In Her Element
VOX Femina opens its landmark 30th season with In Her Element, a powerful celebration of Mother Earth told through works inspired by the elements that shape her. Featuring the world premiere of a new commission by Andrea Ramsey – composer of the “Suffrage Cantata” – and a collaboration with Lumina Treble Chorus, this concert invites you to explore and experience the beauty, strength, and resilience of our natural world.
Printable pdf version of the program available HERE!
WELCOME
Dear Friends, Welcome to a very special season! As we open our 30th anniversary year, I find myself filled with gratitude, pride, and excitement for all that lies ahead. For three decades, VOX has raised women’s voices through extraordinary music, powerful storytelling, and a deep commitment to the issues that shape our lives and our world. What began as a vision has grown into a remarkable community of singers, composers, collaborators, and audience members who believe in the power of music to move us, connect us, and inspire change. This season, we celebrate our past, embrace our present, and look toward our future through three extraordinary concert programs. We begin with In Her Element, exploring our profound connection to the natural world and our place within it. With Her City. Her Song. we turn our attention homeward, celebrating the extraordinary creativity and voices of women composers in Los Angeles. And we culminate with Her Story: 30 Years of VOX—a joyful tribute to three decades of music-making, community, courage, and the many voices that have shaped our journey. Thirty years is a remarkable milestone, but what excites me most is not simply how far we’ve come, it’s the knowledge that there is still so much music to make, so many stories to tell, and so many voices to amplify. VOX has always been about more than singing. It is about creating space for women’s voices to be heard, celebrating our differences, and discovering the extraordinary things we can accomplish together. Thank you for being part of this journey. Whether you’ve been with us from the beginning or are experiencing VOX for the first time tonight, you are part of what makes this community so special. I invite you to celebrate with us throughout this anniversary season—and to help us imagine all that the next 30 years might bring. With gratitude and excitement,
Dr. Iris S. Levine
Founding Artistic Director
PROGRAM NOTES
For thirty years, VOX Femina Los Angeles has used the power of women’s voices to illuminate stories of our lives, our communities, and our shared world. In Her Element turns our attention outward—to the earth beneath us, the water that sustains us, the air that surrounds us, and the fire that transforms us. This evening’s program moves through landscapes both physical and emotional. The earth is weary; rain nourishes and renews; wind carries us between places; fire burns, transforms, and awakens. Along the way, we encounter questions of peace, belonging, imperfection, memory, and home. These are not simply songs about nature. They invite us to consider our own place within it.
Click HERE for a printable pdf version of these notes.
IN Her Element
VOX Femina Los Angeles
Dr. Iris S. Levine, Founding Artistic Director
Lisa Edwards, Collaborative Pianist
Kasar Mie La Gaji ("The earth is tired")
We Pray to Be at Peace (from Missa Gaia)
Muusika
Alberto Grau
Libby Larsen
Pärt Uusberg
English Translation by Peter Lohuaru
Somewhere there must be the first harmonic sound,
somewhere in the vastness of nature, hidden.
It is in its mighty spread and breadth,
in the distances between galaxies,
it’s in the brilliance of the sun,
in small flowers, in the breezes through forests,
in a mother’s voice speaking the music of the heart, or in the water of tears.
Somewhere there must be immortality.
Somewhere the first harmonic sound exists.
How else, into the heart of a person, could it have arrived as music?
Silver Rain
B.E. Boykin
Leah Metzler, cello
Wind
Belonging
Carolyn Jennings
Arr. Sisilia Ong
Marie-Claire Saindon
Sonia Ohan, Jessica Rau, Hillary Ngo, soloists Anna Kostyuchek, violin
Desert Song
säje
Arr. Erin Bentlage
Helen Mendoza, guitar
Storm Comin’
Fire
Ruth Moody
Katerina Gimon
Lauren Kosty, percussion
INTERMISSION
Lumina Treble Chorus
Lindsay Whittig, Artistic Director
The Stove
The Sun Never Says
They Are Mother
Zae Munn
Dan Forrest
Jennifer Lucy Cook
VOX Femina Los Angeles
Learning to Map the Clouds
Andrea Ramsey
Mika Jain, narrator
Leah Metzler, cello
-
Some Thoughts
-
Not a Mistake
-
Perfection
-
Today
-
The Forests of Ourselves
Commissioned by VOX Femina Los Angeles
and a consortium of treble choruses
I Am the Wind
Elaine Hagenberg
Commissioned by VOX Femina Los Angeles
as part of the ACDA Commission Consortium
VOX Femina Los Angeles & Lumina Treble Chorus
SAVE THE DATES
JOIN US FOR THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON
Her City. Her Song. | Celebrating L.A.'s Women Composers Saturday, March 6, 2027 at 7 pm
First Congregational Church of Los Angeles
Her Story: 30 Years of VOX
Sunday, June 6, 2027 at 4 pm
Zipper Concert Hall at Colburn School
Lindsay Whittig holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music Performance from the College of Idaho and a Master of Arts in Curriculum and Administration from Northwest Nazarene University.
She has conducted various music groups at Centennial High School, Boise High School, and the Meridian Symphony. She has acquired conducting knowledge under the mentorship and guidance of Lori Marie Rios, Dinah Hegleson, and hundreds of hours on the job trying new things. She clinics choir programs at high schools across the Treasure Valley, adjudicates choral festivals, and cultivates meaningful musical experiences wherever possible.
VOX Idaho and Lumina Treble Chorus are Lindsay's answer to something she has understood since childhood. A place where the choir and band kids can rediscover their love of creating music, find their people, and remember why they sang in the first place. Leading this group is a celebration of that creative magic.
When she's not on the podium, Lindsay is at home with her family raising alpacas, goats, chickens, rabbits, and cows. She brings the same care and intention to both.
Founded in Boise, Lumina Treble Chorus is a choral organization rooted in the belief that music builds belonging. We gather singers and audiences together around story-driven, heartfelt songs, and in doing so, create community that outlasts the final note.
Soprano 1
Marisa Curry
Aoife Jensen
Kendra Kae
Vivian Otero-Epley
Sara Packebush
Mary Tordella Ruckh
Elise Schow
Teresa Sherman
Ashley Wright
Alisa Zabel
Soprano 2
Cait Ahern
Amy Atkinson
Anna Boone-Barker
Sarah Buscemi
Sarah Collins
Kristin Curtis
Bethany Edwards
Sarah Fesenmeyer
Jessica Gradhandt
Jennifer James
Natalie Koskella
Lesley Krone
Michaela McElroy
Andrea Rane
Mari Rice
Finch Stone
Peggy Watland
Emily Wood
Alto 1
Elizabeth Ibis Barnes
April Darling Lopez
Corinne Hathaway
Leah Kalk
Jenice Malinay
Patricia Meagher
Heidi Miller
Ginger Rogers
Karen Schafer
Susan Shock
Laurel Talley
Patty Wainwright
Laura Walton
Sara Young
Alto 2
Amber Armstrong
Camilla Barnes
Kelly Jamie Borge
Cindy Boyce
Alice Brockman
Blythe Forman
Suzanne Gore
Marleen Gray
Mariah Lawrence
Tessa Partridge
Mindy Rickels
Ashley Thompson
Dr. Andrea Ramsey enjoys an international presence as a composer, conductor, scholar, and music educator. Her teaching experiences range from work with adolescent and children’s voices to high school and collegiate voices. She enjoys regular opportunities to conduct all-state and divisional level honor choirs, festival events at Carnegie Hall, and served as a principal conductor for the Pacific International Young Women’s Choral Festival in Eugene, Oregon and conducted the National ACDA Junior High/Middle School Honor Choir in 2023. An award-winning composer with nearly 200 works to date, Andrea previously held positions in music education and conducting at The Ohio State University and the University of Colorado, respectively. She believes strongly in the creation of new works, and her compositions are available with traditional publishers and through MusicSpoke, a digital sheetmusic marketplace. She regularly enjoys residencies and collaborations with ensembles and festival choirs across North America and abroad.
As a scholar, she has presented for state, divisional, and national conventions of the American Choral Directors Association, the 6th Annual Symposium on Sociology in Music Education, as well as The Phenomenon Singing Symposium in St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada. Additionally, she has co-authored articles published in the Choral Journal, as well as the Journal of Research in Music Education.
A product of public education and the first in her family to attend college, Andrea grew up in rural Arkansas where she experienced firsthand the power of music to provide opportunities, a sense of community, and better understanding of our humanity. It is through the generosity of her many teachers and the state and federal funding of scholarships and fellowships that she is able to have the career and successes she enjoys today.
Texts
For a printable pdf version, please click HERE
Kasar Mie La Gaji
Kasar mie la gaji. The Earth is tired.
We Pray to Be at Peace
Mother, sister, blessed, honored Life of the water, Life of the flower, grant that we do not hurt ourselves with vanity. Help us to feel and not to feel. Teach us to care. Teach us to be at peace, at peace with His will. Teach us to care for all that we touch and let my prayer be heard by Thee.
Muusika
Somewhere, hidden in the vast wilds of nature, the first harmonic sound must exist... in Earth’s mighty spread and breadth, in the distances between galaxies, in the brilliance of the sun, in small flowers, in the breezes through forests, in a mother’s voice speaking the music of the heart, or in the water of tears. Somewhere, immortality endures, and the original harmony will be found. How else could it have formed in human hearts as music?
Silver Rain
In time of silver rain the earth puts forth new life again, green grasses grow and flowers lift their heads. In time of silver rain, and over all the plain the wonder spreads of life! In time of silver rain the butterflies lift silken wings to catch a rainbow cry, and trees put forth new leaves to sing in joy beneath the sky.
Desert Song
I bet when you see the ocean you’re drawn to the strength inside the waves, but if you get caught within the ocean the undertow will let you lose your way. I bet when you reach the ocean can’t wait to sink your toes into the sand. Instead, you will sink into the ocean and watch your heart pulled slowly from your hands She’s calling. Someday you will reach the desert, held by the warmth within the skies breathe in the exhale of the desert and see yourself reflected in her eyes The moment you reach the desert you realize she's been singing a song of life and love and to your surprise you’re singing with the desert you’ve always known the words to sing along. You have a voice to share You're coming home where you belong She’s calling.
The Stove
One day my mother took up a sledgehammer and pounded her kitchen stove into bits. She served cold cuts to my father for lunch. In that age, and in that place, such a challenge to my father’s authority and right was mysterious, outrageous, even apocalyptic. The demise of the stove, its piecemeal destruction, poked at the heart of the country, at the quality of life in the town . And one day, without warning, my mother took it apart, and laughing, beat the old stove to death. And one day my mother took up a sledgehammer and pounded her kitchen stove into bits.
The Sun Never Says
Even after all this time the sun never says to the earth, "You owe me." Look what happens with a love like that, it lights the whole sky.
They Are Mother
arr. Courtney Politano
What shall I call this force I know, who do I come to when I wonder – the space that holds me when I’m low more than a parent, friend, or lover. They are Mover T hey are Maker They are Mother. They are the breath I see in cold, the ready muscle in the sprinter. T hey are the glitter and the gold, the steady heat lamp in the winter They nod and know They need nothing They’re god and grow They bleed blessings. They are solitude They are multitude They are gratitude. Laugh lines around the all-seeing eye and I can lean into the sky. What shall I call this force I know, who do I come to when I wonder?
I am the Wind
I am the wind that wavers, You are the certain land; I am the shadow that passes Over the sand. I am the leaf that quivers, You the unshaken tree; You are the stars that are steadfast, I am the sea. You are the light eternal— Like a torch I shall die; You are the surge of deep music, I but a cry!
Wind
You are the root and the tree and the spirit of the tree. You threaten the nests of sparrow hawks as well as the nests of sparrows. Larger than our combined breath, you illustrate yourself with white-caps and dust storms, hurricanes and blizzards. You are also the whisper that we do not hear as we fetch and drone in our fast, accustomed orbits. Dream bringer, cloud chaser, shaper of the earth we stand on, teach us to heed slight ripples from zephyr or stone. Teach us to listen when there is nothing to be heard.
Belonging
The air moves in me and I move in the air. The purity of water flows through me, and the sun’s sacred energy gives me life. Although I am but a fragile, fragile singularity a simple brushstroke upon the canvas of creation, I have a head full of ideas I have a heart full of love like you.
Storm Comin’
When that storm comes don’t run for cover ‘cause there ain’t no use in runnin’. When that rain falls let it wash away that falling rain, the tears and the trouble. When those lights flash you hear that thunder roar. When those lights flash you hear that thunder roar, will you listen to that thunder roar and let your spirit soar? When that love calls will you open up your door? When that love calls you gotta stand on up and let it in, you gotta let love through your door. When that storm comes don’t run for cover, no! Don’t run from the comin’ storm cause you can’t keep a storm from comin’.
Fire
Vocalizations
Learning to Map the Clouds
By Jarod K. Anderson; adapted by Andrea Ramsey
Some thoughts are always hungry, Thoughts like, “I am not being productive enough” We must bundle these thoughts in an old blanket, Sit them by a fire on a crisp night, And heal them with wordless wind and smoke. We must also heal the culture that made their hunger terrible.
1. Some Thoughts
2. Not a Mistake
It is not a mistake to need rest,
Or seek help,
Or despite everything, to love this world. As ever, love is risk.
And as ever, worth the danger.
3. Perfection
Look at the sculpture and understand that Need is what calls art from bare stone. Perfection calls to nothing. Things that are perfect are dead things. Empty things. You’re too good for perfection. I am a wonderfully messy, thinking, feeling, impossible, magnificent thing. I will not curse my flaws.
4. Today
I am not okay today. What else can I be? I can be gentle. I can be kind. I can turn pain to connection. I can be unashamed. I can be awake to nature. I can take pride in every heartbeat. I can be still. I can hold my pain, gentle and inert. I am not okay today, but I am many worthy things.
5. The Forests of Ourselves
It is easy to look at the contours of a forest and feel a deep love for nature. It is less easy to remember that the contours of your own body represent this exact same nature. You practice loving the forest, the meadow, the sweeping arm of a galaxy, But you’re the same. You are as natural as any such landscape, and deserving of the same love. All of our lives we struggle to find ourselves— find our footing in the forests of who we are and who we want to be, There are strange hills inside our thoughts, in the forests of ourselves. Don’t be ashamed of your struggles, your scars, your sleepless nights; You are here. wild and whole, learning to map the clouds. You are here. Down in the soil beneath your ribs, A single acorn sleeps, and that potential sings in your bones like rain on stone. You are here. Present in this dance between joy and sorrow. The plot is happening now. Cherish exactly who you are. There can never be another.
Acknowledgements
First Congregational Church of Los Angeles: Rev. Laura Fregin, Reneice Edwards, Sammi Smith, and Cameron Johnston
Graphic Designer: Kate Jordan
Music Librarian: Hillary Ngo
Proofreaders: Ruth Ballenger and Lesili Beard
Thank you to Lindsay Whittig and the wonderful singers of Lumina Treble Chorus for joining us this evening.
Thank you to all our volunteers who are ushering, assisting with Will Call, 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.
Special Thanks to our 30th Anniversary Angels
Desiree & Raviv Balfour, Lesili Beard & Dr. Iris Levine, Suzy Brown & Nellie Sims, Evi Desser & Debbie Goldfarb,
Eileen Dorn & Michael Wallenstein, Phil Hettema, Susan Kullmann, Susan Leary, Helen Mendoza & Pam Privett,
Steven Neiffer, Marilyn Omernick, Joan Potter, Sue Stamberger, and Sumana & Adam Wolf.
This concert is supported, in part, by grants from the LA County Department of Arts & Culture, Perenchio Foundation,
and The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation.
VOX also receives generous support from the following organizations:
Confidence Foundation, Dwight Stuart Youth Fund, Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation, The City of Culver City, and The City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs,