Commission Story: Safe Harbor
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 Safe Harbor by vocalist, violinist, and composer Joe Kye
Composer Joe Kye and conductor Katherine FitzGibbon embrace following the premiere of Safe Harbor in 2020 | photo from video by Alan Niven
What is an American?
Immigration and asylum are ever-present in current political and public debate in the United States. In 2020, Resonance Ensemble presented the concert program, Safe Harbor, where we explored varying experiences of coming to the U.S.—including experiences of immigration, asylum, and exile.
Familiar with Joe Kye for his whimsical and loop-based compositions, Resonance Ensemble was ecstatic to have the opportunity to work with Kye—who integrated folk music from his native Korea alongside American folk music and improvisation. The work also featured original text, which was used to weave full choral textures, background vocals, solo voice features, and speaking throughout the piece.
Joe Kye | photo by Ben Seller
Joe shared in 2020 a bit about the piece and its inspiration:
Inspired by my journey as an immigrant as well as the current humanitarian crisis at our southern border, Safe Harbor is my personal exploration of movement and migration.
The piece starts where we all do—with our mothers. My first memory is auditory; I remember being carried by my mother, my ear pressed between her shoulder blades. I could hear her singing softly, the sweet folk lullaby muffled by the sound of her heart and body as I drifted off to sleep. This lullaby, the sound of a cuckoo bird, and the distinct rhythm that accompanies the lullaby as it begins to expand represent my childhood in Korea.
My parents told me we would move to America when I was six, and I remember the fear, sadness and anxiety as the move neared. Even today, the narrative surrounding migrants entering America rarely mentions the emotionally fraught decision to leave home. We like to think of America as a miracle land—of course everyone wants to come here—without considering the grief and inner conflict of leaving your world behind.
I try to capture this in Safe Harbor, especially from the viewpoint of my parents, who left Korea at age 33 with their two young children in search of opportunity. They left their families, dear friends, language, food, and all that they had accomplished in order to build upon their hopes for the future.
A young Joe Kye takes up the mic | photo provided by Joe Kye
And yet, America proved to be far harsher than the dreamland we had built in our minds. The next portion of the piece tries to capture the reality of being a person of color and immigrant in this country. From unfair media representations to aloof cashiers, jokes that highlight my Otherness to micro-aggressions, it’s been a constant struggle to settle into my identity as an Asian-American and to truly feel like I belong in this country. Furthermore, my parents, who moved back to Korea in 2008, struggle to connect more deeply with their children, who grew into members of a culture they could never fully access. My sister and I, on the other hand, had to live two identities—a Korean at home, yearning to be more like our American friends, and an American in the world-at-large, yearning to bring our full selves into the public realm without fear of xenophobic reprisal.
There are three such quotes that interrupt the piece—all distinct moments in my life in which I felt unwelcome in this country. They range from direct bigotry to a subtler Othering, but all jarred me from feeling secure in my own body. These are the types of comments that we need to abolish from our lexicon if we are to create a more just, welcoming, and equitable world.
The final part of the piece is a meditation of sorts, a personal mantra for moving from disembodiment and unbelonging to rooted self-empowerment and the communal building of a more compassionate collective consciousness: “Breathe. Be. Build. We. Home. Sea. Sail. Me.” I offer myself space; encourage myself to create the world I want to live in; forgive myself for having a nontraditional sense of home, and instead celebrate the very nature of my fluid identity.
As all the voice parts slowly join in this chorus, I hope that we can also join together in building an America that lifts up the voices of those unheard and unsupported, that we may see their suffering as ours—and that, together, we can envision and build a land that is greater than the one we inhabit now.
Cue the cuckoo birds.
Joe Kye performs as part of his new project “Joe Kye & the Givers” with songs inspired by Kye’s immigrant upbringing | photo provided by the artist
WHAT STILL RESONATES
The work was the last live performance Resonance Ensemble gave before quarantine restrictions moved our mission online during the pandemic. Since then, Joe Kye has become a standout force in our community for celebrating Asian-American culture, sharing stories of displacement and immigration, as well as fostering an environment of joyful inclusion through his music.
“We are proud not only to share this moving piece with our live audiences on June 8th, but are also releasing an album of Resonance-commissioned works with the title Safe Harbor.” says Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon. “Joe Kye, his work, and this piece encapsulate so much of Resonance Ensemble’s mission to foster meaningful social change through music and share the stories most dear to the artists we work with. We couldn’t be more honored to collaborate with such an insightful, compassionate, and community-focused artist.”
HEAR JOE LIVE AT MISSION 15!
Saturday, June 8th | 7:30pm @Winningstad Theatre
Hear Joe Kye revive this 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.
Commission Story: Abya Yala
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 Abya Yala — featuring the music of Freddy Vilches,
and texts by Elicura Chihuailaf Nahuelpán, Estela Gamero López, Julieta Zurita Cavero, Rosa Chávez, and Gustavo Zapoteco Sideño
Composer Freddy Vilches with Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon | photo by Rachel Hadiashar
A World Beyond Borders…
In 2021, composer Freddy Vilches reached out to us with an idea for a choral suite that would explore indigenous connections with the land and with their history that transcends colonial and geopolitical borders. Resonance Ensemble was thrilled to commission this work. His friendships with indigenous poets from across Latin America, and his own lived experience and musical versatility, led him to create the magnificent work you can hear today.
At the premiere of Abya Yala (2022) | photo by Rachel Hadiashar
Drawing upon musical styles and instrumentation from the regions being spotlighted, Freddy wove together a choral suite that, as Freddy says, “vindicates” the historical connections, languages, and cultural traditions of each poet.
This commission inspired the rest of the ABYA YALA program in 2022. Gabriela Lena Frank’s Hombre errante, with its dramatic storytelling of an Andean people ripped from their homes; Jerod Impichchaachaawa’ Tate’s Taloowa chipota’, which depicts traditional stomp dances; and Mari Esabel Valverde’s Border Lines, with its message about how border lines only exist in sand.
“We are so grateful to Freddy for this ambitious and beautiful work,” says Artistic Director Dr. Katherine FitzGibbon. “We were excited to present this co-commissioned work at the Northwest chapter of the American Choral Directors Association, sharing this amazing piece with listeners from across the region.”
About the work, Freddy shares:
Abya Yala (“Continent of Life” or “Land in Full Maturity”) is the indigenous name given to the Americas by the Gaundule (Kuna) peoples of Panama and Colombia.
This multilingual choral suite is the product of a fruitful collaboration between the author and the aforementioned poets, in an attempt to vindicate historically discriminated languages and communities throughout Abya Yala.
These bilingual poems (Mapuche, Aymara, Quechua, Maya K’iche’, Nahuatl, and Spanish) were chosen for their beauty and subtle, yet powerful messages.
In these texts we find the constant presence of our ancestors, a profound love for the land “Pachamama,” and a strong call to preserve the languages and cultures of our indigenous communities for future generations. Although directly related to Abya Yala, these topics are universal, hence the beauty and relevance of these poems.
Las Matices and Resonance Ensemble during the premiere of Abya Yala | photo by Rachel Hadiashar
WHAT STILL RESONATES
The poets and writers Freddy collaborated with may be unfamiliar to many in the modern-day United States, but their contributions to the written word—and the cultures they hail from—are felt universally. The education, preservation, and celebration of these beautiful languages deserves further amplification, and we are excited to collaborate with Freddy again in the near future to bring more of these traditions to listeners everywhere.
We invite you to read more about these amazing writers, translators, cultural ambassadors, and activists working to not only preserve the language and cultural histories of indigenous peoples in the modern day Americas—but to honor, celebrate, and revive these languages, stories, traditions, and oral practices!
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Elicura Chihuailaf Nahuelpán (Chilean writer, poet, and oralist of Mapuche origin) is one of the most renowned poets in Chile. Winner of the Chilean National Literature Prize in 2020, the bilingual nature of his work (Mapudungun and Spanish) was foundational in fostering the prevalence of the Mapuche language and written art forms.
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Estela Gamero López (Peruvian translator, interpreter, intercultural mediator of Aymara origin) is the founder of the Quechumara Research and Development center, which she founded with the sole purpose of supporting the revitalization and strengthening of native languages. She also serves as the Deputy Mayor of Calana, Tacna. She rose to popularity in part from her video-ed readings of her stories in the Ayamara language, the most popular of which are the Tales of the Awicha.”
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Julieta Zurita Cavero (teacher, Quechua philologist, pedagogy researcher, writer, poet, and translator of Quechua origin) is a champion of the Quecha language. Her work in promoting dual-language education (Spanish and Quechua) has spread across Bolivia, Peru, Venezuela, and Panama, as well as international conferences. Her writings, largely in Quecha, include poems and stories—most famously the Tales of Zoorro Antonio (2016), an anthology published in a trilingual edition of Quecha, Spanish, and English.
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Rosa Chávez (poet, educator, actress, cultural manager, and activist of Maya K’iche’-Kaqchikel origin). The author of five poetry books, her work has been widely anthologized and published in both Maya K’iche’ and other languages—Casa solitaria and Ri uk’u’x ri ab’aj/El corazón de la piedra, being most well known among them. In addition to her poetry, she has also penned experimental works of theater, spoken word, and film. She is also the coordinator of the Guatemala program, Just Associates (JASS), an international feminist organization.
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Gustavo Zapoteco Sideño (poet, writer, and translator of Mexican origin) is one of the most well-established writers in modern Mexico, writing in both Nahuatl and Spanish languages (the variant Guerrero Nahuatl most prevalent among his writings). Publishing multiple volumes of poetry, he has also helped to assemble written compilations of stories, riddles, and myths of oral traditions from various groups of indigenous peoples (Tlapanecs, Popolocas, Mixtecs and Nahuas of Guerrero and Puebla)—helping to preserve these cultural artworks for generations to come. He is currently Director of Culture and Traditions of the Municipal Committee of Tlaltizapan.
HEAR IT LIVE AT MISSION 15!
Saturday, June 8th | 7:30pm @Winningstad Theatre
Hear Las Matices and Freddy revive a movement from this incredible 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.
Commission Story: The Geter Commissions
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 composer, conductor, vocalist, and
Resonance artistic advisor, Damien Geter
One of our most frequent collaborators, favorite artists, and dearest friends is composer-conductor-vocalist Damien Geter. Now serving as artistic advisor, Damien is an integral part of Resonance, conjuring pieces, concerts, and entire seasons alongside Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon, who still affectionately refers to Damien as her “artistic soulmate.”
We share a few of the many collaborations we've enjoyed with Damien Geter as a composer.
Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon with Damien Geter at a Resonance fundraising event. | R. Hadiashar
The Talk (2019)
Damien singing with Resonance at the premiere of The Talk (2019) | R. Hadiashar
One of the first major commissions from Damien was in 2019 for our Intensive Care program. Performed on June 9th at the Historic Alberta House, Intensive Care was a program curated by Katherine FitzGibbon to encapsulate the experiences of those 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.
“When Resonance was crafting the program for this concert, the absence of perspectives from parents of color, particularly Black parents, in the choral repertoire struck me deeply." said FitzGibbon. "Damien and I dug deeply into works by many composers we admire, and we kept saying to each other, we wish we could find a piece of music about the talk that Black parents have with their children about how to stay safe when they encounter the police. Damien said, ‘You know what? I'm going to write that piece. We need it.’" In a matter of days, Damien returned with The Talk: Instructions for Black Children When They Interact with the Police.
About the work, Damien shares:
There comes a time in every child’s life when they will have “the talk” with a trusted adult. That talk is usually centered around topics relating to sexual maturation – the birds and the bees. However, in the life of a black child, there’s an additional talk that needs to happen; what to do if they are pulled over or have an encounter with the police.
It boils down to four basic principles with the fourth being the ultimate goal:
1. Pull over. Don’t run. Keep calm
2. Keep your hands where they can see them
3. Be polite. Save your rage
4. Get home safely
Under the Overpass (2019)
Damien on the set of Under the Overpass | R. Hadiashar
In 2020, plans were underway for Damien’s seminal composition, ' An African American Requiem. However, the pandemic forced us to postpone the premiere until 2022. Recognizing the importance of continuing to foster creativity and enable artists like Damien to continue making music, we conceived Under the Overpass.
Under the Overpass is a 5-episode film series that celebrates Resonance’s hometown of Portland, Oregon, and the space it provided for Resonance artists to still be able to sing together during the pandemic. Starting in the summer of 2020, singers met in acoustic spaces around the city - six feet apart, masked, yet together. Viewers were able to still experience live music performed in these gritty, hauntingly beautiful spaces.
The culminating episode featured the world premiere of a new commission by Damien Geter for 16 voices, piano, and flute: After Time Has Gnawed Away the Shield of Dreams. Flutist Adam Eccleston joined Resonance Ensemble musicians for this debut.
Geter sets a poem about memory and hope for a phoenix rising by the beloved late American conductor and honored laureate music director of the Oregon Symphony, James DePreist. We are deeply honored that Maestro DePreist's wife, Ginette DePreist, not only granted us permission to utilize her husband’s poignant poetry but also joined us during the filming. Our profound gratitude extends to Ginette DePreist for her graciousness and to Damien Geter and all the musicians for crafting something of profound beauty with Maestro DePreist’s words.
In addition to marking that pivotal moment, this work also pays homage to the victims of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre. It serves as a poignant reminder of the tragic violence that occurred a century ago.
AN AFRICAN AMERICAN REQUIEM (2020-2022)
Damien and Kathy at rehearsal for An African American Requiem (2022) | R. Hadiashar
Commissioned by Resonance Ensemble in 2017, An African American Requiem is a pivotal work memorializing the lives of Black Americans lost to racial violence in the United States—the first requiem of its kind. Geter approached Resonance Ensemble about his idea for the work following the results of the 2016 election. Working closely with FitzGibbon, Geter composed a fully-realized requiem—including SATB soloists, a large choir, narration, and full orchestra.
In addition to commissioning Geter, Resonance Ensemble supported the commissioning of Dr. S. Renee Mitchell to craft original text for the final movement, narrated live over the orchestra. Drawing from texts of victims of racial violence, Black rights activists, and traditional spirituals and Latin mass texts, the completed work comprises 19 movements, including two movements previously commissioned by Resonance ('There’s a Man Going ‘Round' and 'Agnus Dei'). One of the largest pieces ever commissioned by Resonance Ensemble, the project received additional amplification through partnerships with The Oregon Symphony and All Classical Radio, which broadcasted the premiere live and offered significant support for syndicated broadcasts nationwide in the months that followed.
The advisory council for An African American Requiem, bringing together over a dozen organizations to maximize the premiere’s reach and impact
Originally slated for a 2020 premiere, the global COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a rescheduling to May 2022, affording Resonance Ensemble an extended period to augment the impact of the Requiem with a comprehensive education initiative. Developed by Resonance Ensemble, the curriculum provided both print and digital components to students, providing them with essential context, vocabulary, and local history and enriching their understanding of the culminating field trip to witness the world premiere.
Following its premiere in Oregon, the commissioned work garnered acclaim with successful performances at the Kennedy Center (for its east coast premiere) and with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Geter himself). Notably, it was hailed as “Best in Classical” by the Washington Post in 2022.
To see a full list of resources—including videos, interviews, full programs, the curriculum, click the link here.
WHAT STILL RESONATES
Kathy and Damien preparing the Requiem for rehearsal (2020)
Damien has grown and gained widespread recognition, becoming even more celebrated in his roles as a composer, conductor, and performer. We are honored to have him as part of our origin story and we couldn’t imagine hosting a 15th anniversary program without him—his vision has shaped so much of who Resonance Ensemble is today.
For MISSION 15, Damien will join us to conduct his commissioned pieces with Resonance Ensemble, including Agnus Dei, There’s a Man Goin’ Round, After Time Has Gnawed, and The Talk. We can't wait to have Damien with us, making music together again.
SEE DAMIEN AT MISSION 15
Join us for an unforgettable evening at the Winningstad Theatre on June 8th, celebrating 15 years of Resonance Ensemble. This exclusive one-night event promises a tapestry of meaningful music, compelling stories, and thrilling in-person appearances by the artists we love, including Damien Geter.
The music of tomorrow is being written by the voices of today.
Dinah Dodds
Help support the creation of new works.
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.
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.
Commission Story: We Hold Your Names Sacred
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 We Hold Your Names Sacred,
by composer Mari Esabel Valverde and writer-activist Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi.
Composer Mari Esabel Valverde
Writer/Activist Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi
Where were you in 2021?
Earlier this week we shared a bit about Resonance Ensemble’s “Commissions for Now” series, which premiered commissioned works from three nationally recognized poets/composers. Today’s featured work, We Hold Your Names Sacred, was another piece premiered as part of the series—co-commissioned alongside 27 other North American choirs as part of the GALA Choruses’ Trans Commissioning Consoritum.
Filmed on location at the Historic Alberta House by Oh! Creative Productions
Created by composer Mari Esabel Valverde and writer/activist Dane Figueroa Edidi, this powerful work was created to honor trans women of color whose lives were unjustly and violently taken.
Edidi describes the piece as calling an assembly to “lift up their names and make them sacred—to acknowledge the divinity of Black and Brown trans women. We say their names to get the heavens to move for us.”
The premiere also included a live, virtual panel discussion with Valverde, Edidi, and local leaders within the LGBTQIA+ community—presented in partnership with Pride Northwest as part of the official 2021 Portland Pride event.
TEXT | Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi
Sisters whose lives were taken
Memories of you
we sing
Note, chord, melody, harmony
psalm
Prayers
we offer with tears
Love
with words we give
High
we lift your spirit up
So you may know forever joy
Jaquarrius Holland
Chyna Gibson
Ty Underwood
Penny Proud
Crystal Edmonds
Islan Nettles
Angel Rose
Lexi
Layla Pelaez Sánchez
Muhlaysia Booker
Brianna “BB” Hill
Layleen Polanco
May your smile be made eternal
May justice be brought
with this refrain
Sisters we hold sacred your names
From the official music video for We Hold Your Names Sacred
From the official music video for We Hold Your Names Sacred. These images bear the faces of the trans women honored in the text.
From the official music video for We Hold Your Names Sacred. The umbrellas bear the names of the trans women honored in the text.
WHAT STILL RESONATES
It should come as no surprise to hear that this work remains just as relevant today as it did in 2021.
UCLA’s Williams Institute released a 2024 report showing that 38% of trans youth currently live in states that have enacted bans on care. Since the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) began tracking data of trans and gender non-conforming people killed in the United Sates in 2013, people of color have made up the largest share fatal violence victims. In 2023, 69% of all victims were Black, and 51% were Black trans women, according to their report. The data also showed that most victims were under the age of 35—the average age being just 28.
HRC has identified at least 335 transgender and gender-nonconforming people killed in the past decade. The past four years have been especially fatal for the community, with 171 recorded deaths.
The upcoming performance at MISSION 15 marks the first time Resonance will have the opportunity to perform the work live. With the surge in anti-trans legislation, anti-trans violence, and hate-motivated fatalities in the United States and beyond, We Hold Your Names Sacred is more important to share than ever before.
Mari Esabel Valverde, composer
“We must do the work necessary to keep our sisters’ memories alive to hold ourselves accountable, for the ultimate death is the death of their names being forgotten. For too many of our transgender sisters, brothers, and siblings, their humanity was forgotten long before their lives were stolen by cowards. We need to readily protect trans women of color because they are susceptible to a system working too well at impeding their flourishing”
HEAR IT LIVE AT MISSION 15
Saturday, June 8th | 7:30pm @Winningstad Theatre
Hear this 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.
Commission Story: Normal Never Was
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 Normal Never Was
(recently featured on our program with Sweet Honey in the Rock!)
”by composer Jasmine Barnes and writer-activist Sonya Renee Taylor.
Composer Jasmine Barnes
Writer/Activist Sonya Renee Taylor
Where were you in 2021?
In the Spring of 2021, as arts organizations everywhere struggled to create within a global pandemic, Resonance Ensemble introduced “Commissions for Now,” a video series that premiered commissioned works from three nationally recognized poets/composers. The videos were produced by local production company, Oh! Creative, and captured by Portland-based filmmaker Kenny Hamlett.
Normal Never Was, written by Emmy-award-winning composer Jasmine Barnes, was the first commission of the series. Setting the words of noted author and social activist Sonya Renee Taylor, the text is taken from the poem that reached thousands of readers in the early pandemic. The words resonated with us so deeply, we adopted Normal Never Was as the season theme for the 2020-21 season with permission by Ms. Taylor.
Filmed on location at the Zidell Yards Barge Building in Portland, OR in 2021
TEXT | Sonya Renee Taylor
We will not go back to normal, normal never was.
Our pre-corona existence was not normal, normal never was.
We will not go back to normal, normal never was.
Our pre-corona existence was not normal, other than we normalized Greed.
Other than we normalized inequity,
other we normalized 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.
“Setting Sonya Renee Taylor’s words to music was my honor. When I read her poem, I heard the music right away. The text speaks to life pre-pandemic — and the opportunity we now have to fix what was wrong. It’s hopeful to me.”
THE LIVE PREMIERE
Several years after this virtual premiere, Resonance had the opportunity to give the piece its in-person world premiere as part of our program Earth’s Protection. The event was a free arts and musical festival hosted on the Lewis and Clark campus, honoring and celebrating our home planet and providing ways for attendees to work together to heal our Earth.
Normal Never Was proved especially timely as the world began to return to in-person events—serving as an important reminder of what work remains as quarantine restrictions eased and we began to gather once more.
From performance of Normal Never Was at Earth’s Protection
WHAT STILL RESONATES
This work recently resurfaced at our concert with Sweet Honey in the Rock, and reactions highlighted how poignant and relevant Normal Never Was remains.
From performance of Normal Never Was at Sweet Honey in the Rock
“Many local Resonance fans know “Normal Never Was” by Jasmine Barnes...but this was new music to most of this audience. From the listeners there was a noticeable flutter, a shifting of gears from neutral to drive. The text in “Normal” was so precisely delivered people were chuckling and “uhmming” as they assimilated the poignant message transported by the beautiful music. ”
We are reviving the performance of this work at MISSION 15 not only to highlight one of our commissioned works, but because of its message. Our mission-based programming seeks to not only acknowledge and highlight stories of injustice in the past, but to provide meaningful ways for listeners to move forward towards a better future together. Normal Never Was beautifully encapsulates this part of our work, and we could not imagine our 15 year anniversary celebration without this work among the featured pieces.
HEAR IT LIVE AT MISSION 15!
Saturday, June 8th | 7:30pm @Winningstad Theatre
Hear this 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.
Sweet Reflections: Our Week with Sweet Honey in the Rock
All photos in this post are by Rachel Hadiashar unless otherwise noted
We are still riding high from our week with Sweet Honey in the Rock. From the airwaves to the stage, Sweet Honey’s presence truly resonated throughout the Portland area, and we are so grateful to their artists and crew for making magic for our community.
Today we share some of the powerful moments from their time with Resonance.
Sweet Honey on the air
Sweet Honey members with RE’s Katherine FitzGibbon and ACR’s Christa Wessel. Provided by All Classical Radio
Gathering at the All Classical Radio station for Thursdays@Three, Resonance vocalists Madeline Ross, Cecille Elliott, Brandon Michael, Marcus Peterson, and Erik Hundtoft revived audience-favorite We Are Murmurs by Cecille Elliott—a piece, as host Christa Wessel exclaimed, is “brilliant!”
Resonance next performed a mixed-voices rendition of Sweet Honey’s Wanting Memories—a work that previously appeared on our Women Singing Women and We Dissent programs in past seasons. With director Katherine FitzGibbon joining the other vocalists for the performance, singing for Sweet Honey is a moment we won’t soon forget!
Joining Resonance Ensemble at All Classical Radio, select members from Sweet Honey in the Rock rocked the airwaves with their rendition of I'm On My Way To Freedom Land. Even with just four vocalists, their voices blanketed the studio in lush harmonies and percussive elements responding to soaring solo moments. One of the founding members, Carol Maillard, joined Christa at the mic and remarked there’s still more to come for Sweet Honey.
“...to reach out to young people, make music for them...to let them know they have a voice and that they should feel empowered, to make a difference in their lives and make the world better. We should always be working to make the world better.”
Sweet Honey performing and talking with the audience at the Lewis & Clark EAR Forest on April 4, 2024 | Photo provided by Alan Niven
Moments after the broadcast, Sweet Honey was whisked away to the Lewis & Clark campus for a free-to-attend panel discussion and short performance for students and community members.
FitzGibbon later described the visit as “part-performance, part-group therapy,” as discussions branched into advice from the ensemble for young attendees seeking guidance on how to move past moments of feeling “stuck.”
Segments from their time at LC will be integrated into the Lewis & Clark's EAR Forest, where a 16-channel sound system now resides amidst the greenery of an adjacent forest.
Sweet Honey on the stage
Of course, no musical extravaganza would be complete without the main event – the concerts featuring Sweet Honey in the Rock! Enjoy these highlights from both performance nights!
NIGHT ONE | THE RESER
NIGHT 2 | THE ARMORY
Sweet Honey in our hearts
This week of music and magic will continue to resonate with our community for years to come. We are so grateful to Sweet Honey in the Rock for joining us in Portland—and we look forward to welcoming them again.
Up Next for Resonance
LACROUTE COMPOSER READINGS FINALE CONCERT
Wednesday, May 8, 2024 | 7:00 PM
@Vivian A. Bull Music Center, Delkin 145 - Recital Hall
This event is free and open to the public—no pre-registration required to attend!
Resonance Ensemble will conclude their residency as part of the Lacroute Composer Readings and Chamber Music Mentorship Program at Linfield University by performing works composed by Linfield students.
Join Resonance as we share the music of tomorrow by the voices of today!
You can read the full story about residency at Linfield by clicking here.
RESONANCE PRESENTS: MISSION 15
a fifteenth anniversary concert
Saturday, June 8, 2024 | 7:30 PM
@The Winningstad
Join us for this special fifteenth anniversary finale concert.
We celebrate this special anniversary with a performance of over a dozen audience-favorite Resonance commissions from over our 15 year history.
This showcase speaks (sings) for itself, highlighting the mission-based art we have championed and the brilliant composers and poets who created it.
Grab your tickets for this special celebration by clicking here.
Resonance Ensemble Presents: MISSION 15
“Resonance Ensemble continues to explore pathways to the future and invites other artists – visual, literary and musical – and you to join them on the journey. ”
Resonance Ensemble Celebrates 15 Years of Mission-Driven Artistry
Featuring new works, special performances, and tributes to community partnerships at the Winningstad Theatre
Associate conductor, Shohei Kobayashi and Artistic Director, Katherine FitzGibbon
PORTLAND, OR [April 24, 2024]— In 2009, Resonance Ensemble began to build a formidable new force in Portland’s classical music scene: a fiercely talented choir, led by conductor Katherine FitzGibbon, that didn’t just want to sing; they were on a mission. Through commissioning new works from many of today’s leading composers, inspiring radical collaborations, and offering breathtaking performances, they forged a reputation for powerful thematic programs that resonated with audiences nationwide.
Now, 15 years later, Resonance invites Portland audiences to join them in celebration with Mission 15, a concert highlighting their journey as “one of the Northwest’s finest choirs” (Willamette Week)—dedicated to championing innovative voices, cultivating community engagement, and deeply considering social impact. This performance features many of the extraordinary artists and partners important to Resonance’s story, sharing indelible new works that showcase the group’s unwavering commitment to mission-driven art. It all takes place one night only at the Winningstad Theatre, on Saturday, June 8th, 2024, at 7:30pm.
Award-winning Artistic Director and Founder of Resonance Ensemble, Dr. Katherine FitzGibbon, will conduct alongside longtime Resonance collaborators Damien Geter and Shohei Kobayashi.
MISSION 15 HIGHLIGHTS
Composer-performers Joe Kye, Freddy Vilches, and Cecille Elliott, each joining forces with Resonance in performing their own original works
Special guest performances by flutist Adam Eccleston, Las Matices Latin Ensemble, cellist Valdine Ritchie Mishkin, and more!
Additional Resonance-commissioned works by composers Kenji Bunch, Judy A. Rose, Kimberly R. Osberg, Jasmine Barnes, Mari Esabel Valverde, and Damien Geter
Surprise appearances from partners from throughout our 15 years
The world premiere of a new poem by poet-in-residence S. Renee Mitchell—along with featured texts by poets A. Mimi Sei, Sonya Renee Taylor, James DePreist, Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi, and more!
A post-concert celebratory conversation with featured composers and conductors
An exclusive sneak peek into Resonance’s highly anticipated Season 16
Some of our featured guests!
AN INVITATION TO ALL
"This concert embodies the culmination of 15 remarkable years," shares Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon. “We extend a warm invitation to the city of Portland to join us as we show our gratitude for the artistic and community partnerships that fuel the work we do, and to all of our audiences whose support has been invaluable to our creative growth.”
“Our relationships are at the heart of what we do, and we are grateful to be able to share this night of celebration with our partners who use art and advocacy to work toward the world we’d like to see,” adds Artistic Advisor Damien Geter.
In addition to the evening’s program, this celebration will also include the announcement of Resonance Ensemble’s 16th season—giving attendees a first glance at the exciting future ahead. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit resonancechoral.org.
Note to Journalists: Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon and Artistic Advisors Damien Geter and Shohei Kobayashi are available for print, online, and broadcast interviews. If you would like more information or would like to schedule an interview, please contact Liz Bacon Brownson at liz@resonancechoral.org or by calling (503) 427-8701.
Tuning In: Three Days of Music and Magic with Sweet Honey in the Rock!
The excitement is palpable as we look forward to the arrival of Sweet Honey in the Rock for their upcoming concerts on April 5th and 6th. But before the main events, we look forward to some additional fun as well.
SWEET HONEY IN the Trees
Enter the enchanting realm of the Lewis & Clark's EAR Forest, where a 16-channel sound system now resides amidst the greenery of an adjacent forest. This innovative installation is located behind Lewis & Clark’s Fields Art Building and the Historic Bathhouse of the Estate Gardens and invites visitors to embark on a journey through the forest, surrounded in a symphony of music, readings, and ambient sounds emanating from speakers hidden amongst the trees.
Thanks to our longstanding partnership with Lewis & Clark, Sweet Honey adds their voices to this sound symphony in the trees. When they accepted the invitation, Katherine FitGibbon, Artistic Director of Resonance Ensemble, expressed her excitement, stating, "We are thrilled that the singers of Sweet Honey in the Rock have agreed to contribute their time and voices to this magical experience at the EAR Forest. Their music offers a profound opportunity for participants to soon be able to deeply engage with this iconic group’s artistic expression amidst the beauty of nature. It is a gift to the City of Portland and the perfect way we can continue celebrating another 50 years of Sweet Honey in the Rock."
ON THE RADIO: Thursdays@Three with All Classical Radio
The EAR Forest is only the beginning. Sweet Honey in the Rock then heads with Resonance to the All Classical Radio studios for Thursdays @ Three! Tune in to hear the group perform live and delve into conversations about their illustrious career and the impact of their music. Joining them on the airwaves, Resonance Ensemble showcases commissioned piece We Are Murmurs, by Cecille Elliott, promising listeners yet another glimpse into the transformative power of music.
You can catch a preview below, from the premiere at last season’s Dirty, Stupid Music concert:
Concerts to Stir YOUR Soul
Of course, no musical extravaganza would be complete without the main event – the concerts featuring Sweet Honey in the Rock! Renowned for their powerful vocals and socially conscious lyrics, this iconic group promises Portland two evenings of soul-stirring melodies and thought-provoking performances.
SO GET READY, PORTLAND!
Mark your calendars for April 5th at The Reser in Beaverton and April 6th at The Armory in Portland to celebrate the intersection of music, nature, and community.
As we embark on this three-day journey of music making and celebration, we look forward to creating unforgettable memories as we honor the legacy of Sweet Honey in the Rock's 50 years of musical activism.
Tickets are still available directly through the venues, but don’t wait too long—these shows are selling fast!
Going UNDER THE SKIN with Resonance Ensemble
On Monday, March 25th, Resonance Ensemble teams up with the Hollywood Theatre to present a special screening of UNDER THE SKIN as part of the Hollywood’s Feminist March series. Through the Hollywood’s Community Benefit Screening program, the Hollywood Theatre hosts special screenings in support of—and in partnership with—local non-profit organizations. With a number of film lovers on our staff, Resonance Ensemble is thrilled to be a part of this wonderful community initiative.
Composer Kimberly Osberg
Johnathan Glazer’s UNDER THE SKIN stars actress Scarlett Johansson as an alien disguised as a beautiful human woman, luring men to their deaths in a mysterious black void. Composer—and Resonance Ensemble staff member—Kimberly Osberg worked with Hollywood Theatre’s Anthony Hudson (Community Programmer) to curate this special screening.
Today, Kimberly shares more about the film, its meaning, and dives a bit deeper into the incredible score by composer Mica Levi.
When I first approached the Resonance Ensemble team about working with Hollywood Theatre to host a screening, a lot of great films were tossed around featuring incredible vocal music we could highlight—we could do a screening of Amadeus, Dream Girls, or The Wiz, or perhaps a documentary with a score by a living composer, or even a Pedro Infante movie (the last of which I still would love to bring to Portland)!
So how on earth did we settle on a screening of an artsy sci-fi/horror film with an instrumental score whose story follows an alien disguising itself as a human woman to prey on men?
One of the things I love about working with Resonance Ensemble is their willingness to address, discuss, and grapple with difficult subjects. They have commissioned and performed works about racism and racial violence, houselessness, mental health, gender discrimination and violence, abortion, immigration, and more.
While their concerts tend to put a focus on empathy, hope, and transformative action, the music programmed and commissioned also leaves space for difficult truths to be shared directly and honestly. You cannot promote meaningful social change without facing the harsh realities that require it.
Under the Skin is a film that places the viewer in a strange context—an outsider, viewing humanity with a fresh eye. From this vantage point, we are asked to consider a wide array of human behaviors anew—from love, parenthood, and make-up to sex, violence, gender roles, and what makes someone an outsider.
ABOUT THE FILM
spoilers ahead—skip down to the section on music to avoid them!
Under the Skin, a 2013 film directed by Jonathan Glazer and starring Scarlett Johansson, is loosely based on a novel by the same name. While the film was a box office failure, it was named the best film of 2014 by a wide swath of publications and individual critics–even making best-of-the-decade lists by the end of the twenty-tens. The score, created by Mica Levi (more on them later!), was named the second-best of all time by Pitchfork magazine in 2019, and was hailed for its deeply symbiotic relationship to the film and boldly avant-garde soundscapes.
The film is not an easy watch, nor easy to recommend to other people. The whole film is unsettling—sometimes through slow-burn sequences requiring patience, sometimes in tense moments of implied horror, and sometimes through brash and open violence. Under the Skin is a fascinating—albeit at times brutal—addition to a long legacy of horror-as-social-commentary.
In an interview with the San Francisco Bay Guardian, Glazer stated “it’s like an ‘it’ becoming ‘she.’ It sees what’s reflected and it believes ‘That must be what I am now…” The film follows an alien (neither “he” or “she” in human terms) that transforms into a beautiful woman in order to lure its prey—human men. The whole film follows Johannson’s character, and gives us several scenes where she doesn’t display “normal human reactions” to a variety of different scenarios—her nudity is not sexual, her violence is not accompanied with anger or fear or shame, her witnessing people in crises does not gall her to help.
Over time, however, the alien starts to empathize with certain humans, becomes curious about the world around her, and abandons her hunting. She experiences kindness, she explores the fake body she inhabits. In the final scene, she is attacked by a man and the constructed body rips open—revealing the alien’s true form. The man, scared of what’s Under the Skin, lights it on fire.
While Glazer has mentioned in interviews he did not necessarily have a gendered intent, but a more humanity-focused one, many have viewed the film through a feminist lens—the alien experiencing what it means to be a “woman” in a patriarchal society, men’s fears of powerful women or women divorced from motherhood or sexuality, men’s rejections of what lies beneath the surface of women. The film does not show us how women actually are, but how they are treated. Whether it’s all good, all bad, or somewhere in-between is for the viewer to grapple with.
ABOUT THE SCORE
When Hollywood Theatre suggested we pick a film for their Feminist March series, this film was at the forefront of my mind. Not only because it’s a great (if devastating) film that explores so many of these topics, but because of the fantastic score by composer Mica Levi.
Composer Mica Levi (they/them) has written for film, symphony orchestras, and has even enjoyed a successful career as an experimental pop artist with their band Micachu and the Shapes.
Trained initially at the Guildhall School of Music in London, Levi’s extracurricular musical activities resulted in several albums, tours, and even a collaboration with the London Sinfonietta at Kings Place. Their band used non-standard tunings on the guitar, distorted effects, slowed-down samples, unusual time signatures, and even found-sound elements.
Hearing Levi’s score for Under the Skin, it’s hard to believe it was their debut film score. Using a limited set of acoustic instruments (largely strings, but also with flute, cymbals, a de-tuned drumset tom, and a block of wood), synthesized strings, and an arsenal of effects and filters, the score is impressively immersive.
Relying on just five main motives (in their own words, “her make-up, the cosmos, the aliens, her job music, and her feelings”), the themes go through a wide array of transformations and arrangements throughout the film.
“As far as I’m concerned, the cymbal rolls represent the cosmos; the planets, the powers beyond aliens and beyond people, the undeniable truth of it all. The fragmented, hustling, beehive material at the beginning of the film is meant to be the impossible alien energy that feels a bit uncomfortable to us; it has a lot of movement in it…It’s relentless. It sounds powerful. The drums are her sex drive - or prowling, her hunger. The melody that comes in, it acts as her perfume. It’s something that she puts on. She uses it to seduce these men. The swelling chords are her experiencing raw feelings. We used combinations of those throughout, to try and create an accurate representation of how it would feel to be her.”
While the gorgeous cinematography, engaging story, impeccable performances, and patient pacing of the editing creates quite an atmosphere, the music in this film is what pushes Under the Skin into a truly unique experience.
When we can’t discern what the origin of a sound is, it unsettles us. Levi uses this discomfort to great effect throughout the film by playing heavily with the line between “real” and “synthesized,” masterfully obscuring what’s being played by a live performer, what strange sounds are manipulations of live performances, and what are purely synthetic instruments.
A great example of this appears in the cue, Love, about 80 minutes into the film.
The lower strings tremolo, with some playing sul ponticello (a thinner, wirey tone), and some playing sul tasto (a duller, more muted tone). The upper strings gliss, eventually percollating in irregular rhythms. The glissing gestures and sustains, however, are doubled by synthesizers—overpowering the acoustic strings in the final mix—giving the whole cue a cold, mechanical feel.
From a study score for UNDER THE SKIN
Levi collaborated closely with sound designer Johnnie Burn—it’s difficult to discern when watching the film what sounds are diegetic (in the world of the film, heard by characters on screen), and what is purely score. Is that a pizzicato in the strings, or a dampened recording of water droplets? Is that murmur a gush of ocean water, or a wave of tremolos from a group of detuned string instruments?
These layers of uncertainty play with the ear to great effect throughout the film, adding exponentially to the “unsettled” atmosphere—and leaving space for deeper questions about what makes something human, what makes something synthetic, and what makes something real.
Final Thoughts
I love the Hollywood Theatre—the beautiful historic building, the awesome mix of new and old films, the outdoor screenings at parks in the summer, their dedication to presenting movies on actual 35mm and 70mm film when available, and the partnerships they support in the community—I couldn’t imagine a better partner to present Under the Skin on the big screen. It’s a real treat to both fans of the film who missed its theatrical run, and to new watchers who get to experience it for the first time as it was intended to be seen.
This screening won’t be for everyone, but for the people who come I know it will be a really powerful experience.
See you at the movies!
UNDER THE SKIN | COMMUNITY BENEFIT SCREENING
Monday, March 25th @7pm
Hollywood Theatre
For more information on the screening, visit the event page or click the button below to get your tickets!
