It’s easy to retreat into platitudes when discussing concepts like unity, especially in the current climate when our states seem anything but united. We need it now more than ever, we say. It takes all types. But how can we move past lip service and into action in order to respect—and even defend—each other's differences? How can we work toward consensus in the real world?
Coming together to make music is a good start. The choir itself is a safe space where individuals can add their unique voices to a common equation, even as we divide into parts, multiplying in intensity to become part of the whole. There’s math behind all this beauty. And it’s the mathematics of unity. The reliable science of harmony and resonance. Perhaps unification is simpler when the parameters are self-evident, like in physics, where resonance has a nice, clean definition: energy being amplified by the synchronous vibration of a neighboring object. But synchronous vibrations are hard to come by in the real world. It requires trust. It requires vulnerability. And singing is, by its nature, a vulnerable act. To do it well, we need to open ourselves emotionally, to listen and adjust to each other, to accept our limitations and work within them.
The goal then, in this and other grand performance, is to assemble as a single organism, audience and performers alike, striving toward one purpose. We hope to near perfection through melody, empathy, and self-reflection. We have the opportunity to become one for a short time and then to disperse, spreading back into our lives, empowered, recharged, and humming in synchronous vibration with our neighboring objects.
-Mark McAdam
Songwriter & Producer
FULL PROGRAM
Check back for concert program.
Check back for concert program.
National Concerts presents a program exploring concepts of 'unity' and includes three world premiere commissions - all with dynamic lighting and projection.
The first half includes the National Youth Chorus conducted by Tesfa Wondemagegnehu from St. Olaf College, followed by the National Concert Chorus led by Dr. Jeffrey Benson (San Jose State University) and Dr. Andrew Minear (University of Alabama). After intermission, we're excited to feature the Big Spring Honors Band (TX) who will then accompany all singers in a world premiere concert finalé titled, DREAMCATCHER.
PERFORMERS:
Bak Middle School for the Arts
Connie Drosakis & Jorge Valls, Directors
St. John's Boys' Choir
André Heywood, Director
National Concert Youth Chorus
Tesfa Wondemagegnehu, Guest Conductor
National Concert Chorus
Jeffrey Benson & Andrew Minear, Co-Guest Conductors
Fresno City College
Julie Dana, Director
Big Spring High School Honors Band
Rocky Harris, Director
PREMIERING WORKS BY:
Richard Burchard (Dreamcatcher)
Jocelyn Hagen (One Step)
Jim Papoulis (As One)
Contact us about this concert and future performance opportunities.