has 
become a burning one.

13:14…………………………………..…………………………..………….....………….………..…………………...…....Elisa Schmelkes
 
At exactly 13:14 on 9/19/17, an earthquake violently shook Mexico City and 
the Valley of Mexico. This work narrates the composer’s personal experience 
of this event and the days that followed, including images of collapsed buildings,
shouting, tweets/WhatsApp group messages organizing help, and the raising 
of fists to request silence, hearing those beneath the rubble. 

Ezekiel Saw the Wheel (African-American Spiritual)……........………………..……………………arr. William Dawson
                                                                                                                                                      (1899–1990)
Spirituals are stories of faith. In this song, Ezekiel speaks of a prophecy that is 
characterized by a stormy vision of a throne-chariot with wheels of fire spinning 
in the air. Like many spirituals, the song speaks of man’s hope to be lifted out of 
suffering and humanity’s desire for a better future.
 
#W88570………………………………………………………………..………………………..……………………… ……..Songwriter: Q
VOICES 21C closed its Boston concerts with this selection by Q a formerly incarcerated person:
 
"I'm sorry my people aren't evil inside, I'm sorry you people are quick to imply.
It could be contagious, don't look in their eyes. It could be the reason the reaper 
decides to show you his face no longer disguised.
Don't need you to lie, don't need you to cry. But look deep inside, beneath 
all the pride, cause either you're eatin', or either you die."
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  • Home
  • ABOUT
    • Singers
  • PROJECTS
    • 2022 ACDA Conference (Boston)
    • 2020 ACDA Conference
    • 2019 Choralies Festival
    • 2018 Mexico City
    • 2017 Here I Am
    • 2016 Pain & Promise
  • V21C Pedagogy and Empowering Song
  • 2022-23 Singers Portal
  • Testimonials