Resonance Ensemble announces New Concert with Sweet Honey In The Rock
“We’re going to bring the fire, and we want the audience to be ready to sing with us and have a good time. We always want people to be open, to bring an open heart, a live spirit, and be ready to just go. The music takes you away. So come on, let’s go.”
Sweet Honey In The Rock® announced as new addition to Resonance Ensemble’s 15th anniversary season.
PORTLAND, OR — Resonance Ensemble, an award-winning vocal group, announces a new concert for their 15th anniversary season: the world-renowned a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey In The Rock®.
Resonance opens for the multiple GRAMMY-nominated group in two performances: Friday, April 5, 2024 at 7:30PM at The Reser Center for the Performing Arts in Beaverton (co-sponsored by the Reser), and Saturday, April 6, 2024 at 7:30PM at The Armory at Portland Center Stage in downtown Portland.
Audiences who were looking forward to Bobby McFerrin’s recently canceled appearance can still expect to enjoy an evening of music that fuses the elastic possibilities of the human voice. Known as one of the most versatile performing collectives in music today with their deep catalog of socially conscious music rooted in African-American history and culture, Sweet Honey In The Rock® celebrates its 50th anniversary this season – and their legacy aligns perfectly with Resonance Ensemble’s mission of performing music that promotes meaningful social change.
“When we found out Bobby McFerrin was unable to join us due to health reasons, we knew we couldn’t replace that concert with just anyone.” says Katherine FitzGibbon, Artistic Director. “We decided to dream big and reached out to the one group who could possibly match the spirit of Bobby McFerrin. We were delighted when Sweet Honey In The Rock® accepted our invitation.”
ASL provided each concert
American Sign Language Interpretation at Each Performance | Every performance Sweet Honey In The Rock® gives has a core member of the group interweaving dynamic American Sign Language interpretation with the music to create a seamless ballet of movement and voice. These two evening performances will provide an artistic bridge between the Deaf and hearing worlds.
“Sweet Honey speaks of a land that is so rich that when you break the rocks open, honey flows. And we thought it was something like us African-American women... strong like a rock, but inside [there’s] honey — sweet.”
Resonance to Perform as the Opening Act for Both Concerts | As the producing organization, Resonance Ensemble will open for the main act with a set of selections from their own award-winning a cappella commissions for social justice. Works include pieces by composers Jasmine Barnes, Cecille Elliott, and Damien Geter.
Don't miss this remarkable event as Resonance Ensemble and Sweet Honey In The Rock® join forces to create an unforgettable evening that resonates with the power of the human voice.
Tickets will be available for pre-sale starting November 29, and any remaining tickets will be open to the general public on December 6. Ensure you get the first opportunity by subscribing to the Resonance mailing list for exclusive pre-sale access.
For more information, contact resonance ensemble at info@resonancechoral.org.
Note to Journalists: Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon and members of Sweet Honey in the Rock® 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.
About Sweet Honey In The Rock®
Sweet Honey in the Rock is an American three-time Grammy Award–nominated troupe who express their history as black women through song, dance, and sign language. Originally a four-person ensemble, the group has expanded to five-part harmonies, with a sixth member acting as a sign-language interpreter. Although the members have changed over five decades, the group continues to sing and perform worldwide. Founded in Washington, D.C., in 1973 by Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon as part of the D.C. Black Repertory Theater Company with Carol Maillard, Louise Robinson and Mie, Sweet Honey in the Rock has evolved into an international ambassador of a cappella music. The group was founded on the missions of empowerment, education, and entertainment, and has created a deep catalog of beloved socially conscious music rooted in African-American history and culture, always aspiring to make the world a better place for all.
A recent review on NPR proclaimed, “The history of the group… mirrors the effort of the civil rights movement from which it sprung: to raise voices, to empower individuals and to accomplish together what we cannot accomplish alone.”
Sweet Honey in the Rock has performed all over the world, from the South African Embassy – as a featured performer at the 2013 National Memorial Service for Nelson Mandela, to the White House – at the invitation of Michelle Obama to perform a special children’s concert during the first 100 days of her husband’s presidency. Click here for more information.
About Resonance Ensemble
In its fifteenth 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 click here.
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