For the luckiest among us, home is easy to define. A house, maybe. The town we grew up in and return to for holidays. A refuge from the swirling world. Indeed, for the fortunate, the word is an easy stand-in for comfort and familiarity. But for others—those who have been uprooted, let’s say, those who have lost everything—home might feel like a distant idea, a beacon, something to yearn for. Which means “home” can mean almost anything. It can be the sacred land our ancestors roamed or the cozy room where we curl up at night. It might be as simple as the loved one who acts as our anchor. One thing is certain, though: A sense of home is a necessity, like food or water.
Appropriately, many of the melodies we’ll hear tonight conjure a distinct sense of place. There are strains of roots music, if you will, from all over. Texas and The Great Plains, India and The British Isles, deserts and mountains and the heavens. Some of the texts are brand new, their ink still drying, while some are ancient and mystic. But all of it comes from our one tiny, fragile planet. The place we all call home.
Tonight’s program is an ambitious one, aspiring to raise as many questions as it answers. Hopefully, at its conclusion, as the sound of young voices fades into echoes, we will be led to reconsider our own notions of home, what the idea might mean to our neighbors far and wide, and what we can do in our own sphere to create spaces of trust and safety.
-Mark McAdam
Songwriter & Producer
FULL CONCERT PROGRAM
RADFORD UNIVERSITY SINGERS
DR. MEREDITH BOWEN, Director
DR. MATTHEW CATALDI, Collaborative PianistMARYAM KHOURY Koowu
JOAN SZYMKO Stars in Your Bones
JAKE RUNESTAD Sing, Wearing the SkyNATIONAL CONCERT CHORUS
TESFA WONDEMAGEGNEHU, Co-Guest Conductor
DR. JEFFERY REDDING, Co-Guest Conductor
DR. ANDRIA FENNIG, Collaborative PianistTROY ROBERTSON In Meeting We Are Blessed
RYAN O’NEAL North arr. George Chung
ABBIE BETINIS Carol of the Stranger
JOAN SZYMKO It Takes a Village
JAKE RUNESTAD Flower Into Kindness
STACEY GIBBS My Home (World Premiere)
HARVARD-WESTLAKE CHORUS
DR. ZANAIDA ROBLES, Director
DR. SARA SHAKLIYAN, Collaborative PianistWALTER HAWKINS Thank You Lord
arr. Joshua Jacobson Shalom Rav
arr. Zanaida Robles Lift Every Voice and SingNATIONAL CONCERT TREBLE CHORUS
DR. SANDRA SNOW, Guest Conductor
CASEY COOK, Collaborative PianistMOIRA SMILEY Refugee
J.S. BACH Suscepit Israel from Magnificat
ANDREA CLEARFIELD Home in Me (World Premiere)
ANDREA RAMSEY They May Tell You
SHAWN KIRCHNER O Let Me Shine