We’re going digital this season to keep choral music thriving in the age of teleconferencing and social distancing. While we can’t rehearse together physically, we’re exploring new musical opportunities that the challenges of distance present. Our repertoire combines both canonic choral works with brand-new pieces that utilize technology with timely themes—music that allows us to stay connected with one another through our artistic expression, to collaborate, to build bridges in times of social upheaval, to raise our voices for those that are not always heard, and to provide that human comfort during times of stress.
Make Our World Anew:
Black Voices Matter
We’re proud to amplify underrepresented voices and bring composers of color to the forefront in solidarity with the Black Voices Matter Pledge, an initiative to celebrate the culture and experiences of Black Americans and commit ourselves as choral artists and organizations to anti-racist work. We’ll be perfoming Rosephanye Powell’s setting of Langston Hughes’ poem To Sit and Dream and Henning Sommerro’s Norwegian anthem against violence, injustice, oppression. We are thrilled to present Trevor Westons Martyrs, a new work we co-commissioned with C4 Ensemble that sets texts from Psalm 39, a Renaissance isorhythmic motet by Guillaume Dufay, and newly-composed texts about breath and its relevance to the present moment. The piece is both a plea for protection and a warning about the senseless and unnecessary deaths caused by COVID-19 and by excessive police force against African Americans. Our own singer Kim Fowler will share a moving poem written as an act of creative expression and ancestral healing after the death of George Floyd, Emergence in Four Parts. We’re also excited to perform Ysaÿe Barnwell’s We Are in collaboration with Oakland Youth Chorus Chamber Singers, under the direction of La Nell Martin.
March 20 2021 | 6pm
Broadcast on our YouTube Channel
This concert is free and open to the public, no tickets necessary!
About Oakland Youth Chorus Chamber Singers:
Founded in 1974, the Oakland Youth Chorus (OYC) is the longest running youth chorus in the East Bay. Serving nearly 3000 singers and music students in East Bay programs each year, we focus on creating and sustaining programs of high educational and artistic merit that are accessible to and supportive of children and youth from all backgrounds. OYC welcomes all children and youth, celebrates their cultures and unique strengths, and connects them to each other, amplifying voices for changes needed to bring harmony to our world through music education and community performance. OYC Chamber Singers are made of young musicians grades 6–12, directed by La Nell Martin.
Learn more about Oakland Youth Chorus online at oaklandyouthchorus.org
Support Black Voices
We are grateful for the continued support of our audiences and donors during this difficult year without income from traditional ticket sales, and hope you’ll continue to support us in the future. But at this moment, we want to recognize the economic violence that has denied African American communities the same advantages afforded to white people. Rather than contributions to Sacred and Profane, we encourage you instead contribute to one of the four worthy local and national organizations below:
Oakland Youth Chorus, with whom we are are excited to collaborate tonight, that makes music education and community engagement accessible to East Bay youth of all backgrounds.
https://oaklandyouthchorus.org/
The Sphinx Organization, a social justice organization dedicated to transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts.
Bay Rising, an Oakland-based organization that supports the political aspirations of young people of color.
Black Lives Matter, an organization that we are proud has its roots in the East Bay’s Black Panther movement.