Board President Dinah Dodds leaves a great void.
Photo credit: Rachel Hadiashar
“There is little I can say that can speak to the depth of gratitude and love I have for Dinah, and that I know so many others share.”
It is with utmost sadness that we share the news that our president and friend Dinah Dodds passed away late Thursday evening (Sept. 12, 2019) after a brave battle with cancer.
There are few words to express the enormity of this loss. Dinah was simply a remarkable human being — a vibrant and passionate leader who devoted her life to the pursuit of knowledge and public service to the arts. We were fortunate she chose to dedicate so much of her time to Resonance Ensemble. She had a profound impact on all of us and leaves behind a lasting legacy.
Dinah served on the Resonance Board of Directors from 2014 until her death, serving as our president over the last two years. Under Dinah’s devoted leadership, we have developed our current social justice focus, commissioned multiple major new choral works, created a Poet in Residence position, received a national award from Chorus America, and received a major grant to support our upcoming collaboration with the Oregon Symphony: the world premiere of Damien Geter’s An African American Requiem, which Dinah had championed.
Dinah received an award from Bethel A.M.E Church for her work building community and understanding through music. It is noteworthy that these accomplishments all took place after she was living with cancer, and she led Resonance’s meetings with energy, insight, and passion.
“There is little I can say that can speak to the depth of gratitude and love I have for Dinah, and that I know so many others share, “ says Artistic Director, Katherine FitzGibbon, “I can't imagine a human who better epitomizes generous service to others. Her passing leaves a great void for all of us.”
Dinah is lovingly remembered by her family, friends, students, and by so many people whose lives were enriched by knowing her. We are grateful for her commitment to education and the arts, and for her compassionate approach to leadership. Her loved ones are in our thoughts as they go through these most difficult times.
Plans for a memorial service will be announced at a later date.
You are welcome to leave your condolences via email or our Facebook page.
Please note: all these beautiful images of Dinah (save for the obvious cell-phone selfies) were taken by one of Dinah’s favorite photographers Rachel Hadiashar)
Resonance Ensemble Presents: "Beautiful Minds"
PORTLAND, OR — In honor of World Mental Health Day, Resonance Ensemble kicks off its 2019-20 season with Beautiful Minds, a concert performed by the region’s finest singers sharing musical stories about living with depression, anxiety, and trauma. The concert will open on October 5th at 7:30pm with a second performance on October 6 at 4:00pm, both at Cerimon House in NE Portland.
“As with all of Resonance concerts, we will perform thought-provoking new vocal music that shines a light on different and often neglected perspectives, in this case mental illness,” says Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon. “The power of music to heal is never more present than when artists create work that highlights a universal struggle.”
Music will be featured that will share stories that foster understanding, with a goal of helping reduce the stigma of mental illness. The concert will include:
An Atom of Faith, by Lisa Bielawa, featuring mezzo-soprano Rachel Hauge and violinist Paloma Griffin Hébert
An excerpt from Next to Normal performed by Portland favorite Sarah Maines
Music by Melissa Dunphy and Jake Runestad
An original poem read by Poet in Residence S. Renee Mitchell
The world premiere of Portland composer Brandon Stewart’s Alone, setting a Sara Teasdale poem that depicts depression and the contemplation of suicide
Beautiful Minds will also serve to connect community members with mental health resources in the local Portland area.
“We have partnered with Trillium Family Services and their KEEP OREGON WELL campaign as well as the Oregon chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, two local mental health organizations who are dedicated to improving the quality of life for Oregonians living with mental illness,” FitzGibbon says.
‘We hope everyone will join us for this evening of tender, vulnerable music-making, whether they have a personal link to the themes, love to hear extraordinary new premieres, or come because they trust Resonance to create powerful programs that promote meaningful social change.”
BEAUTIFUL MINDS
October 5, 2019 | 7:30 PM
October 6, 2019 | 4:00 PM
Cerimon House | 5131 NE 23rd Avenue, Portland
Tickets: $30 general; $25 senior; $15 student
Resonancechoral.org | 503.427-8701
#beautifulminds
#keeporegonwell
Note to Journalists: Katherine FitzGibbon and Damien Geter are available for print, online, and broadcast interviews. If you would like more information on this event or would like to schedule an interview, please contact Liz Bacon Brownson at liz@ohcreativepdx.com or by calling 971-212-8034
About the Resonance Ensemble 2019-20 season:
In its eleventh 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.
Resonance Ensemble’s outstanding musicians give voice to the concerns, hopes, and dreams of all communities. Their concerts reflect this in the themes that reside in BEAUTIFUL MINDS, SAFE HARBOR, and AN AFRICAN AMERICAN REQUIEM.
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 Portland: 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 this June as “Part social commentary, part group therapy, and part best damn choir show in town." Chorus America honored Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon this summer 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 Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon:
Katherine FitzGibbon is Artistic Director of Portland’s professional Resonance Ensemble, called “one of the finest choirs in the Northwest” by Willamette Week. With Resonance, she has collaborated with the Portland Art Museum, Artists Repertory Theatre, Third Angle New Music, Portland Chamber Orchestra, Thomas Lauderdale and Hunter Noack, the Chuck Israels Jazz Orchestra, the Oregon Poet Laureate, and local actors, composers, visual artists, and dancers. Resonance partners with local artists and community organizations to explore questions of equity and inclusion.
Dr. FitzGibbon was just named the winner of the 2019 Louis Botto Award for Innovative Action and Entrepreneurial Zeal. Given periodically by Chorus America, the nation’s premier organization supporting the advancement of choral music today, the Louis Botto Award recognizes a mid-career choral leader for her exceptional work in developing a professional choral ensemble. An independent panel selected Dr. FitzGibbon to receive the award, which will be presented at Chorus America’s 2019 Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to be held June 26–29.
Dr. FitzGibbon is also Director of Choral Activities and Associate Professor of Music at Lewis & Clark College. In 2014, she was an inaugural winner of the Lorry Lokey Faculty Excellence Award, honoring “inspired teaching, rigorous scholarship, demonstrated leadership, and creative accomplishments.” A faculty member at the summertime Berkshire Choral Festival, Dr. FitzGibbon has also conducted choirs at Harvard, Boston, Cornell, and Clark Universities, and at the University of Michigan. She is a lyric soprano and music historian whose research on German choral music and politics has been presented and published internationally.
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Resonance Ensemble receives $100,000 Creative Heights Grant
Resonance Ensemble Receives $100,000 Creative Heights Grant to Premiere Damien Geter’s An African American Requiem
PORTLAND, OR —Resonance Ensemble has been awarded a $100,000 grant from The Oregon Community Foundation Creative Heights Initiative. The grant will help fund the world premiere of composer Damien Geter’s An African American Requiem, a pivotal work memorializing the lives of African Americans lost to racist violence in the United States, and the first work of its kind to be performed in Oregon. The work, a commission by Resonance Ensemble, will be presented by Resonance in partnership with the Oregon Symphony on Saturday, May 23, 2020, at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.
“Resonance is thrilled to receive this grant from The Oregon Community Foundation,” offers Resonance’s Artistic Director Dr. Katherine FitzGibbon. “As yet, there has not been a Requiem written in memory of African Americans who have lost their lives to racial violence; this will be a groundbreaking project that we believe can have a tremendous impact on all Oregonians. We are proud to partner with the Oregon Symphony as a conduit for Damien Geter’s incredibly important work.”
This concert-length work draws upon classical, jazz, and folk traditions. The Requiem uses the traditional Latin Requiem text for many movements but also incorporates spirituals and texts from civil rights activists Ida B. Wells, Eric Garner, Jamilia Land, and Antwone Rose. The final movement is scored for orchestra and narrator, with words penned and performed by African American poet and Portland resident S. Renee Mitchell.
“I am so grateful to The Oregon Community Foundation for seeing the value in our work,” says Geter. “This funding will help us to have timely and crucial conversations with Oregonians and hopefully beyond. I consider myself an activist through my art, and this Requiem is a perfect marriage of these passions.”
The premiere will feature a choir specially assembled by FitzGibbon, the African American Requiem Choir, featuring professional singers of Resonance Ensemble and Kingdom Sound Gospel Choir and representatives of other area choirs, and four renowned African American soloists: Brandie Sutton, soprano; Karmesha Peake, mezzo-soprano; Bernard Holcomb, tenor; and Kenneth Overton, baritone.
“I am so grateful to The Oregon Community Foundation for seeing the value in our work.”
Resonance Ensemble Artistic Director, Katherine FitzGibbon with composer Damien Geter
ABOUT DAMIEN GETER:
Composer Damien Geter infuses classical music with various styles from the black diaspora to create music that furthers the cause for social justice. Also a bass-baritone, Damien's 2019-2020 season includes appearances with the Metropolitan Opera, Seattle Opera, Eugene Opera, Resonance Ensemble, and Third Angle New Music. His most recent composition, The Talk: Instructions for Black Children When They Interact with the Police, was premiered with Resonance Ensemble in June 2019. He is thrilled about the production of An African American Requiem, in partnership with Resonance Ensemble and the Oregon Symphony. For more about Mr.Geter’s work, visit damiengetermusic.com
ABOUT RESONANCE ENSEMBLE:
Resonance Ensemble, a professional vocal ensemble based in Portland, Oregon, creates powerful programs that promote meaningful social change. Resonance Ensemble works to amplify voices that have long been silenced, and does 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 Portland: poets, jazz musicians, singer-songwriters, painters, dancers. The Resonance singers are “one of the Northwest’s finest choirs” (Willamette Week), with gorgeous vocal tone, and they also make music with heart. As Oregon Arts Watch recently wrote, “They do social justice music justice: their concerts are part social commentary, part group therapy, and part best damn choir show in town.”
For more information about Resonance Ensemble, visit resonancechoral.org or contact RE’s Box Office, (503) 427-8701.
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Resonance Ensemble announces its eleventh season: “Programming with Purpose”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 23, 2019
“Part social commentary, part group therapy, and part best damn choir show in town.”
Resonance Ensemble announces its eleventh season:
“Programming with Purpose”
PORTLAND, OR — Resonance Ensemble announces its 2019-20 season with an emphasis on new music that highlights underrepresented perspectives. The season will kick off with BEAUTIFUL MINDS on October 5 and 6, 2019; SAFE HARBOR on March 1, 2020; and, in partnership with the Oregon Symphony, the world premiere of Resonance’s commission of Damien Geter’s AN AFRICAN AMERICAN REQUIEM on May 23, 2020.
Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon says, “We’ve planned a season where every concert is lovingly curated with brilliant and thought-provoking new vocal music, sung by the region’s finest singers. All are welcome to these performances, whether they have a personal link to the themes, love to hear extraordinary new premieres, or come because they trust Resonance to create powerful programs that promote meaningful social change.”
Each concert will feature an original new poem by Resonance’s Poet in Residence, S. Renee Mitchell.
BEAUTIFUL MINDS
October 5, 2019 | 7:30 PM and October 6, 2019 | 4:00 p.m.
Cerimon House | 5131 NE 23rd Avenue, Portland
In the United States, almost half of all adults will experience a mental illness during their lifetime. Our opening concert, Beautiful Minds, focuses on the perspectives of those who experience mental illness and trauma. In honor of World Mental Health Day, we perform selections that share individual stories and challenge all of us to support those who are battling mental illness.
Music will include Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Scenes from Unremembered, Jake Runestad’s Please Stay, a Sonic Meditation by Pauline Oliveros, An Atom of Faith by Lisa Bielawa, Melissa Dunphy’s O Oriens, an excerpt from Next to Normal, and the world premiere of Portland composer Brandon Stewart’s Alone.
SAFE HARBOR
March 1, 2020| 4:00 PM
Alberta Rose Theatre | 3000 NE Alberta Street
Immigration and asylum are ever-present in current political and public debate in the United States. In Safe Harbor, Resonance explores varying experiences of coming to the U.S. through brilliant new music that tells the stories of immigrants and refugees. Composers include Eric Banks, Melissa Dunphy, John Muehleisen, Caroline Shaw, and Ysaye Barnwell. Resonance will give the world premieres of “Mother of Exiles,” by Portland composer Theresa Koon, and a new commissioned work by guest composer and performer, Portland violinist/looper Joe Kye, integrating folk music from his native Korea with American folk music and improvisation.
AN AFRICAN AMERICAN REQUIEM
May 23, 2020, at 7:30 p.m.
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall | 1037 SW Broadway, Portland
Oregon Symphony and Resonance Ensemble join forces to present the world premiere of An African American Requiem, Portland composer Damien Geter’s bold, thought-provoking musical response to violence against African Americans in the United States. Combining traditional Latin Requiem texts with civil rights declarations, poetry, and the famous last words of Eric Garner, “I can’t breathe,” this performance will honor past and present victims of racial violence and spur reflection on how to build a more hopeful future.
For more details about An African American Requiem, click here.
Season subscriptions are on sale now. Season subscribers will have access to deeply discounted tickets to our season concerts, including the Requiem world premiere in Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall as well as the other amazing concerts on this season’s series. Subscription packages offer savings off of single ticket prices, exclusive benefits and personalized customer service. Regular full-season subscriptions are available for $300, $200 and $150 and include guaranteed tickets to all of the Resonance Ensemble concerts. For more information about subscriptions, click here or contact RE’s Box Office, (503) 427-8701. Single tickets are available online to the general public starting September 1, 2019.
Note to Journalists: Katherine FitzGibbon and Damien Geter are available for print, online, and broadcast interviews. If you would like more information on this event or would like to schedule an interview, please contact Liz Bacon Brownson at liz@ohcreativepdx.com or by calling 971-212-8034
About the Resonance Ensemble 2019-20 season:
In its eleventh 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.
Resonance Ensemble’s outstanding musicians give voice to the concerns, hopes, and dreams of all communities. Their concerts reflect this in the themes that reside in BEAUTIFUL MINDS, SAFE HARBOR, and AN AFRICAN AMERICAN REQUIEM.
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 Portland: 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 this June as “Part social commentary, part group therapy, and part best damn choir show in town." Chorus America honored Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon this summer 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, click here.
For more information:
Website:/resonancechoral.org
Facebook: /resonanceensemblepdx
Instagram:/resonanceensemblepdx
Twitter: /resonanceensemblepdx
About Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon:
Katherine FitzGibbon is Artistic Director of Portland’s professional Resonance Ensemble, called “one of the finest choirs in the Northwest” by Willamette Week. With Resonance, she has collaborated with the Portland Art Museum, Artists Repertory Theatre, Third Angle New Music, Portland Chamber Orchestra, Thomas Lauderdale and Hunter Noack, the Chuck Israels Jazz Orchestra, the Oregon Poet Laureate, and local actors, composers, visual artists, and dancers. Resonance partners with local artists and community organizations to explore questions of equity and inclusion.
Dr. FitzGibbon was just named the winner of the 2019 Louis Botto Award for Innovative Action and Entrepreneurial Zeal. Given periodically by Chorus America, the nation’s premier organization supporting the advancement of choral music today, the Louis Botto Award recognizes a mid-career choral leader for her exceptional work in developing a professional choral ensemble. An independent panel selected Dr. FitzGibbon to receive the award, which will be presented at Chorus America’s 2019 Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to be held June 26–29.
Dr. FitzGibbon is also Director of Choral Activities and Associate Professor of Music at Lewis & Clark College. In 2014, she was an inaugural winner of the Lorry Lokey Faculty Excellence Award, honoring “inspired teaching, rigorous scholarship, demonstrated leadership, and creative accomplishments.” A faculty member at the summertime Berkshire Choral Festival, Dr. FitzGibbon has also conducted choirs at Harvard, Boston, Cornell, and Clark Universities, and at the University of Michigan. She is a lyric soprano and music historian whose research on German choral music and politics has been presented and published internationally.
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The Oregon Symphony and Resonance Ensemble present the World Premiere of Damien Geter’s An African American Requiem
IMAGE CREDIT: The Oregon Symphony
Resonance Ensemble is thrilled to announce our upcoming collaboration with the Oregon Symphony to premiere Damien Geter's pivotal work, An African American Requiem, in Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on May 23, 2020.
Very shortly we will be announcing our NEW season subscription packages. Season subscribers will have access to deeply discounted tickets to our season concerts, including the Requiem world premiere in Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall as well as the other amazing concerts on this season’s series.
Please stay tuned for information on how to purchase your season subscription, so you won't miss this world premiere and all of Resonance's powerful concerts promoting meaningful social change, all at great prices and with exciting new perks!
“Through innovative new works, the Symphony has moved audiences and sparked conversations about many challenging issues we face today including immigration, the environment, and homelessness. When Resonance Ensemble proposed this partnership we enthusiastically agreed.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 15, 2019
“We are living in communities that are like war zones.”
Jamilia Land, California Families United for Justice
Quoted in An African American Requiem
The Oregon Symphony and Portland’s Resonance Ensemble present the World Premiere of Damien Geter’s An African American Requiem on May 23, 2020 at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
PORTLAND, OR — The Oregon Symphony and Portland’s Resonance Ensemble are honored to announce a new Special Concert to their 2019/20 Seasons: the world premiere of composer Damien Geter’s An African American Requiem, a pivotal work honoring the lives of African Americans lost to racist violence in the United States, and the first work of its kind to be performed in Oregon. The concert will be presented Saturday, May 23, 2020, at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.
“In 2017, Damien Geter approached us with the idea to compose An African American Requiem, and Resonance Ensemble enthusiastically commissioned it,” explains Resonance’s Artistic Director Dr. Katherine FitzGibbon. “As yet, there has not been a Requiem written in memory of African Americans who have lost their lives to racist violence over the last four centuries; this will be a groundbreaking project that we believe can have tremendous impact on Oregonians. It serves as a commentary on the war of racism whose increasing casualties are left unnumbered and counting. Damien’s work is extraordinary and moving, and we knew from the beginning that our ideal collaborator on this premiere would be the Oregon Symphony.”
“Music has the power to inspire, educate, and heal,” says Oregon Symphony President Scott Showalter. “Through innovative new works, the Symphony has moved audiences and sparked conversations about many challenging issues we face today including immigration, the environment, and homelessness. When Resonance Ensemble proposed this partnership we enthusiastically agreed.”
“This is the largest work I’ve ever written, and I feel like I’ve been writing it my entire life - not in terms of time, but in terms of being a black man in today’s America, and also through various influences of music,” explains Geter. “I hope that this leads to important conversations in Oregon and beyond. As someone who considers himself an activist through art, the Requiem is the perfect marriage of the two: art + activism.”
The premiere will feature a choir specially assembled by FitzGibbon for this work, the African American Requiem Choir, with the professional singers of Resonance Ensemble and Kingdom Sound Gospel Choir featured, and four renowned African American singers: Brandie Sutton, soprano; Karmesha Peake, mezzo-soprano; Bernard Holcomb, tenor; and Kenneth Overton, baritone. The final movement will be scored for orchestra and narrator, with words penned and performed by African American poet and Portland resident, S. Renee Mitchell.
“We are thrilled to bring this work to the hall,” says FitzGibbon, “and we welcome all people to experience it.”
AN AFRICAN AMERICAN REQUIEM
WHEN: Saturday, May 23, 2020 | 7:30 pm
WHERE: Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
COST: $20-$100
SINGLE TICKETS: orsymphony.org
(for a better value - buy a Resonance Season Subscription! Details coming soon! )
MORE ABOUT THE WORK
This concert-length work honors African American victims of lynching past and present by hanging and by other violence, with music that draws upon classical, jazz, and gospel traditions. The Requiem will use the traditional Latin Requiem text for many movements but also incorporate spirituals (“There’s A Man Goin’ Round” and “Kumbaya”) and texts from civil rights activists Ida B. Wells, “Lynching is a Color-Line Crime,” and Jamilia Land, “We are living in communities that are like war zones.” One movement is dedicated solely to Eric Garner’s famous last words, “I can’t breathe,” and uses no wind instruments but rather a tenor soloist who sings over the constant roar of percussion instruments in an effort to be heard over them. Another movement recognizes children who have been killed and uses a line from a poem by Antwon Rose, “I am confused and afraid.” The final movement will be scored for orchestra and narrator, with words penned and performed by African American poet and Portland resident S. Renee Mitchell.
ABOUT THE PERFORMERS:
The premiere will feature a choir specially assembled for this work, the African American Requiem Choir, featuring Resonance Ensemble and members of other Portland-area choirs. Assembled by Katherine FitzGibbon, this choir will represent the racial and ethnic diversity of the broader Portland community. As Damien Geter writes, “My experience has been that the choral singers themselves form a new community through the rehearsal and performance process.”
The solo vocal quartet consists of four renowned African American singers: Brandie Sutton, soprano; Karmesha Peake, mezzo-soprano; Bernard Holcomb, tenor; and Kenneth Overton, baritone.
Note to Journalists: Damien Geter and Katherine FitzGibbon are available for print, online, and broadcast interviews. If you would like more information on this event or would like to schedule an interview, please contact Liz Bacon Brownson at liz@ohcreativepdx.com or by calling 971-212-8034.
Community panel discussions will be announced in the coming months.
ABOUT DAMIEN GETER:
Composer Damien Geter infuses classical music with various styles from the black diaspora to create music that furthers the cause for social justice. Also a bass-baritone, Damien's 2019-2020 season includes appearances with the Metropolitan Opera, Seattle Opera, Eugene Opera, Resonance Ensemble, and Third Angle New Music. His most recent composition, The Talk: Instructions for Black Children When They Interact with the Police, was premiered with Resonance Ensemble in June 2019. He is thrilled about the production of An African American Requiem, in partnership with Resonance Ensemble and the Oregon Symphony. For more about Mr.Geter’s work, visit damiengetermusic.com
ABOUT RESONANCE ENSEMBLE:
Resonance Ensemble, a professional vocal ensemble based in Portland, Oregon, creates powerful programs that promote meaningful social change. Resonance Ensemble works to amplify voices that have long been silenced, and does 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 Portland: poets, jazz musicians, singer-songwriters, painters, dancers. The Resonance singers are “one of the Northwest’s finest choirs” (Willamette Week), with gorgeous vocal tone, and they also make music with heart. As Oregon Arts Watch recently wrote, “They do social justice music justice: their concerts are part social commentary, part group therapy, and part best damn choir show in town.”
#anafricanamericanrequiem
#resonanceensemble
#oregonsymphony
Website:/resonancechoral.org
Facebook: /resonanceensemblepdx
Instagram:/resonanceensemblepdx
Twitter: /resonanceensemblepdx
ABOUT RESONANCE ENSEMBLE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR KATHERINE FITZGIBBON
Katherine FitzGibbon is Artistic Director of Portland’s professional Resonance Ensemble, called “one of the finest choirs in the Northwest” by Willamette Week. With Resonance, she has collaborated with the Portland Art Museum, Artists Repertory Theatre, Third Angle New Music, Portland Chamber Orchestra, Thomas Lauderdale and Hunter Noack, the Chuck Israels Jazz Orchestra, the Oregon Poet Laureate, and local actors, composers, visual artists, and dancers. Resonance partners with local artists and community organizations to explore questions of equity and inclusion.
Dr. FitzGibbon was just named the winner of the 2019 Louis Botto Award for Innovative Action and Entrepreneurial Zeal. Given periodically by Chorus America, the nation’s premier organization supporting the advancement of choral music today, the Louis Botto Award recognizes a mid-career choral leader for her exceptional work in developing a professional choral ensemble. An independent panel selected Dr. FitzGibbon to receive the award, which will be presented at Chorus America’s 2019 Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to be held June 26–29.
Dr. FitzGibbon is also Director of Choral Activities and Associate Professor of Music at Lewis & Clark College. In 2014, she was an inaugural winner of the Lorry Lokey Faculty Excellence Award, honoring “inspired teaching, rigorous scholarship, demonstrated leadership, and creative accomplishments.” A faculty member at the summertime Berkshire Choral Festival, Dr. FitzGibbon has also conducted choirs at Harvard, Boston, Cornell, and Clark Universities, and at the University of Michigan. She is a lyric soprano and music historian whose research on German choral music and politics has been presented and published internationally.
ABOUT THE OREGON SYMPHONY:
The multi-Grammy-nominated Oregon Symphony ranks as one of America’s major orchestras. Led by Music Director Carlos Kalmar, it serves over 300,000 people annually through more than 110 performances and award-winning education and community engagement programs. Through All Classical Portland and American Public Media’s SymphonyCast and Performance Today the Symphony reaches over 15 million listeners. Now in its 124th year, the Oregon Symphony is the oldest orchestra west of the Mississippi.
Known for innovative programming, the Symphony gained national recognition for its ground-breaking Sounds of Home Series which revolutionized the role of the arts in addressing three of the most critical social issues of the day: immigration, the environment, and homelessness. This series made a powerful impact in the community through innovative art, cross-sector partnerships with 37 organizations, and civic leadership and culminated with the recording of Oregon Symphony’s commission, emergency shelter intake form, by composer Gabriel Kahane to be released in March 2020.
At a time when many orchestras are reducing their classical programming, the Oregon Symphony is continuing to invest in the art form. In the 2018/19 season the Symphony premiered more than 20 compositions, including works by eight living composers such as John Adams, Unsuk Chin, and John Corigliano, to name a few. Effective with the 2019/20 season, the Symphony is expanding its Classical Series to 18 weeks. The schedule includes the return of the Symphony’s popular SoundSights concerts which were first presented in 2016/17. These visually stunning programs incorporate a rich tapestry of artistic elements which particularly appeal to new audiences.
About Resonance Poet in Residence and African American Requiem librettist/narrator S. Renee Mitchell:
S. Renee Mitchell is a published author, curriculum designer, community activist and multi-media artist. She also is a sur-thriver who has found her life purpose since disentangling from bullying, sexual assault, and domestic violence. After 25 years as an award-winning newspaper journalist - where she was nominated twice for the Pulitzer Prize - Renee reinvented herself as a Creative Revolutionist; co-founded a culturally specific, drop-in DV resource center; and began gifting her talents to the community as a poet, playwright, performer, speaker, teaching artist and self-taught graphic designer in order to create and contribute to empowering projects and programs, community healing ceremonies, plays, songs and books about healing from trauma. Motivated by intention and heart, Renee’s deepest desire is to help others use their creativity to let go, gather up and move on in order to find themselves, their voices, and their places in the world. For more about Ms. Mitchell’s work, visit ReneeMitchellSpeaks.com
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THE TOP TEN WAYS WE WORKED TO REFLECT THE BEST OF HUMANITY IN 2018-2019
“A true reflection of the best of humanity every time.”
At the end of August last year, we asked Resonance supporter Mimi Sei if we could publish her beautiful quote in our soon-to-be-printed season brochure. "Of course!" she said. "I just love what I experience at your concerts! Please feel free to share my words."
That conversation doesn't seem so long ago. On Sunday, June 9th we closed our final performance of Intensive Care at the beautiful Cerimon House, and looked back at this season, which produced 4 concerts - 3 of which were sellouts- 5 premieres and countless relationships. It has been quite a year.
Women Singing Women, February 2019 (Photo Credit: Rachel Hadiashar)
In keeping with the celebration of this tenth season and Mimi's sentiment, we thought it would be an interesting exercise to describe ten ways Resonance Ensemble worked to “truly reflect the best of humanity” this year.
THE TOP TEN WAYS RESONANCE ENSEMBLE WORKED TO REFLECT THE BEST OF HUMANITY IN 2018-2019
Programming with Purpose. This year we were awarded a year of monthly meetings with Arts & Culture consultant George Thorn through RACC’s Cultural Leadership Program. Through this work with George we have been given the tools we need to build on the shift in our mission focus, organizational development and long range strategic planning. Consequently, our 2018-19 season started with a strong board of directors, a clear plan, and a season of concerts that intentionally addressed themes highlighting diverse solo and choral voices, new and underrepresented composers, visual and other performing arts, and community partners.
Derrick McDuffey conducts professional gospel ensemble, Kingdom Sound. — October 2018 (Photo Credit: Rachel Hadiashar)
Building Community. Our season opened with our first Giltner House fundraising party! In September a houseful of Resonance supporters enjoyed delicious hors d’oeuvres, desserts, and drinks and enjoyed special performances by Resonance artists, up close and personal. This kickoff to our tenth season was held at the one-of-a-kind Giltner House, a historic home restored by host John McCullough, who continues the tradition begun by its original owners almost a century ago: supporting arts and culture in our community.
Giltner House Fundraiser — September 2018 (Photo Credit: Rachel Hadiashar)
3. Amplifying Voices of Color. In October Resonance featured music that spoke to the lived experiences of racial inequality in the United States at the oldest A.M.E black church in Oregon, Bethel A.M.E.. This concert included the world premiere of Damien Geter’s first movement of An African American Requiem, which we will premiere in 2019-2020 season. (Stay tuned for an upcoming exciting announcement!)
BRAVO Youth Orchestra performs at our HIDDEN VOICES concert at Bethel A.M.E. Church — October 2018 (Photo Credit: Rachel Hadiashar)
4. Tangible Connection. We’re talking to you, Reverend Terry McCray and Bethel A.M.E. Church, BRAVO Youth Orchestras, Derrick McDuffey and Kingdom Sound, pianists Kira Whiting and David Saffert, Resonance Poet in Residence S. Renee Mitchell, Randall Stuart and Cerimon House, guest artist Maria Karlin, composers Melissa Dunphy, Ben Kinkley, Renee Favand-See, Stacey Phillips, Joan Szymko, and Stephen Caldwell, flutist Sarah Tiedemann, and Portland Percussion Project.
Maria Karlin sings her arrangement of Suzanne Vega’s Blood Makes Noise—February 2019 (Photo Credit Rachel Hadiashar)
5. Amplifying Women’s Voices. In February Resonance embarked on an exploration of music by women about their experiences as women in our second concert of the season, Women Singing Women. The afternoon included the world premiere of a new commission, LISTEN, from award-winning composer Melissa Dunphy, with texts by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Prof. Anita Hill.
The women of Resonance at Cerimon House for Women Singing Women, February 2019 (Photo Credit: Rachel Hadiashar)
6. Offering Encore Performances of Important Music. When we debuted Women Singing Women in February, the concert was sold out with a substantial waiting list. It was clear to the Resonance Ensemble Board that this music needed a second performance. We were truly delighted to be able to present it a second time in May to yet another sold out crowd.
Artistic Director, Katherine FitzGibbon (Photo Credit: Rachel Hadiashar)
7. Fully funding our Crowdsourcing Campaign for our First CD! Celebrating our 10th season was the perfect excuse to focus on the launch of our first CD, "LISTEN." Hours in the recording studio created the music, but we needed help with production and were overwhelmed at the response to our ask. It was with great amounts of gratitude that we announced at our final concert that through the support of our Kickstarter campaign, we have produced the music we worked so hard to record.
Intensive Care Concert — June 2019 (Photo Credit Rachel Hadiashar)
8. Tackling Challenging Subject Matters. Our final performance of our season reflected on all whose early days of parenthood are different than envisioned -- with babies born early, babies sick, babies lost. Several of us in the Resonance family have experienced these challenges, and experienced them together. Damien Geter offered an incredibly moving world premiere of The Talk: Instructions for Black Children When They Interact with the Police. Long-time Resonance artist Ben Kinkley premiered the song he wrote for his son Gabe on that concert. And we gave the West Coast premiere of composer Stephen Caldwell’s moving work, Pre-Existing Condition, written to honor his son’s birth with a congenital heart defect, setting original texts and poems by ee cummings. We revisited our 2014 commision from Renee Favand-See, Only in Falling, setting poems of Wendell Berry in memory of her beloved infant son Owen.
Poet in Residence S. Renee Mitchell performs with the choir for the world premiere of Damien Geter’s piece The Talk: Instructions for Black Children When They Interact with the Police. (Photo Credit: Rachel Hadiashar)
Katherine Fitzgibbon with her award from Chorus America. — June 2019
9. Receiving Awards for Important Work. On June 27, 2019, Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon took the stage in Philadelphia to be recognized by Chorus America as she received the Louis Botto Award for Innovative and Entrepreneurial Zeal. Ongoing proof of the national recognition we are receiving for our work.
10. Looking to the Future. The work goes on. As we get ready to announce our 2019-2020 season, we continue to make connections that will allow us to fulfill the work of our mission on a grander scale in the years to come. We are grateful to all of you for your support and participation in Resonance’s mission.
Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon and Board Member and composer/artist Damien Geter at a 2018-19 Resonance Gratitude event — June 2019 (Photo Credit: Rachel Hadiashar)
Our LISTEN Album project is 100% Funded!
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
With your help, our LISTEN album is now 100% funded on Kickstarter! As a thank you to our supporters, we offer $10 off to EVERYONE (you, and you, and you!) for the next 24 hours!
Buy your tickets for our June 9th performance of Intensive Care —Expecting Love, Learning Hope before midnight tomorrow night (5/31/2019) and get $10 off general admission pricing! Simply head over to our website, click "tickets" and enter promo codeGOALZin the "Have a code?" section.
And of course, since we still have two days to go before the Kickstarter campaign is over - there is still time for you to donate and be a part of this wonderful album's creation! (Every dollar helps!)
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
#ONESIPFOREVERYDONATION
We are so grateful to you for your support of Resonance Ensemble.
For more information please reply to this email, visit our Kickstarter page here, or contact our Kickstarter organizer below.
Kickstarter Organizer:
Liz Bacon Brownson
Board Member, Resonance Ensemble
resonancechoral.org
Email: liz@ohcreativepdx.com
This is Resonance Music. We invite you to listen.
— Katherine FitzGibbon, Artistic Director
PRESS RELEASE – INTENSIVE CARE - expecting love • learning hope
Profound. Moving. Deeply nourishing. — Sally Retecki, Audience Member
Resonance Ensemble presents “INTENSIVE CARE,”
featuring the west coast premiere of
Stephen Caldwell’s PRE-EXISTING CONDITION
as well as release of Resonance Ensemble’s debut album, LISTEN.
PORTLAND, OR — On Sunday, June 9th at 4 PM, Resonance Ensemble will close its 2018-19 season with a concert tackling a situation many face. Join Resonance Ensemble at Cerimon House in a performance reflecting on all whose early days of parenthood are different than envisioned -- with babies born early, babies sick, babies lost. Often invisible stories, they are also stories mixed with hope and transformational love.
In this concert, Resonance Ensemble will give the West Coast premiere of Stephen Caldwell’s Pre-existing Condition, composed to honor his own son’s birth with a congenital heart defect. Caldwell sets original texts about his experience, as well as tender poetry by ee cummings. The choir will also revisit Renee Favand-See’s deeply personal Only in Falling, setting poems of Wendell Berry in memory of her beloved infant son Owen.
“I hope everyone can join us for this afternoon of exceptional music where we will hold space for all the parents and families who have experienced the welcoming of a child through the chaos of ERs and extended ICU stays, as well as families who have lost a child.” says Artistic Director Dr. Katherine FitzGibbon. “These are certainly heavy themes but ones that contain stories of hope through the fear, love through the grief. We are all transformed when we bear witness to the courageous stories of others.”
Other notable moments will include:
Q & A after the concert with Resonance Ensemble’s Artistic Director Kathy FitzGibbon and other artists on the program.
Portland writer and Resonance Poet in Residence, S. Renee Mitchell, performing an original poem written especially for the concert.
Performances by accomplished flutist, Sarah Tiedemann, and the Portland Percussion Group.
Portland favorite Kira Whiting on piano.
The concert also marks the release of Resonance Ensemble’s debut album, LISTEN, featuring many of the ensemble’s favorite pieces, including the world premiere recordings of Favand-See’s Only In Falling as well as the recently commissioned work of Melissa Dunphy, LISTEN, setting the courageous Senate testimony of Anita Hill and Christine Blasey Ford.
“When we perform these new works, there is an invitation to feel our shared humanity and our connection with one another.” says FitzGibbon, “Witnessing transformation heals the creative artist, the performers, and the audience. It is a powerfully inspiring thing. I hope everyone can join us on June 9th.”
Resonance Ensemble Presents: INTENSIVE CARE
WHEN: Sunday, June 9 | 4 pm
WHERE: Cerimon House — 5131 NE 23rd Avenue, Portland, OR 97211
COST:
$30 GENERAL ADMISSION
$25 SENIOR
$15 STUDENT/ARTIST
$5 ARTS FOR ALL
TICKETS: resonancechoral.org/intensivecare
Note to Journalists: Katherine FitzGibbon, Stephen Caldwell, and Renee Favand-See are available for print, online, and broadcast interviews. If you would like more information on this event or would like to schedule an interview, please contact Liz Bacon Brownson at liz@ohcreativepdx.com or by calling 971-212-8034
About the Resonance Ensemble 2018-19 season:
In its tenth 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.
Resonance Ensemble’s outstanding musicians give voice to the concerns, hopes, and dreams of all communities. Their concerts reflect this in the themes that reside in HIDDEN VOICES (October 2018), WOMEN SINGING WOMEN (February 2019), and INTENSIVE CARE (JUNE 2019).
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 Portland: poets, jazz musicians, singer-songwriters, painters, dancers. The Resonance singers are “one of the Northwest’s finest choirs” (Willamette Week), with gorgeous vocal tone, and they also make music with heart.
For more information:
Website:/resonancechoral.org
Facebook: /resonanceensemblepdx
Instagram:/resonanceensemblepdx
Twitter: /resonanceensemblepdx
Hashtag: #HearUsRoar
About Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon:
Katherine FitzGibbon is Artistic Director of Portland’s professional Resonance Ensemble, called “one of the finest choirs in the Northwest” by Willamette Week. With Resonance, she has collaborated with the Portland Art Museum, Artists Repertory Theatre, Third Angle New Music, Portland Chamber Orchestra, Thomas Lauderdale and Hunter Noack, the Chuck Israels Jazz Orchestra, the Oregon Poet Laureate, and local actors, composers, visual artists, and dancers. Resonance partners with local artists and community organizations to explore questions of equity and inclusion.
Dr. FitzGibbon was just named the winner of the 2019 Louis Botto Award for Innovative Action and Entrepreneurial Zeal. Given periodically by Chorus America, the nation’s premier organization supporting the advancement of choral music today, the Louis Botto Award recognizes a mid-career choral leader for her exceptional work in developing a professional choral ensemble. An independent panel selected Dr. FitzGibbon to receive the award, which will be presented at Chorus America’s 2019 Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to be held June 26-29.
Dr. FitzGibbon is also Director of Choral Activities and Associate Professor of Music at Lewis & Clark College. In 2014, she was an inaugural winner of the Lorry Lokey Faculty Excellence Award, honoring “inspired teaching, rigorous scholarship, demonstrated leadership, and creative accomplishments.” A faculty member at the summertime Berkshire Choral Festival, Dr. FitzGibbon has also conducted choirs at Harvard, Boston, Cornell, and Clark Universities, and at the University of Michigan. She is a lyric soprano and music historian whose research on German choral music and politics has been presented and published internationally.
About Stephen Caldwell
Dr. Stephen Caldwell is the Director of Choral Activities at the University of Arkansas, and conducts both the nationally-renowned Schola Cantorum and Women’s Chorus. His original, award-winning compositions and arrangements have been performed throughout the world including, “Since We Loved,” a piece that Resonance will premiere on their next concert. The 20-min work for choir and instruments depicts the emotional journey of parents who have children born with congenital heart defects. The sold-out premiere received a 5-minute standing ovation, and the work was soon after featured by the Pediatric Congenital Heart Association. Dr. Caldwell holds a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Northern Colorado, two Master of Music Degrees in Vocal Performance and Choral Conducting from Temple University, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Rutgers University.
About Renée Favand-See
Renée Favand-See is a composer and soprano who lives in Portland, Oregon. Her works explore the music of words, of natural and made environments, of emotions and spiritual questions. Among her commissions are works for Resonance Ensemble, Five Boroughs Music Festival, Lucy Shelton and Eighth Blackbird, Sequitur, PRISM Saxophone Quartet, American Opera Projects, Wet Ink Ensemble, Outer Voices Festival, coloratura soprano Alissa Rose and cellist Ha-Yang Kim. Other groups who have performed her music include The Julians; Friends of Rain; Electrogals; Del Sol String Quartet; Peabody Trio; and many singers, including Jesse Blumberg, Blythe Gaissert, Anna Haagenson, Jennifer Aylmer, Kristin Norderval, and William Ferguson. Renée is a member of Cascadia Composers and its offshoot of women, Crazy Jane Composers.
Renée has written chamber, orchestral, choral, and electronic pieces, as well as music for video and dance, including collaborations with Ten Tiny Dances in Portland, TRIP Dance Theatre in Los Angeles, Group Motion in Philadelphia and video artist Christine Sciulli in New York City. Her works are featured on Five Borough’s “Five Borough Songbook” on GPR Records; Sequitur’s ”To Have and to Hold” available on Koch, and on Prism Quartet’s “Dedication” on Innova.
Renée holds B.M. and M.M. degrees in composition from the Eastman and Yale Schools of Music, respectively. Renée teaches music composition and theory at Portland State University and for summer programs including Young Musicians and Artists (YMA) and The Walden School.
About Resonance Poet in Residence S. Renee Mitchell:
Renee Mitchell is a published author, curriculum designer, community activist and multi-media artist. She also is a sur\thriver who has found her life purpose since disentangling from bullying, sexual assault, and domestic violence. After 25 years as an award-winning newspaper journalist - where she was nominated twice for the Pulitzer Prize - Renee reinvented herself as a Creative Revolutionist; co-founded a culturally specific, drop-in DV resource center; and began gifting her talents to community as a poet, playwright, performer, speaker, teaching artist and self-taught graphic designer in order to create and contribute to empowering projects and programs, community healing ceremonies, plays, songs and books about healing from trauma. Motivated by intention and heart, Renee’s deepest desire is to help others use their creativity to let go, gather up and move on in order to find themselves, their voice, and their place in the world. For more about Ms. Mitchell’s work, visit ReneeMitchellSpeaks.com
About Cerimon House
Cerimon House is a nonprofit arts & humanities organization, and a popular event space located in the heart of the Alberta Arts District of Portland, Oregon. It is a convening space for events that uplift and bring about conversations that inspire. For more information about Cerimon House, visit cerimonhouse.org
###
Portland Choral Director, Dr. Katherine FitzGibbon, Receives Louis Botto Award
Photo Credit: Rachel Hadiashar
Portland Choral Director Dr. Katherine FitzGibbon
Receives Prestigious Louis Botto Award from Chorus America
Dr. Katherine FitzGibbon, Artistic Director of Resonance Ensemble, has been named the 2019 recipient of the Louis Botto Award for Innovative Action and Entrepreneurial Zeal.
Given periodically by Chorus America, the nation’s premier organization supporting the advancement of choral music today, the Louis Botto Award recognizes a mid-career choral leader for her exceptional work in developing a professional choral ensemble.
Said president and CEO Catherine Dehoney, “Chorus America is thrilled to honor these exceptional choruses and choral leaders who inspire our colleagues and enrich our communities through their outstanding work.”
“As founder and artistic director of Resonance Ensemble, FitzGibbon has captained a bold organizational shift—from its original mission exploring links between music, art, poetry, and theatre, to a new focus exclusively on presenting concerts that promote meaningful social change. Resonance has intentionally diversified the demographics of their board of directors, and engaged a poet-in-residence (S. Renee Mitchell) whose work highlights intersections of marginalized people. FitzGibbon invites community partners (Portland Pride, Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, Cerimon House, BRAVO Youth Orchestras, Bethel AME Church) into the long-term planning process for each concert, and seeks out venues in Portland’s diverse and under-represented neighborhoods. Under her vision, the organization’s budget has grown almost tenfold since its inception a decade ago, and FitzGibbon has consistently prioritized paying her singers a competitive wage." (taken from the Chorus America Website)
An independent panel selected Dr. FitzGibbon to receive the award, which will be presented at Chorus America’s 2019 Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to be held June 26-29.
For more information about Dr. FitzGibbon and Resonance Ensemble, visit resonancechoral.org
For more information about Chorus America, visit chorusamerica.org
Note to Journalists: Katherine FitzGibbon is available for print, online, and broadcast interviews. If you would like more information on this event or would like to schedule an interview, please contact Liz Bacon Brownson at liz@ohcreativepdx.com or by calling 971-212-8034
About the Resonance Ensemble 2018-19 season:
In its tenth 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.
Resonance Ensemble’s outstanding musicians give voice to the concerns, hopes, and dreams of all communities. Their concerts reflect this in the themes that reside in HIDDEN VOICES (October 2018), WOMEN SINGING WOMEN (February 2019), and INTENSIVE CARE (JUNE 2019).
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 Portland: poets, jazz musicians, singer-songwriters, painters, dancers. The Resonance singers are “one of the Northwest’s finest choirs” (Willamette Week), with gorgeous vocal tone, and they also make music with heart.
Writing "LISTEN", an emotional process for composer, Melissa Dunphy
Melissa Dunphy, composer at work.
Trigger Warning: sexual assault
Melissa Dunphy, composer of LISTEN - commissioned by Resonance for Women Singing Women - shared these thoughts about writing this piece based on the testimony of Prof. Anita Hill and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, and how relatable the texts are to her own experiences as a woman.
Dunphy will be at next week's performance, and is participating in the artist talk back session after the concert. We hope you will join us next Sunday, February 3 at 4pm at Cerimon House.
"Writing LISTEN was an emotional process. The first hurdle was deciding which excerpts from the testimonies of Anita Hill and Christine Blasey Ford to set, which meant reading and listening and living inside these women’s harrowing stories for an extended period. And like most women, the most discomfiting aspect of listening to their testimony is the recognition. When I first heard about Ford’s experience, I was disturbed by its similarity to an incident that happened to me. I went to an all-girls private school, and we sometimes partnered with an all-boys private school for musicals. One night when I was 15, after a performance, while we were still on stage, one of the boys in the musical forcibly put his mouth and tongue on me as I struggled, shocked and horrified. Two days before Ford’s testimony, I posted about this on Facebook, and at least one my school friends remembered it happening, while others knew exactly which boy I was talking about. Something I mentioned in the discussion of the incident was that the worst part was the way he laughed when he saw my disgust and humiliation. So when Ford in her testimony the same week said almost the exact same words about Brett Kavanaugh’s laughter and its impact on her, my blood ran cold.
As I was finalizing the piece today and going through it for the last time, I started crying. I can count on the fingers of one hand the times this has happened to me while composing. It’s interesting that it most often happens when I’m setting texts for women’s choruses. Something about massed women’s voices is incredibly powerful, both musically and symbolically, at this moment. I also grew up singing in all-girl choruses, so I think there’s something very deep that I identify with in the sound of a treble choir."
- Melissa Dunphy, composer
