Commission Story: Poet-in-Residence, Dr. S. Renee Mitchell
Radical collaboration is core to who we are at Resonance Ensemble. This year marks 15 seasons, made possible in part by the deep partnerships we’ve cultivated with living artists across a variety of disciplines. Leading up to our season finale concert (MISSION 15), we go beyond the music to share the stories that brought this work to the concert stage.
Today, we dive deeper into the incredible work of our Poet-in-Residence, Dr. S. Renee Mitchell
Dr. S. Renee Mitchell | R. Hadiashar
About the Residency
Established in 2017, Resonance Ensemble’s Poet-in-Residence regularly contributes new texts and performs at our concerts throughout the season. Multiple new poems are commissioned each year, written in response to the themes of our programming and season focus. To date, Resonance Ensemble has supported the creation of over a dozen new texts through the residency. The current poet-in-residence is Dr. S. Renee Mitchell, who has been our resident artist since the program’s inception.
The beginning of a legacy
S. Renee at the 2018 Women Singing Women program | R. Hadiashar
In 2017, one of our artistic collaborators had a conflict arise shortly before the VOICES concert, and we were nervous about who would fill their shoes. Having worked closely to develop not only the theme for the concert, but for our whole season, it would have been difficult with even several weeks notice—and we had mere days before the program would be performed live.
Reaching out to our incredible network of artists and organizations here in Portland, a friend-of-a-friend suggested that we reach out to Dr. S. Renee Mitchell. We had not met Renee before, but we visited her website and started down the thrilling rabbit hole of watching YouTube videos of her poetry readings. We fell in love with her performances, her words, and her mission.
Resonance invited Dr. Mitchell to participate in the concert, and by glorious happenstance she was available and agreed to join us. She then came to part of the dress rehearsal—two days before the concert—to meet us and hear a little of the rehearsal. She talked more with us about the concept of the show. She listened to the music and read the program, which had the complete texts of the performance.
The music and texts already chosen were inspiring to her, and she let us know that she was going to go home and think about what she'd perform—arriving with a gorgeous, brand-new poem on concert day!
Deeply moved by both her words and captivating performance, we reached out after the concert to explore the possibility of establishing a poet residency. The residency would offer a long-term platform to debut new work at Resonance concerts, and highlight another medium of the human voice: spoken word performance.
To our delight, she agreed—and we’ve been making art together ever since.
S. Renee premiering her work, Love Embodies You (2018) | R. Hadiashar
S. Renee premiering her work, Are You Listening?, at the Hidden Voices program (2018) | R. Hadiashar
WHAT STILL RESONATES
Dr. Mitchell has contributed more than just her beautiful texts and powerful performances over the years.
During the African American Requiem project, Dr. Mitchell contributed to the creation of an amazing curriculum guide for students in the Portland area to learn more about the historical context of the work, the voices of writer-activists used in the Requiem’s texts, and about the ways this work is relevant to their own communities in Portland. She also shared her story as part of the My Requiem Story series, and hosted a landmark roundtable discussion with other artists from the Requiem about what this work means to them as Black artists who work in the modern classical music ecosystem today.
For the East Coast premiere of the Requiem, Dr. Mitchell flew out to Washington DC and spoke to the choir and orchestra before their rehearsal, powerfully uniting three disparate ensembles (Resonance, the Choral Arts Society of Washington, and the NEWorks Philharmonic Orchestra) in a single vision for the performance at the Kennedy Center. She also flew to Fort Worth, Texas for the Texas premiere of the work (which the composer, Resonance Artistic Advisor Damien Geter, himself conducted) to perform the text of the Requiem in person.
Her tireless contributions to the success of An African American Requiem—both in Portland and beyond—were transformational, and the impacts of her work on this project are still felt to this day.
“We are so grateful for Dr. Mitchell’s passion for social justice, immense creative spirit, powerful words, and deeply meaningful friendship that she has poured into Resonance over these past seven years. We can’t wait to see what the next chapter in our journey together has in store.”
S. Renee, poet/activist A. Mimi Sei, and Artistic Director Dr. Katherine FitzGibbon following the premiere screening of Around the Requiem | R. Hadiashar
EXPLORE THE RESIDENCY
Check out just a few of Dr. Mitchell’s works from past Resonance posts, concerts, and videos—and come to MISSION 15 to hear the world premiere of a brand new text by Dr. Mitchell in celebration of this landmark anniversary.
Dr. Mitchell at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall during preparations for the world premiere of An African American Requiem (May 2022)
Goin’ Round
premiered on VOICES (November 12th, 2017)
This Much is Clear
premiered on Women Singing Women (February 26th, 2018)
Love Embodies You
premiered on BODIES (June 24th, 2018)
Are You Listening?
premiered on HIDDEN VOICES (October 21st, 2018)
When I Was 40
premiered on Women Singing Women (February 3rd, 2019)
We Are All Mapless Wanderers Making Peace with Change
premiered on Intensive Care (June 9th, 2019)
We Are (Still) Here
premiered on Beautiful Minds (October 5th, 2019)
We Like to Call America a Safe Harbor
premiered on Safe Harbor (March 1, 2020)
Remember
premiered on An African American Requiem (May 5th, 2022), performed with music by Damien Geter
Seek What You Want to Find
premiered on Portland Protests (March 15-16, 2023), set by Kimberly R. Osberg
TBD - WORLD PREMIERE!
premiering on MISSION 15 (June 8, 2024)
WITNESS THE PREMIERE AT MISSION 15
Saturday, June 8th | 7:30pm @Winningstad Theatre
Hear the world premiere of Dr. Mitchell’s latest work—along with an evening of other pieces from across our 15 year history—in-person at the Winningstad Theatre on June 8th. This one-night only event is packed with meaningful music, powerful stories, and exciting in-person appearances by the artists we love.
The music of tomorrow is being written by the voices of today.
Dinah Dodds
Find out more about how you can help us support living artists in our community & beyond
The Dinah Dodds Fund for the Creation of New Art memorializes Dinah Dodds, President of the Board of Directors of Resonance Ensemble, who served on the board from 2014 until her death in 2019. Under Dinah’s devoted leadership, the organization developed its social justice focus and commissioned multiple major new choral works.
In tribute to Dinah, contributions to this fund shall support the creation of new art (music, visual art, and poetry), as prioritized by the artistic leadership of Resonance Ensemble. “Creation of New Art” can include commissioning and co-commissioning, premiering, and/or professionally recording (audio/video) works by living artists.