Join VOX as we conclude our 26th season with this uplifting concert! From familiar protest songs of the 50's and 60's to moving music inspired by more recent movements like the Women's March and Black Lives Matter, VOX will have you on your feet and ready to sing for Justice! Featuring performances by students from our new Justice Choir program and special guest Moira Smiley.
To get a printable pdf of the program,
please click HERE.
WELCOME
It is with great pride and joy that we welcome you to VOX’s 26th season! As with many arts organizations, VOX had its share of pandemic challenges, but we have emerged stronger than ever, in large part because of all of you – our patrons, donors and volunteers. We thank you for your generous support. We continue to grow our organization, produce memorable concerts, and bring extraordinary offerings to you. This season, our concert series includes newly commissioned works by Andrea Clearfield, Zanaida Robles and Saunder Choi, composers of note whose music resonates with VOX’s mission. We are proud to deepen our community outreach efforts this season. We have been invited to perform with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (Beethoven Symphony #9), Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles (I’m With Her) and Pasadena Playhouse (Celebrate Sondheim). We continue to provide community concerts and make guest appearances throughout greater Los Angeles. During the holiday season, we offered video recordings of our “Holiday Grams,” and this spring we will feature individual singers in our annual Cabaret. We look forward to sharing our music with you in person and online! This season VOX launches a new music education program called the Justice Choir – a 12-week program centered around a songbook of easy-to-sing social justice pieces that are designed to bring communities together. Supported by a generous grant from Chorus America, the Justice Choir cultivates creativity through singing, body percussion, student-led discussions, group creation, and exploration of music through poetry and history. VOX is also excited to introduce its first annual High School Choir Festival, offering high school treble choirs an opportunity to perform for and receive feedback from a panel of adjudicators. VOX’s commitment to giving women voice and singing for justice is more important than ever. Thank you for being with us – for supporting us with your heartfelt applause, your volunteerism and generous financial contributions. We hope you enjoy this season’s concerts! We love singing for you….
Iris Levine
Founding Artistic Director
Rebecca Wink
Executive Director
PROGRAM NOTES
And Justice For All The making of music goes hand-in-hand with addressing issues of social conflict, of systemic exclusion, and of justice. In America, political protest songs range back to the pre-Revolutionary war era, and into the 19th century a spate of protest songs – including abolitionist songs and music written for women’s suffrage – were sung in homes, at gatherings, and in acts of political defiance. African-American spirituals were songs that expressed resistance and radical remembrance and survival. The 1960s were an especially important era in the history of American music and protest, with the rise of the Civil Rights Movement, the ascendance of the counterculture, and opposition to the Vietnam War. Musicians wrote songs that spoke to current issues, and adapted older ones to new circumstances. Music can be an active, immediate, in-the-moment act of protest or political resistance that is an expression of a community and a statement of solidarity, as you have with music that is sung in public rallies. Music can be an emotional restoration of voice, healing from an act of harm. And music making - as we are doing here today -- is an active way of telling history, of expressing histories of people in order to keep those memories current. And Justice For All is a concert-journey from expressions of mourning and remembrance, through healing, and into taking action and rising up to fight for our future.
For a printable pdf version of these notes, please click HERE
Holley Replogle-Wong is a teacher, scholar, and musician. She teaches courses on film music, popular music, American musical theater, and western music history in the Department of Musicology at UCLA, and is the Program Director of the UCLA Center for Musical Humanities. She sings with various Los Angeles-based vocal ensembles, and for the occasional film soundtrack.
And Justice for All
June 4, 2023 – 4 PM
Colburn School of Music
Lisa Edwards, pianist
Carl Sealove, bass
Sidney Hopson, percussion
Sing About It
Sing About It
Stardust
Hear Me Roar
Moira Smiley, guest artist
Sumana Wolf, Lisa Bell, soloists
Moira Smiley
B.E. Boykin
arr. Liv Grace
Reflection
I Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray
All My Trials
Breathe in Hope
Hymn to Freedom
Victor C. Johnson
Traditional, arr. Gwyneth Walker
Dale Trumbore
Oscar Peterson,
arr. Kirby Shaw
Lesili Beard, soloist
Briana Estrada, soloist
Desiree Balfour, soloist
Lori Marie Rios, Assistant Conductor
Intermission
Acts of Justice
Signs
Justice Choir
¡No Nos Moveran!
Ruth Huber
African American Spiritual,
words from Agustin Lira/Luis Valdez
Members of VOX Femina Los Angeles Justice Choir
Abbie Betinis
Abbie Betinis
arr. Mark Hayes
Resilience
Love is Love is Love is Love
Lean on Me/
We Shall Overcome
Moira Smiley, guest artist
Hope for the Future
To Sit and Dream
The Storm is Passing Over
Lift Ev'ry Voice
Rosephanye Powell
arr. Barbara Baker
arr. Zanaida Robles
Angelica Rowell, soloist
Moira Smiley Bio
Singer / Composer Moira Smiley has toured and made records with a renowned variety of artists, including indie-pop stars Tune-Yards; Irish-American legends, Solas; early music pioneers, Theater Of Voices; choral composer, Eric Whitacre; Americana archivists, Jayme Stone’s Lomax + Folklife Projects; multi-Grammy winning pianist Billy Childs; UK-based folk troubadours, Sam Amidon and Sam Lee, Rising Appalachia, The New World Symphony, KITKA as well as Smiley’s own ensembles VOCO and VIDA.
She is regularly commissioned to write large-scale choral & chamber music works, with millions singing her choral music around the world. Moira has been featured in TED conferences, on BBC Radio and TV, NPR, ABC Australia, and live at countless venues from Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall to Walt Disney Concert Hall and Royal Festival Hall. Smiley is known for enchanting audiences whether on stage, atop glaciers, inside ships or in cozy kitchens from Norway to Tasmania.
Moira’s 2018 solo album ‘Unzip The Horizon’ premiered at the prestigious Savannah Music Festival in 2018, and she published its companion choral Songbook in 2019. In February of 2021, she released her vocal album In Our Voices featuring international VOCO collaborators. Moira recently appeared with Tune-Yards on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Live on KEXP At Home, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Texts
For a printable pdf version of the texts, click HERE.
Sing About It
Moira Smiley
It's so sad It's so sad. We don't understand each other yet How can this be when we've been living together so long? So close to each other's beauty? It's so sad. It makes me feel so bad I can't stand by anymore Gonna sing about it Gonna sing it when I feel like cryin' When I'm uncomfortable & don't know why yet When I am guilty of the laissez-faire My ignorance of you is laid bare I'll talk to you before I raise my hand So you can call on me to make a stand Make a stand Make a stand Am I responsible? Are you responsible? What are we responsible for? I'm gonna look up from my own concerns - Reach across the chasm of what I've never learned So wide, so full of burning, your eyes are turning to me now Saying 'It's time, it's way past time-to step outside the echo The echo chamber' Stop pretending it's alright Stop pretending this is not our fight I'm gonna sing it when I feel like cryin' When I'm uncomfortable and don't know why yet When I am guilty of the laissez-faire My ignorance of you is laid bare I'll talk to you before I raise my hand So you can call on me to make a stand Make a stand Make a stand Am I responsible? Are you responsible? What are we responsible for? Am I responsible? Are you responsible? What are we responsible for? Gonna sing about it Gonna sing about it I'm gonna sing about it
Stardust
B.E. Boykin
If we are only stardust Let your names reach to the sky above us Like petals wafting on a breeze We lift you up beyond our reach “Kum Buba Yali, Kum Buba Tambe” Amen, Amen ”Kum Buba Yali, Kum Buba Tambe” We say your names If we are only stardust May your blood never be in vain Like petals wafting on a breeze We lift you up beyond our reach “Kum Buba Yali, Kum Buba Tambe” Amen, Amen “Kum Buba Yali, Kum Buba Tambe” We say your names Each day we grieve another face Maybe all this stardust Will carry us home one day To a home where we can run A home where we can pray A home where we can breathe, To sleep and dream without fear— Is justice this far away? We cry your names For the strength to keep on fighting With the hope that you are flying “Kum Buba Yali, Kum Buba Tambe” Stardust
Hear Me Roar
Liv Grace
I can't do this anymore See my brothers on the floor Pushed and shoved against the wall It’s like we're not human at all I told my mother That I'm ‘bout to go to war I grab my sisters and brothers and others Hand in hand we start the march The enemy’s pushin' me down (Pushin' me down) Down to the ground (Uh-huh) Yeah the enemy's guns on my crown (Got the guns on my crown) But bullet holes don't phase me I've seen the enemy kneel on my neck (Kneel on my neck) Face to the floor Eyesight hazy Might not be able to breathe, but believe Tonight you gonna hear me roar I said hear me roar Hear me roar I said hear me roar Oh, I can't do this anymore See my brothers on the floor Pushed and shoved against the wall, yeah It's like we’re not human at all Oh, grab your mothers And fathers And sisters And brothers And others Hand in hand We will stand Lift our voices Fend for one another We will not back down No, they cannot stop us now The battle’s just begun We not gon' stop until we’ve won Who cares if the enemy's pushing me down (Pushing me down) Down to the ground (Uh-huh) Said the enemy's guns on my crown (Got the guns on my crown) But bullet holes don't phase me I’ve seen the enemy kneel on my neck (Kneel on my neck) Teargas and my eyes get hazy Might not be able to breathe, but believe Tonight you gonna hear me roar I said hear me roar Hear me roar I said hear me roar Hear us roar Hear me roar Hear me roar Hear me roar Hear me roar Say Their Names (2020): 1. ERIC GARNER 2. JOHN CRAWFORD III 3. MICHAEL BROWN 4. EZELL FORD 5. DANTE PARKER 6. MICHELLE CUSSEAUX 7. LAQUAN MCDONALD 8. GEORGE MANN 9. TANISHA ANDERSON 10. AKAI GURLEY 11. TAMIR RICE 12. RUMAIN BRISBON 13. JERAME REID 14. MATTHEW AJIBADE 15. FRANK SMART 16. NATASHA MCKENNA 17. TONY ROBINSON 18. ANTHONY HILL 19. MYA HALL 20. PHILLIP WHITE 21. ERIC HARRIS 22. WALTER SCOTT 23. WILLIAM CHAPMAN 24. ALEXIA CHRISTIAN 25. BRENDON GLENN 26. VICTOR MANUEL LAROSA 27. JONATHAN SANDERS 28. FREDDIE BLUE 29. JOSEPH MANN 30. SALVADO ELLSWOOD 31. SANDRA BLAND 32. ALBERT JOSEPH DAVIS 33. DARRIUS STEWART 34. BILLY RAY DAVIS 35. SAMUEL DUBOSE 36. MICHAEL SABBIE 37. BRIAN KEITH DAY 38. CHRISTIAN TAYLOR 39. TROY ROBINSON 40. ASSHAMS PHAROAH MANLEY 41. FELIX KUMI 42. KEITH HARRISON MCLEOD 43. JUNIOR PROSPER 44. LAMONTEZ JONES 45. PATERSON BROWN 46. DOMINIC HUTCHINSON 47. ANTHONY ASHFORD 48. ALONZO SMITH 49. TYREE CRAWFORD 50. INDIA KAGER 51. LA’VANTE BIGGS 52. MICHAEL LEE MARSHALL 53. JAMAR CLARK 54. RICHARD PERKINS 55. NATHANIEL HARRIS PICKETT 56. BENNI LEE TIGNOR 57. MIGUEL ESPINAL 58. MICHAEL NOEL 59. KEVIN MATTHEWS 60. BETTIE JONES 61. QUINTONIO LEGRIER 62. KEITH CHILDRESS JR. 63. JANET WILSON 64. RANDY NELSON 65. ANTRONIE SCOTT 66. WENDELL CELESTINE 67. DAVID JOSEPH 68. CALIN ROQUEMORE 69. DYZHAWN PERKINS 70. CHRISTOPHER DAVIS 71. MARCO LOUD 72. PETER GAINES 73. TORREY ROBINSON 74. DARIUS ROBINSON 75. KEVIN HICKS 76. MARY TRUXILLO 77. DEMARCUS SEMER 78. WILLIE TILLMAN 79. TERRILL THOMAS 80. SYLVILLE SMITH 81. ALTON STERLING 82. PHILANDO CASTILE 83. TERENCE CRUTCHER 84. PAUL O’NEAL 85. ALTERIA WOODS 86. JORDAN EDWARDS 87. AARON BAILEY 88. RONELL FOSTER 89. STEPHON CLARK 90. ANTWON ROSE II 91. BOTHAM JEAN 92. PAMELA TURNER 93. DOMINIQUE CLAYTON 94. ATATIANA JEFFERSON 95. CHRISTOPHER WHITFIELD 96. CHRISTOPHER MCCORVEY 97. ERIC REASON 98. MICHAEL LORENZO DEAN 99. BREONNA TAYLOR 100. GEORGE FLOYD
I Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray
Victor C. Johnson
Oh Lord And I could hear nobody pray Couldn’t hear nobody pray O way down yonder by myself And I couldn’t hear nobody pray In the valley A-couldn’t hear nobody pray On my knees A-couldn’t hear nobody pray With my burdenA-couldn’t hear nobody pray And my Saviour A-couldn’t hear nobody pray Chilly waters A-couldn’t hear nobody pray In the Jordan A-couldn’t hear nobody pray Crossing over A-couldn’t hear nobody pray Into Canaan A-couldn’t hear nobody pray Hallelujah! A-couldn’t hear nobody pray Troubles over A-couldn’t hear nobody pray In the kingdom A-couldn’t hear nobody pray With my Jesus A-couldn’t hear nobody pray
All My Trials
Gwyneth Walker
All my trials, Lord, soon be over. All my trials, Lord, soon be over. If living were a thing that money could buy, you know the rich would live, and the poor would die. All my trials, Lord, soon be over. All my trials, Lord, soon be over. Hush, little baby, don’t you cry, You know your mama was born to die. All my trials, Lord, soon be over. All my trials, Lord, soon be over. All my trials, Lord, soon be over. All my trials, Lord, soon be over. Too late, my brothers, Too late, but never mind. I’m going home I must leave you here behind. All my trials, Lord, soon be over. All my trials, Lord, soon be over.
Breathe In Hope
Dale Trumbore
What would we do if we didn’t have the privilege of being distracted I know we must honor our personal lives. I know we must not live in darkness. I know we must celebrate the grace in our humanity. To keep our lungs from collapsing. We must breathe in hope. And so have I. Taken in joy. And beauty. And selfishness. And frivolity. And laughter. We are wonderful. Humans. We find the light. But I fear the moment passing. Already distracted from the fire though the smoke is still filling our lungs. This is going to sound wrong. But I hope this pain lasts. I hope that it holds. I don’t want to heal just yet. We have become experts at recovery. I hope we become expert at Revolution. — Maya Jackson
Hymn to Freedom
Oscar Peterson
When every heart joins every heart and together yearns for liberty, That's when we'll be free! When every hand joins every hand and together moulds our destiny, That's when we'll be free. Any hour any day, the time soon will come when men will live in dignity, That's when we'll be free. When every man joins in our song and together singing harmony, That's when we'll be free. When every heart joins every heart and together yearns for liberty, That's when we'll be free! When every hand joins every hand and together moulds our destiny, That's when we'll be free. Any hour any day, the time soon will come when men will live in dignity, That's when we'll be free. When every man joins in our song and together singing harmony, That's when we'll be free.
Signs
Ruth Huber
Coming soon...
¡No Nos Moveran!
Agustín Lira & Luis Valdez
We shall not, we shall not be moved!
We shall not, we shall not be moved!
Just like a tree that's planted by the water,
we shall not be moved!
Resilience
Abbie Betinis
Resilience, we are strong;
Shoulder to shoulder keep movin’ on;
Resilience, make a new plan;
Stand up again and say yes we can!
Love is Love is Love is Love
Abbie Betinis
Love is love is love is love, Love is love is love is love, Oh, Love is love is love is love, Oh love is love is love is love. Love, love, love, All we need is love, love love. Ubicaritas et amor*, Where there’s love, Love is love *Latin: Where there’s charity and love.
Lean on Me/
We Shall Overcome
Traditional/Bill Withers
We shall overcome. We shall overcome. We shall overcome some day; Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe, we shall overcome some day. Sometimes in our lives We all have pain, We all have sorrow. But, if we are wise, We know there’s always tomorrow. Lean on me When you’re not strong And I’ll be your friend, I’ll help you carry on. For, it won’t be long, Till I’m gonna need somebody to lean on. Please swallow your pride If I have faith you need to borrow. For, no one can fill Those of your needs that won’t let show. You just call on me brother, When you need a hand. We all need somebody To lean on. I just might have a problem That you’ll understand. We all need somebody To lean on. If there is a load you have to bear that you can’t carry, I’m right up the road, I’ll share your load, If you just call me. Call me (If you need a friend) Call me (if you need somebody) Call me (just call me) Call me (just lean on me) Call me (we can work it out) Call me Yes, we shall overcome some day. You got to lean on me. Yes, we shall overcome some day. We shall overcome some day.
To Sit and Dream
Rosaphanye Powell
To sit and dream, to sit and read, To sit and learn about the world. To sit and dream, to sit and read, To sit and learn about the world. To sit and dream, to sit and read, To sit and learn about the world. Outside our world of here and now-- Outside our world, Our problem world— Our problem world Outside our world of here and now-- Outside our world, Our problem world-- Our problem world To dream of vast horizons of the soul of dreams made whole, Unfettered, free— Help me, help me. All you who are dreamers, too, (You who are dreamers) Help me make Our world anew. I reach out my hand to you. To sit and dream, to sit and read, To sit and learn about the world. To sit and dream, to sit and read, To sit and learn about the world. To sit and learn about the world. To sit and dream.
The Storm is Passing Over
arr. Barbara Baker
Have courage my soul, And let us journey on. Though the night is dark, And I am far from home. Thanks be to God, the morning light appears. The storm is passing over The storm is passing over, The storm is passing over, Hallelu Halleluia, halleluia, halleluia The storm is passing over, The storm is passing over, The storm is passing over, Hallelu, Halleluia, halleluia, halleluia The storm is passing over, The storm is passing over, The storm is passing over, Hallelu,
Lift Ev'ry Voice
and Sing
arr. Zanaida Robles
Lift every voice and sing, till earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of Liberty Let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies. Let it resound loud as the rolling sea. Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us. Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us. Facing the rising sun of our new day begun, Let us march on till victory is won. Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod, Felt in the days when hope unborn had died. Yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet Come to the place for which our fathers sighed? We have come, over a way that with tears has been watered We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered Out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast God of our weary years, God of our silent tears Thou who has brought us thus far on the way. Thou who has by Thy might Led us into the light Keep us forever in the path, we pray Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee. Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee. Shadowed beneath Thy hand, may we forever stand True to our God, true to our native land.
Acknowledgments
AV Manager: Francesco Perlangeli
Live Streaming Audio: Milton Gutierrez
Live Streaming Video: Derek Williams
FOH and Projection: George Hicks
Graphic Design: Kate Jordan
Proofreader: Laurie Fox
Music Librarian: Michele Mulidor
Special Thanks to Ms. Heather Leppard and all of the students who participated in VOX's Justice Choir Program at the Girls Academic Leadership Academy this year.
Thank you to all our volunteers this afternoon who are ushering, assisting with Box Office, and making this concert a stellar experience for our audience, and to all the friends and family members who volunteer their services to support VOX throughout the year.
This concert was supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
VOX's season is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture.
