Resonance presents “Abya Yala," a gathering that spotlights indigenous artists.
For immediate release: February 15, 2022
Resonance Ensemble presents “Abya Yala,” a gathering that spotlights the words, music, and visual art of indigenous artists from
Portland and across the Pan Americas.
PORTLAND, OR — Resonance Ensemble returns to Cerimon House on March 5 & 6 to present ABYA YALA: a gathering that spotlights the words, music, and visual art of indigenous artists from Portland and across the Pan Americas. The evening will feature works by composers Gabriela Lena Frank, Mari Esabel Valverde, and Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate – culminating in the world premiere of Resonance’s latest commission, the Abya Yala Choral Suite, by Chilean-born Portland composer Freddy Vilches.
“This concert will explore the idea of Abya Yala, a concept from the Kuna people of Panama adopted by indigenous cultures in the Americas that describes a vision of interconnectedness,” Resonance Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon says. “We're honored to host the composers and artists for this evening of personal and cultural exploration.”
About the Abya Yala World Premiere:
The Abya Yala Choral Suite was co-commissioned by Resonance Ensemble with the Northwest American Choral Directors Association, with a second performance to follow at the NWACDA conference in Spokane on March 12.
The composer Freddy Vilches notes, “This multilingual composition is the result of many months of research and collaborative work with different poets in Latin America. As a mestizo composer with indigenous roots in South America, my original idea was to compose a choral suite that would include poems in several languages spoken by our indigenous communities in South, Central and North America, as well as their versions in Spanish.”
This substantial work will include musical accompaniment by Vilches’s own group, Matices Latin Ensemble. For this performance, Vilches has also invited two special guest musicians who are traveling from Chile to join Resonance.
“I’m very excited to be working with Kathy FitzGibbon and Resonance Ensemble for the premiere of my latest composition,” Vilches says. “In these texts we find the constant presence of our ancestors, a profound love for the land ‘Pachamama,’ and a strong call to preserve the languages and cultures of our indigenous communities for future generations.”
Additional Works and Guest Artists:
In addition to the Vilches premiere, the performance will feature Hombre Errante by Gabriela Lena Frank, a substantial work which loosely adapts Peruvian poems and tales to tell the story of a “wandering man of the Andes.” Oregon Symphony principal cellist Nancy Ives also joins Resonance to perform Mari Esabel Valverde’s profound reflection “Border Lines” and Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate’s Taloowa’ Chipota.
Celebrated local photographer Joe Cantrell will present an installation of his work at Cerimon House during the concert weekend. Drawing upon his 16 years as a photojournalist, his interest in geological time, and his “Cherokee tradition of viewing the universe” (Oregon Arts Watch), Cantrell has captured a wide array of local subjects and celebrations, from the Waterfront Blues Festival to classical music performances to the immigrant-culture celebrations of Beaverton Market.
The evening will culminate with a panel discussion that includes Vilches, Valverde, Cantrell, and FitzGibbon speaking on the music, their experiences, and opportunities for the audience to take action in their own communities.
In addition to tickets for a limited audience at Cerimon House, Resonance is also proud to present a livestream of the Sunday concert for donations only, thanks to Resonance’s new REAP Initiative.
Tickets on sale now at resonancechoral.org
Note to Journalists: Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon, composer Freddy Vilches, and Artistic Advisor Damien Geter are available for print, online, and broadcast interviews. If you would like more information or would like to schedule an interview, please contact Liz Bacon Brownson at liz@resonancechoral.org or by calling (503) 427-8701.
FOR MORE INFO:
Media Contact: Liz Bacon Brownson | Email: liz@resonancechoral.org | Phone: (503) 427-8701
YOUTUBE LINK: youtube.com/c/ResonanceEnsemble
Introducing the REAP Initiative: Resonance Ensemble Access Project
The world looks a lot different now, but artists are still finding a way to safely create, foster community, and share powerful stories. Last year showed us at Resonance Ensemble the incredible global demand for free, online access to our programming - which is why we are proud to present the Resonance Ensemble Access Project (REAP), our initiative to ensure that all of our concerts are available to the world both in-person and online.
We can’t do it without you.
Providing this vital accessibility also increases the expenses of producing our concerts, so we are asking viewers like you to make a donation in lieu of a ticket purchase, at whatever level you're able, and for our supporters to consider an additional donation to underwrite this access for those who cannot afford to donate.
The REAP Initiative. Providing free, online access to the music of Resonance Ensemble.
About Resonance Ensemble
In its thirteenth season, Resonance Ensemble, a professional vocal ensemble based in Portland, Oregon, creates thoughtful programs that promote meaningful social change. Resonance Ensemble works to amplify voices that have long been silenced, and they do so through moving, thematic concerts that highlight solo and choral voices, new and underrepresented composers, visual and other performing artists, and community partners.
Under Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon, Resonance Ensemble has performed challenging and diverse music, always with an eye toward unusual collaborations with artistic partners from around the country: poets, jazz musicians, singer-songwriters, painters, dancers. The Resonance Ensemble singers are “one of the Northwest’s finest choirs” (Willamette Week), with gorgeous vocal tone, and they also make music with heart.
The groundbreaking work that Resonance Ensemble has been producing over the last few years has been noted by local media and national arts organizations. In Oregon Arts Watch, Matthew Andrews described Resonance as “Part social commentary, part group therapy, and part best damn choir show in town" (June 2019). Chorus America honored Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon in the summer of 2019 with the Louis Botto Award for Innovative Action and Entrepreneurial Zeal for her work rededicating Resonance to promoting meaningful social change, and for the meaningful community partnerships she creates. For the tribute to Dr. FitzGibbon, please visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaJMVozrcPo.
About Freddy Vilches
Freddy Vilches Meneses is a composer, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and educator based in Portland, OR. Originally from Santiago, Chile Freddy has recorded and performed extensively throughout the US and Latin America. He received his PhD in Romance Languages from the University of Oregon, specializing in Latin American Literature of the 20th and 21st Centuries. His research interests include Latin American literature, music, and film. At Lewis & Clark College, he is an Associate Professor in the Department of World Languages and Literatures, and instructor of several traditional instruments (charango, cuatro, and Afro-Cuban percussion) and director of the Latin American Ensemble in the Music Department.
As a scholar, he has published several articles on Latin American poetry, fiction, film, and music. As a producer, in 2021 Freddy released a documentary film on the Abakua Secret Society in Cuba, and is currently producing the 75th anniversary album of Conjunto Chappottin, one of the most emblematic Son bands in Cuba.
As a composer, he has written music in a wide variety of styles from Latin America and the Caribbean. He has also composed several symphonic works including his recent “Suite Latinoamericana,” a work consisting of five movements which features music, styles, and instruments of the Andes, Colombia and Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico, and Cuba. “Suite Latinoamericana” is scheduled to be performed in Cuba and Bolivia in 2022. Abya Yala Choral Suite is his second major composition dedicated to the indigenous people and cultures of Abya Yala.
About Mari Esabel Valverde
Award-winning composer and singer Mari Esabel Valverde (b. 1987) has been commissioned by the American Choral Directors Association, Texas Music Educators Association, Seattle Men’s and Women’s Choruses, and Boston Choral Ensemble among others and has appeared with Dallas Chamber Choir, Vox Humana, and EXIGENCE (Detroit). Fluent in Spanish and French, she actively studies Brazilian Portuguese and Swedish. She has translated numerous vocal works and documents including a phonetic guide of Ravel’s opera L’Enfant et les Sortilèges. Based in North Texas, she taught voice at the high school level for over six years. Her former students have participated in All-State Choirs and State Solo Competition. She currently teaches singing and transgender voice training with Your Lessons Now.
marivalverde.com/long
About Matices Latin Ensemble
Under the direction of Freddy Vilches, Matices Latin Ensemble plays an eclectic mix of traditional and contemporary music from Latin America and incorporates a variety of elements from Latin music, Brazilian Bossa Nova, Cuban Son, and Latin Jazz.
facebook.com/Matices-Latin-Ensemble
About Nancy Ives
Composer and cellist Nancy Ives has “built a career of such spectacular diversity that no summation will do her achievements justice.” (Artslandia) Deemed a “local treasure” by the Portland Mercury, Ives enjoys an illustrious performance career which informs her eloquent and enduring compositional style. By way of an adventurous and multifaceted career, which includes more than 20 years as Principal Cellist of the Oregon Symphony, performances and collaborations with virtually all of the region’s premier performance organizations, and a history of service to enrich the local cultural community, Ives is a gracious and essential cornerstone of musical life in the Pacific Northwest.
nancyives.com/biography
About Joe Cantrell
“I am a member of the Cherokee tribe, raised in Cherokee County, Oklahoma, which may, or may not, have something to do with this.
As a child, I thought all things in nature had a Spirit. I broke rocks open to discover what lay inside them, but I always felt a pang when I did it, a little prayer asking forgiveness of the rock and the order that had placed it with me. Plant life was the same way, flowers looked and smelled beautiful, but the changes in their geometry as they passed through the life cycle were more enticing. Zen seemed to have more answers than science for me. Now approaching age seventy, digital photography makes those explorations visible for others. I’m just a valve. I point the shiny side of the camera at something, push the button, and things pass through so you can see them, too. Often, I don’t even “see” what I’m photographing, rather, I feel it and am thoroughly surprised when the final image appears.
So as you look here, these are YOUR images. You are participating by seeing them in your mind, from your perspective, and that invokes all that you are. The object, photograph, viewer and photographer become a single thing. We sense things relative to ourselves, according to human perspective based on an average size of, say, 170 cm. tall, 75 kg. So, something that is the size of a fingernail seems “small,” and an automobile seems “large.” Yet in a universal perspective (whether we are aware or not, the one in which we all exist) our entire planet seems microscopic, and we, with all our “achievements,” and superstitions and egos, an insignificant, self-destructive nothing. BUT, we are part of All That! See!”
www.agiyo.thecolorpixels.com/#text_about
About Cerimon House
Cerimon House is a cultural arts organization that presents performance, visual arts, and community programming. Led by Artistic Director Vin Shambry, we envision a diverse, equitable, and inclusive community in Portland that embraces the arts, culture, history, story, and ceremony. Cerimon House programs a variety of performances, workshops, and art installations, and we make our building available as a convening space for performance art, community events, conversations, and experiences that bring about a better world.
www.cerimonhouse.org
For more information:
Website: /resonancechoral.org
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