Meet a Resonance Singer: Cecily Kiester

“I’m really grateful to be part of Resonance Ensemble and their continued efforts to lift us up and help us to see the beauty in the world. ”

— Cecily Kiester, Alto

We asked Resonance singers who were featured in the "Under the Overpass" video series to share about their experience as an artist during these times, and what it was like to sing together after so much time apart.

Thank you to Cecily Kiester for contributing to this video.

► About "Under the Overpass"

This series of videos celebrates Resonance’s hometown of Portland, Oregon, and the space it provides for Resonance artists to continue to create despite the pandemic. Masked, imperfect, together. Starting in the summer of 2020, singers and spoken word artists met in acoustic spaces around the city - six feet apart, masked, and yet together. Viewers will experience music performed in these gritty, hauntingly beautiful spaces.

In collaboration with Oh! Creative and Portland filmmaker Kenton Waltz, the series features Resonance singers and other local artists and musicians all captured under Portland's famous bridges. All five films will be available to view for free here on our YouTube channel, and also on our website and Facebook page.

► How you can help

We believe that art is essential and must be accessible, now more than ever. Please consider making a donation to support our “Under the Overpass” Video Series.

Your gift will allow us to bring performing art to our community safely and free of charge.

Resonance Kicks Off Their Year-End Giving Campaign on a Re-imagined Path

2020 has been profoundly challenging. 

During this pandemic, arts organizations—Resonance included—have had to cancel or postpone in-person performances. It has been devastating for artists, financially and spiritually. Recently, Resonance had to push the date of Damien Geter’s eagerly anticipated An African American Requiem with the Oregon Symphony into 2022 -- especially disappointing in light of our commitment to Black lives, and the need to share this vision now.

We re-imagined a path forward.

Once we realized we couldn’t perform safely in person for a while, we asked ourselves how we could continue to bring you powerful new music that responds to the social issues of our times? 

We found a way. 

Instead of the concert stage, we now share music through the lens of a camera, with innovative video events given for free to global audiences online: 

• Under the Overpass, an exciting series of videos under Portland’s historic bridges;

• Commissions for Now, three major world premieres addressing this moment; and

• Six Feet Apart, a world premiere video sharing deeply personal stories of Oregonians during the pandemic, with our partners at Anima Mundi Productions.

None of this is possible without your help.

Our concerts are designed to reflect the times, and when you give to Resonance Ensemble, you become a part of that reflection. Our goal is to raise $30,000—which covers the costs for three of these videos—by December 31st, and we can’t do it without your help. As you are able, will you make a special year-end contribution to Resonance Ensemble to help us create new art to share worldwide, at no cost to viewers?

Join us on this path toward change.

Resonance exists so that you have the opportunity to experience music that moves people, inspires reflection, and creates change. To donate today, either to the general fund or to the Dinah Dodds Fund for the Creation of New Art, please mail back the enclosed envelope with your check or credit card information, visit resonancechoral.org, or call us at 503-427-8701.

Your donation, no matter the size, makes our work possible. As Sonya Renee Taylor writes, we are being given the opportunity to stitch a new garment, to envision a new world post-pandemic. The arts can help lead us there. Along with our artists, staff, filmmakers, and board, I thank you for your support. 

Sincerely,

Katherine FitzGibbon, Artistic Director

Cyber Monday Sale - Save on Rez Merch all week long!

Cyber Monday has become the online equivalent to Black Friday and was created to offer a way for smaller businesses to compete with larger chains for end of the year sales.

We aren’t usually in the business of selling retail items, but our limited edition t-shirts and masks are the perfect way to kick off our “Let’s Find A Way” Fundraising Campaign which starts this week!

20% off all merch - including our limited edition the Resonance Mask - starts now through Friday, Dec 4th!

Resonance Ensemble Performs Under Portland’s Bridges in “Under the Overpass”

For immediate release: November 17, 2020 
Media Contact: Liz Bacon Brownson

Web: resonancechoral.org
Email: liz@resonancechoral.org
Phone: 971-212-8034

PORTLAND—All of Portland is a stage in Resonance Ensemble’s new digital concert series, Under the Overpass. Beginning in the summer of 2020, artists were filmed in acoustic spaces under Portland’s famous bridges -- six feet apart, masked, and yet making music together. 

This Thursday, November 19, Resonance will release its second episode of the series, with Resonance singers joined by the singers of Kingdom Sound Gospel Choir, acclaimed soloist Onry, and pianist David Saffert, in a stunning rendition of “Stand By Me” filmed under the trestles of the Ross Island Bridge. Viewers worldwide can watch the world premiere for free at 3:00 p.m. Pacific time at Resonance Ensemble’s website and YouTube channel.

About Under the Overpass: 

Because of the pandemic, Resonance and other arts organizations have had to cancel or postpone in-person performances, including Damien Geter’s eagerly anticipated An African American Requiem with the Oregon Symphony. Resonance has embraced the opportunity to reimagine its 2020-2021 season, Normal Never Was, which includes Under the Overpass as well as brand-new commissions highlighting timely social issues. 

Each video in the Under the Overpass series showcases a different bridge in Portland. The performances, which are no more than six minutes long, are released and then archived on the organization’s YouTube channel for free, with a complete presentation of all the episodes available worldwide in June 2021.

The artists in each video worked with filmmaker Kenton Waltz and production company Oh! Creative to execute their vision. No longer confined to indoor theater venues, the film crew scouted spaces that could offer natural stage elements that allowed for singers to sing masked and six feet apart, yet still create an artistic moment on film. Each video on the series illustrates how art moves forward, despite current challenges. 

“Because of the pandemic, we have had to be more imaginative and creative in how we present our work,” says Resonance Ensemble Artistic Advisor Damien Geter. “This series explores what art looks like in this new world.”

Under the Overpass Episode Details: 

Episode 1 (the pilot project) was released on YouTube in October, with four more set to unfold throughout the season. Viewers can view each episode as it premieres for free on Resonance Ensemble’s website and YouTube channel. To be the first to receive the announcement, sign up for the mailing list at resonancechoral.org.

Oct 28, 2020
Episode 1: Hawthorne Bridge (pilot project)

Four Resonance singers fight through a windy summer evening under the Hawthorne Bridge to perform a wistful version of Dr. Ysaye Barnwell’s “Wanting Memories.” 
CLICK HERE TO WATCH EPISODE 1

Nov 19, 2020
Episode 2: Ross Island Bridge with Kingdom Sound Gospel Choir

Acclaimed artist Onry joins singers from Kingdom Sound Gospel Choir and Resonance Ensemble, along with pianist David Saffert, under the trestles of the Ross Island Bridge, to perform a stunning rendition of Ben E. King’s “Stand by Me.” 
CLICK HERE TO GET READY FOR EPISODE 2 (premieres Thursday, November 19)

Jan 27, 2021
Episode 3: St. Johns Bridge with Kingdom Sound Gospel Choir 

Singers from Kingdom Sound Gospel Choir and Resonance Ensemble sing a dynamic version of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” under the St. Johns Bridge at Cathedral Park. 

April 28, 2021
Episode 4: North Portland with Third Angle New Music

Resonance collaborates with Third Angle New Music to present a sneak peek at Darrell Grant’s yet-to-be-premiered jazz opera Sanctuaries, under a bridge in North Portland.

May 27, 2021
Episode 5: Tillikum Crossing Bridge

The series will culminate in the world premiere of a new commission by Damien Geter for a Resonance octet, to be performed under the Tillikum Crossing Bridge.

June 30, 2021
A special full viewing of the entire series

Viewers worldwide can watch the videos as they are released at Resonance Ensemble’s website and YouTube channel.

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BECOME A SEASON SUPPORTER! In lieu of traditional subscription packages, Resonance is asking those who are able to support Resonance in whatever amount they can. The contributions of our Season Supporters bring timely new musical works to life, for free, for global audiences. Supporters can receive incentives including branded masks, T-shirts, and special invitations to exclusive events, including a behind-the-scenes seat at the filming of the final episode of Under the Overpass.

“We realize that times are hard for so many, and that art is a fundamental right that should be available to everyone—especially now,” says Resonance Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon. “It is our hope that those who can will join us to support the new, pivotal works Resonance is producing, that is being created and performed by artists who are responding to these times. I am excited to see what the future brings for all of us.”

For more information about Under the Overpass and to become a Season Supporter, visit resonancechoral.org or contact RE’s Box Office, (503) 427-8701. 

Special thanks to our sponsors Ronni Lacroute, Oregon Cultural Trust, Oregon Community Foundation, Miller Foundation, Collins Foundation, and the Regional Arts & Culture Council, and to our individual donors.

Note to Journalists: Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon and Artistic Advisor Damien Geter are available for print, online, and broadcast interviews. If you would like more information on our season or would like to schedule an interview, please contact Liz Bacon Brownson at liz@resonancechoral.org or by calling 971-212-8034.

About Resonance Ensemble

In its twelfth 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. 

For more information: 

Website:/resonancechoral.org
Youtube :/c/ResonanceEnsemble
Facebook: /resonanceensemblepdx
Instagram:/resonanceensemblepd
Twitter: /resonanceensemblepdx
Hashtags: #NormalNeverWas #UnderTheOverpass #ResonanceEnsemblePDX #RossIslandBridge

— #### —

With heavy hearts we say goodbye

It is with deep sadness and heavy hearts that we say farewell to our dear friend Marilyn Crilley, who served on our board since 2017 and died on November 3, 2020. Marilyn brought years of experience as a dedicated arts board member, a passion for social justice through the arts, a brilliant mind and generous heart, not to mention her trademark dry wit. We are grateful for all of the support and advice she provided us through the years, including her words of wisdom as we reimagined our mission and grew the scope of our organization. 

Marilyn always offered thoughtful insights about race and inequality, and while she was a private person, she shared her experiences with the incarceration of Japanese-American families during World War II and identifying the ways that prejudice and racial injustice persist. We promise to carry her commitment to unearthing and overturning inequality and injustice through the arts, as we carry her in our hearts.

We will miss her very much and send our heartfelt condolences to her husband George Rowbottom (a dedicated arts advocate as well) and her family and friends.  

We will post Marilyn’s obituary and any information on her memorial service once we know more.

Thank you, Oregon!

Resonance Ensemble among the 621 cultural organizations awarded a total of $25.7 million dollars.

Resonance Ensemble is thrilled to share that we recently received over $43,000 from the Oregon Cultural Trust and Multnomah County Cultural Coalition. The funds, allocated to the Cultural Trust for Oregon cultural organizations facing losses due to the COVID-19 health crisis, were made available through a $50 million relief package for Oregon culture approved by the Emergency Board of the Oregon Legislature in July. 

We join 620 other cultural organizations in Oregon that were awarded a total of $25.7 million in Coronavirus Relief Fund Cultural Support grants. Thank you to local, state, and federal officials for their hard work in helping keep Oregon arts and culture alive.

Read the full press release on Oregon Cultural Trust’s website here.

These funds are life blood to Oregon’s cultural community. While they won’t replace all the losses suffered during the pandemic, they will ensure Oregon culture survives this crisis. We are deeply grateful to the Oregon Legislature for making this possible. - Chuck Sams, chair of the Oregon Cultural Trust Board

PRESS RELEASE — Resonance Ensemble Announces its 12th Season: "Normal Never Was"

For immediate release: September 16, 2020
Media Contact: Liz Bacon Brownson | liz@resonancechoral.org | 971.212.8034

We will not go back to normal. Normal never was. Our pre-corona existence was not normal other than we normalized greed, inequity, exhaustion, depletion, extraction, disconnection, confusion, rage, hoarding, hate and lack. We should not long to return, my friends. We are being given the opportunity to stitch a new garment. One that fits all of humanity and nature.

—Sonya Renee Taylor, award-winning performance poet, activist, and transformational leader
(reprinted with permission)

Resonance Ensemble announces its 12th season, “Normal Never Was,”
featuring bold new works by composers and poets responding to this
moment in ways that only art can reflect. 

PORTLAND, OR — Normal Never Was, Resonance Ensemble’s imaginative 12th season, brims with performances that respond to the striking new challenges of the pandemic and to those that always were: racial and gender violence, inequality, and loss. 

From an exciting new video series under Portland’s historic bridges, to three major world premieres commissioned by Resonance, to a groundbreaking collaboration across Oregon, Resonance creates visionary art with world-class composers and musicians. 

“We were challenged this season to come up with ways to perform with our artists’ and audiences’ safety in the front of our minds,” says Resonance Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon. “We look forward to taking the stage once it’s safe to do so. Until then we offer other creative ways for our audiences to experience art that responds to the times, and we share these stories as we always do: through powerful new music written by innovative composers.” 

UNDER THE OVERPASS Video Series 
This series of videos celebrates Resonance’s hometown of Portland, Oregon, and the space it provides for Resonance artists to continue to create. Starting in the summer of 2020, singers and spoken word artists met in acoustic spaces around the city - six feet apart, masked, and yet together. Viewers will experience music performed in these gritty, hauntingly beautiful spaces. Resonance will produce four episodes beginning this October, free of charge and available for the whole world to enjoy.

COMMISSIONS FOR NOW Virtual World Premiere Series 
Resonance has commissioned three dynamic composers to create new works in response to this moment, as we face a global pandemic and envision a world free of racial and gender violence. Resonance will create powerful video premieres and release them for free. The composers are:

• Jasmine Barnes, a brilliant up-and-coming composer based in Dallas, whose multifaceted works frequently address questions of race and religion

• Damien Geter, who will share two “sneak peek” excerpts from his forthcoming work An African American Requiem, a bold, thought-provoking musical response to racial violence against African Americans (presented jointly with the Oregon Symphony)

• Mari Ésabel Valverde, an award-winning composer who is openly transgender, who is creating a new work with author/playwright Dane Figueroa. Titled We Hold Your Names Sacred, this work will share perspectives of trans women of color and reflect on losses due to gender violence

Coming in Spring 2021: 

SIX FEET APART
In the face of loss, life continues. 
As a global health crisis continues to rage across our world, our communities are facing unprecedented challenges. Resonance Ensemble partners with Ashland-based Anima Mundi Productions to offer this evocative world premiere in an innovative video presentation, coming in Spring 2021. Six Feet Apart harnesses the power of music and poetry to give voice to communities and foster collective healing in times of crisis. Since the beginning of the pandemic, composer Ethan Gans-Morse and poet Tiziana DellaRovere have worked to collect stories from around Oregon and to set the resulting stories of hope, travails, and triumphs to music. This work explores these stirring stories and brings them all together in an innovative video presentation with striking visuals by one of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's finest video designers.

We will announce the date of this virtual world premiere later this fall, with an opportunity for supporters to participate in a live Q&A with the creative team on its release date. The video, and an accompanying compilation of the pandemic stories, will thereafter be shared free of charge. 

AN AFRICAN AMERICAN REQUIEM 
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
Date to be announced

The eagerly-anticipated world premiere of An African American Requiem by Resonance’s Artistic Advisor Damien Geter

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 and now George Floyd, “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. 

Resonance and the Oregon Symphony will announce a newly rescheduled date shortly, for a time when our community can all come together in person, post-pandemic, to share this significant and necessary musical work. Our mailing lists will be the first to know.

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About Resonance Ensemble

In its twelfth 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. 

#NormalNeverWas
#Resonance2021

About Dr. Katherine FitzGibbon
About Artistic Advisor and composer Damien Geter
About composer Jasmine Barnes
About composer Mari Ésabel Valverde
About Anima Mundi Productions

Meet the newest member of the Resonance Team: Tia Bangura!

Resonance Ensemble is excited to welcome Tia Bangura to our growing Resonance team as the Communication and Artist Coordinator.

Originally from Portland, Tia believes that the arts have the power to positively transform lives and communities. As an administrator, she finds joy in managing behind the scenes operations and seeing artists and audiences engage with art and each other.

Tia’s past work experiences have primarily been in museums. She has worked at the Portland Art Museum, The Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Tenement Museum in New York City. While Tia is still interested in the visual arts, she is excited to learn more about music and build a stronger connection to the performing arts through her work with Resonance Ensemble.

Tia holds a Master of Arts degree in Arts Administration from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology and Black Studies from Portland State University.

As our Communication and Artist Coordinator, Tia will be responsible for contracting musicians, creating social media content, keeping our music library organized, and coordinating our volunteers.

Fun facts about Tia:

“I love to travel! Whether I'm in a different city, state, or country, I enjoy being in a new environment and exploring all it has to offer.”

Favorite foods: Pancakes, burgers, and ice cream.

Last movie Tia watched: Steven Universe: The Movie

Musical inspirations: I'm a big fan of Beyoncé, Solange, Sade, and Rebecca Sugar.

We are so excited to have Tia on our team. On behalf of all of us, welcome aboard, Tia!

[UPDATE] An Open Letter from Resonance Ensemble and Members of the Portland Arts Community

June 9, 2020

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died handcuffed behind his back on a Minneapolis, Minnesota street, while white police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes and three other officers watched. Local arts organization Resonance Ensemble immediately drafted an open letter in response to the devastating news, demanding that the state of Oregon and our leaders take action. Resonance invited arts leaders and citizens of our state to join us in stating unequivocally that BLACK LIVES MATTER and demanding that Oregon do better to protect the lives of our black citizens. The original plan was to deliver the letter to Governor Brown and Mayor Wheeler after a week of receiving signatures. 

Resonance Ensemble’s original open letter garnered over 1,000 signatures representing the Portland arts community, citizens, major arts leaders, and organizations who all stand together in support of tangible change to protect the lives of black people.

Since that time, there have been some changes:

• Governor Brown has taken bold steps to acknowledge where the state has failed black people, has met with local leaders of color, and announced actionable steps the state of Oregon can take to do better. Governor Brown has stated, “We must do what we can right here in Oregon.” and “Words are not enough, we need action.” and finally, “Join me in co-creating a more just Oregon where black Oregonians can thrive.”

• Mayor Wheeler has removed police officers from the Portland Public Schools and has signed the Mayor’s Pledge, President Obama’s call for mayors, city councils, and police oversight bodies to address police use of force policies. He has also met with local leaders of color and announced actionable steps the city of Portland can take.

Because of these recent changes, we have updated our letter (June 9, 2020) to clarify the accountability the arts community still demands of our state and local government officials. 

#REQUIEMSTORIES: "The music is alive and is already changing us."

May 23, 2020. Today is the day ‘An African American Requiem’ was supposed to premiere at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, with full orchestra, 4 world-class soloists, and a choir of over 100 singers.

We are asking everyone to submit what we are calling #requiemstories. Each day we receive another one - it has filled our hearts to read other’s experiences of this unfortunate delay. We will continue to post these stories as we get them. To submit your requiem story, please email us at info@resonancechoral.org.

Thank you to all who are with us on this journey. We stay hopeful and send you love.

Katherine FitzGibbon’s #requiemstory

In an "alternate universe," today would have been the world premiere of Damien Geter's groundbreaking work, An African American Requiem. Damien's work is a powerful tribute to victims of racial violence against African Americans, from lynchings to police brutality. We need this work. We needed it when Damien wrote it, and sadly, we still need it. Ahmaud Arbery. Brionna Taylor. 

When we see injustice in the world, we speak out against it. As a musician, the way I process things and the "pulpit" I can use is musical performance. I've struggled these last two months with my feelings of loss — while recognizing that many other people have experienced loss on a vastly more significant scale than my own. But there is still loss; I have been part of the team of people bringing this work to life, raising funds, building awareness, for the last few years. I had conducted several choir rehearsals before we had to disband due to COVID. I "met" this work, movement by movement, as Damien was writing it, and I saw over and over how its very existence was galvanizing our community.

There is a lot we have lost by not performing this work today. (And we are comforted by the knowledge that we WILL perform this work in the future — hopefully in January of 2021!) We've lost, for now, our opportunity to use Damien's extraordinary music to respond NOW to racial violence against African Americans. We've lost, for now, the intentional community of choral singers that has come together, from all races and ethnicities, for what felt to us like a higher purpose. We've lost, for now, the incredible energy from our community partners on the African American Requiem Advisory Board who were working to create an entire curriculum around this concert, to build momentum in young people and Black Student Unions around the region, and (as Ombrea Moore at SEI said), to create Wakanda in the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. 

But today is also a celebration. This music exists, and our hundred and ten voice choir has these amazing musical scores in our homes. We are still ready. The music is alive and is already changing us. We just have to wait a little longer for it to change our audience. 

One of my friends was reflecting this week about the way we can choose to identify and amplify the good things, the beautiful, the positive even against a backdrop of anxiety or loss. She asked, what is this? Is it grace? Is it hope? It's not just keeping a positive attitude about what may come, but it's choosing to see the beautiful things NOW. 

So, today, on what would have been the world premiere of An African American Requiem, I choose to see and embrace these truths. Damien has composed a work that is already doing what he set out to do. It is changing us. We have created a choir that never existed before, and we are brought together by our shared passion for this music and this message. We are forming new friendships. We are doubling down on our commitment against injustice. And we sense this shared energy and support from everyone who would have been in the audience tonight, and from our friends at the Oregon Symphony and AllClassical Portland. Can this seed of beauty and grace that already exists sustain us through our difficult time until it reaches its full flowering at its later world premiere? I know it can. 

—Katherine FitzGibbon, Artistic Director, Resonance Ensemble

Photo Credits: Rachel Hadiashar & Kevin Paul Clark