<<

2017 Winter/Spring Season #SilentVoices

Brooklyn Academy of Music

Adam E. Max, Chairman of the Board

William I. Campbell, Vice Chairman of the Board

Katy Clark, President

Joseph V. Melillo, Executive Producer Silent Voices BAM Howard Gilman House | May 12 & 13 at 7:30pm

Running time: approx. one hour & 30 minutes, no intermission

Brooklyn Youth Chorus Conceived and conducted by Dianne Berkun Menaker Developed with and directed by Kristin Marting

Composers: , Mary Kouyoumdjian, , , Toshi Reagon, Kamala Sankaram, , DJ Spooky

Writers and Librettists: Michelle Alexander, Hilton Als, Patricia Bell-Scott, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Pauli Murray, Shara Nova, , Toshi Reagon, Eleanor Roosevelt, George Savile, Caroline Shaw, Brooklyn Youth Chorus members

Hosted by Helga Davis Set and video design by Peter Nigrini and Dan Scully Sound design by Garth MacAleavey Lighting design by Jeanette Yew Costume design by Kate Fry Dramaturgy by Peter McCabe Stage management by Audrey Chait

Season Sponsor:

Support for the Signature Artist Series provided by Howard Gilman Foundation. Performers

BROOKLYN YOUTH CHORUS Joyce Kouassi Tayjean Brown Meghan Kouassi Malik Carrington CONCERT ENSEMBLE Taylor Lashley Michael Cassidy Dianne Berkun Menaker, Ona Linna-Hipp Caesar Castillo conductor Tess Lovell Matthew Chiu Molly Goldberg, chorus Grace Luckett Christopher Conley manager Vivian Lukens Caleb Cummings Frost Martin Noah Epelbaum Sarah Abramson Sophia Partow Brandon Foster-Bagley Meaghan Accarino Clara Rosarius Daniel Grajales Emily Ahn Margot Saganich Vincenzo James Harty Omilana Atkins Maya Sequira Anthony Hohn Josephine Attal Hannah Serrano Eduardo Liz Naomie Azor Madelaine Smith Noah Mattingly Maya Baijal Sophie Smith Genesis Meulens-Dixon Elizabeth Balatski Avery Soto Jacob Sutton Ariel Binns Sarah Sotomayor Julien Tornelli Jeanne Bransbourg Isabella Stevenson Morgan Colton Josette Tolliver-Shaw Maya Yin Fahrer Katrina Urda INTERNATIONAL Fannie Feynberg Mariana Weaver CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE Kierra Foster-Bagley Aliyah Weiss Brandon George, flute Maria Glyptis Katie Shoepflin, clarinet Izabella Gozzo Ryan Muncy, saxophone Lindsay Guerrero MEN’S ENSEMBLE Rebekah Heller, bassoon Erynn Gutierrez Kristopher Burke, conductor Dan Lippel, guitar Aemilia Harbutt Eric Williamson, chorus Jacob Greenberg, piano Natalie Hawkins manager Clara Warnaar, percussion Julia Holman Erica Dicker, violin Andrei Iosifescu A.J. Aiken Mariel Roberts, cello Tiara Jasey Saddique Ango Patrick Swoboda, bass Charlotte Knutsen Aldre Benjamin Olivia Knutsen Aryeh Blumenfeld

CREATIVE & PRODUCTION TEAM Executive producer Nunally Kersh Associate producer Jennifer Cambras Production manager Robert W. Henderson, Jr. Associate production manager Dan Mullins Assistant director Mahayana Landowe Lighting assistant Christina Tang Costume assistant Lily Shell

Co-commissioned by Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and WQXR, New York for the 2017 Winter/Spring Season. Note

In working with and developing the voice of countless young people through Brooklyn Youth Chorus, I have been continuously amazed at not just their artistry, but their intellectual curiosity. In the words of one chorister, “we can’t sing about important topics if we’re not going to talk about them.”

Indeed the Silent Voices project—aimed at giving voice, and amplifying the voices of those who feel unheard or marginalized—has created a forum for discussion that has deepened our understanding and ability to express through our music the passion we feel about these topics.

As part of the chorus’ 25th anniversary year, we celebrate the choristers themselves—giving them the opportunity to shape a multimedia choral music production that speaks directly to the concerns of these young people, living in our city and our time. The diverse choristers of Brooklyn Youth Chorus want to engage with each other, and with audiences, on the topics of race, gender, sexual identity, class, and economic disparity, and the place of immigrants and refugees in our communities. In the same way that these young musicians have cultivated their own voices as a foundation of their identity, they are here to stand beside, and stand up for, others that need support.

With Silent Voices, we are bringing our young people into the conversation; we are helping them explore the issues and problems that they face now and will inherit as they come of age. We have looked into the past—exploring the unusual and influential relationship between Pauli Murray and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt that helped shape the course of civil rights—as­ well as responding to contemporary narratives from notables such as Claudia Rankine and Michelle Alexander. But most importantly, we are inviting the choristers themselves to share their personal experiences and testimonials, directly engaging with the audience in the first person.

An incredible team of composers and artists have helped develop and shape this project, each bringing a unique and important perspective to the work. The composers, as diverse as the issues themselves, have each chosen the themes for their own compositions and engaged the choristers in the development of their work. With our incredible director Kristin Marting, videographer and set designers Peter Nigrini and Dan Scully, and lighting designer Jeanette Yew, we will bring the BAM stage to life with sound and visuals and stories that engage in the moment and leave a lasting impression—creating music that matters!

—Dianne Berkun Menaker Wh

Composers

Jeff Beal Mary Kouyoumdjian

Nico Muhly Shara Nova Toshi Reagon

Kamala Sankaram Caroline Shaw DJ Spooky

Photos: Kouyoumdjian: Dominica Eriksen; Muhly: Ana Cuba; Nova: Heather Nash; Reagon: Erica Beckman; Sankaram: Dario Acosta; Shaw: Alex Lee; Spooky: Danielle Levitt Program

CAROLINE SHAW “so quietly” Text by Shaw

JEFF BEAL “Hope” Text by Pauli Murray from Patricia Bell-Scott’s The Firebrand and the First Lady

JEFF BEAL “Dear Mrs. Roosevelt” Text by Pauli Murray and Eleanor Roosevelt from Patricia Bell-Scott’s The Firebrand and the First Lady

SHARA NOVA “Blind to the Illness” Text by Nova

DJ SPOOKY “Go Tell It” Text by Michelle Alexander from The New Jim Crow

MARY KOUYOUMDJIAN “I Can Barely Look” Text by members of Brooklyn Youth Chorus edited by Mary Kouyoumdjian

JEFF BEAL “Freedom Is a Dream” Text by Pauli Murray from Dark Testament and other poems

JEFF BEAL “Little Boy-Girl” Text by Pauli Murray from Patricia Bell-Scott’s The Firebrand and the First Lady

NICO MUHLY “Advice to a Young Woman” Text from The Lady’s New-Year’s Gift, attributed to George Savile, Marquis of Halifax (1633—95)

KAMALA SANKARAM “Keeping the Look Loose” Text by Claudia Rankine

JEFF BEAL “Prophecy” Text by Pauli Murray and Eleanor Roosevelt

TOSHI REAGON “Building Brooklyn” Text by Reagon

SHARA NOVA “Let Freedom Ring” Text by Nova Wh

Notes & Lyrics

Notes are by composers and in program order. Never would I so quietly I don’t wanna be quiet

“so quietly” is an unfolding and an amplification I’ll just sit here of the voices of individuals who do not feel I won’t just sit here and be quiet empowered to speak up, to contribute to a I know I can make a difference conversation, to perhaps point out an injustice I will be or offer a solution. It could be a tendency to swallow words or backtrack when voicing an I’ll just sit here so quietly idea or opinion in a meeting, or a broader I won’t sit here so quietly discomfort with engaging politically in society. I will be a difference in the room This piece begins with text that is blurred, muted, and unsure of itself, eventually I’m gonna be transforming into something focused, bright, Ever singing strong, and joyfully outspoken.

Music by Caroline Shaw Text by Caroline Shaw

Maybe maybe Never you mind I Maybe I could If you maybe Could It would be Something I Wonder could You maybe I could be

Wh

Notes & Lyrics

Hope first black woman to ever be ordained as an Episcopal priest, another first. Perhaps the most I’m fascinated by Eleanor Roosevelt. She was remarkable quality of her character was Murray’s a transformational figure in politics, redefining resilience against remarkable odds. Her poetry the role of a public woman, while championing and writings reveal her honest and emotional the causes of justice and civil rights her entire reactions to injustice, but they are coupled with life. I had been seeking for a way to celebrate a transformational sense of will, hope, and faith her voice with a new generation of Americans. in a better tomorrow, a better America. Pauli’s Finding the story of Pauli Murray’s friendship and “new America” is a nation we are still striving dialogue with Eleanor gave me a way into her to become. These issues of gender, sexual, and which I saw as relatable, and full of emotional racial bias are still with us today, and Pauli’s resonance. While coming from vastly different words seem to jump off of the page from her socioeconomic backgrounds, Eleanor and Pauli past into our present. Not simply a historical did share many similarities. Both lost parents at relic, they stand as a call to action to examine an early age, and both were ridiculed for their our ongoing hopes to build a better, more just appearance as young women—not fitting the society. expected mold of female beauty. Developing this work, and hearing the voices Few of us have ever heard of Pauli Murray. She of narration coming from the young women was a lawyer, poet, activist, and champion of of Brooklyn Youth Chorus, really brought this civil rights. Through her life-long friendship material to life for me. with Eleanor Roosevelt, she was able to have the attention of one of the most powerful political leaders of her time, through the pivotal Music by Jeff Beal decades of civil and women’s rights. It is Text by Pauli Murray through Pauli’s personal and untold story, I saw a first-hand, bittersweet account of a woman Hope is a word in a tuneless ditty who struggled with discrimination her whole A word whispered with the wind, life—a discrimination based on gender, race, A dream of forty acres and a mule, and her sexuality. Her poetry and prose from A cabin of one’s own and a moment to rest, the recent book The Firebrand and the First A name and place for one’s children Lady is a treasure trove of insight into these And children’s children . . . struggles. Wanting to study for a masters in Hope is a song in a weary throat. law, Pauli was first rejected from the University Give me a song of hope of North Carolina on her race, and then from And a world where I can sing it. Harvard on her gender. She eventually earned Give me a song of faith a masters from UC Berkeley and later became And a people to believe in it. the first woman to receive her doctorate in law Give me a song of kindliness from Yale. This fall, Yale will open its newest And a country where I can live it. resident college, named in honor of Pauli (a Give me a song of hope and love first). Pauli also lived as a gay woman during And a brown girl’s heart to hear it. a time when such a lifestyle was not tolerated or remotely accepted. The text for “Little Boy- Girl” was taken from a letter she shared about Permission granted by the Pauli Murray her identity struggles with her Aunt Pauline. Foundation for the text used from The Firebrand At the very end of her life, Pauli became the and the First Lady by Patricia Bell-Scott. Notes & Lyrics

Dear Mrs. Roosevelt There is a crying need, a crying need for education Music by Jeff Beal among my own people. Text by Pauli Murray and Eleanor Roosevelt no one realizes this more than I do my whole being cries out Dear Mrs. Roosevelt… against inequality and injustice

“I was the girl who did not stand up when you “But the un-Christian, un-American conditions in passed through the Social Hall of Camp Tera the South make it impossible for me and other during one of your visits in the winter of 1934. I young Negroes to live there, and continue our am sending you a copy of a letter which I wrote faith in the ideals of democracy and Christianity. to your husband, President Roosevelt, in the We cannot endure these conditions. Our whole hope that you will try to understand the spirit being cries out against inequality and injustice. and deep perplexity in which it is written.” We are forced to ride in prescribed places in the busses and streetcars of those very cities you Dear Mr. President, passed through in our beloved Southland. Have you time? “When your party reached the station at Durham “Have you time to listen to the problem of one of yesterday, you must have noticed a sign which your millions of fellow citizens? I speak not only said ‘White,’ and then a fence, then another sign for myself but for 12 million other citizens…” which said ‘Colored.’ Can you, for one moment, put yourself in our place and imagine the feelings twelve million. Dear Mr. President, of resentment, the protest, the indignation. The these are the facts— outrage that would rise within you to realize that you, a human being, with the keen sensitivities “I am a Negro, the most oppressed, most of other human beings were being set off in a misunderstood and most neglected section of corner, marked apart from your fellow human your population. Sometime ago I applied to the beings?” University of North Carolina for admission to their graduate school. “I have read the copy of the letter you sent me and I understand perfectly, but great changes “As you know, no Negro has ever been admitted come slowly. I think they are coming however, to the University of North Carolina. You may and sometimes it is better to fight hard with wonder then, why I, a Negro knowing this fact conciliatory methods. The South is changing, but did make application? don’t push too fast.”

“My grandfather, a Union Army soldier, gave his Dear Mrs. Roosevelt eye for the liberation of his race. As soon as the war was over, he went to North Carolina under “There is a great change in youth, for instance, the Freedmen’s Bureau, to establish schools and that is a hopeful sign. Very sincerely yours, and educate the newly freed Negroes. From that Eleanor Roosevelt.” time on, my entire family has been engaged in educational work in that state. Those of us who have degrees, and yet feel inadequacy of Permission granted by the Pauli Murray information and formal training, [now] find it Foundation for the text used from The Firebrand impossible to go further and obtain our Master’s and the First Lady by Patricia Bell-Scott. Degree. It is the task of enlightened individuals to bring the torch of education to those who are not enlightened. There is a crying need for education among my own people…” Wh

Notes & Lyrics

Blind to the Illness I do not worry at night I do not worry by day This music was written in the summer of 2016, I do not think about these things in response to the many killings of blacks in I just go on my way America. At the time of this composition, Alton I see no color Sterling and Philando Castile were the most how about you recent deaths that were highly publicized. My sorrow led me to research and I came across a but I’m blind to the illness teacher, Jane Elliot, who conducts an experiment I was born inside this building called the “Blue-Eyes-Brown-Eyes” exercise. After and I want to see the sun watching a classroom session with her, my eyes were further opened to my own assumptions, I want out of the building getting out of this power I took for granted, my racism, and my building biases. Other readings relevant to the music were I’m going blind I, Racist by John Metta, White Fragility by Robin going blind with that illness DiAngelo, and The New Jim Crow by Michelle I wanna see color Alexander. Let the change begin in me. Nature is the truest law on all the sun does shine In every part of the one the other is entwined Music by Shara Nova Oh! The sun ‘n me are made of the same thing Text by Shara Nova Everything so beautifully in color power to ignore power to walk away power to defend power to drive as fast as I can power to pretend power to see myself reflected power to get in power to believe I can do anything

Wh

Notes & Lyrics

Go Tell It Smith. They had to be above it, above reproach in every way. Can a chorus sing data? Can people use the arts to give us a glimpse of how much potential Go tell it on the mountain, our new Jim Crow is there is in the human spirit when facts, born. information and education are available? My composition “Go Tell It” is a Gospel themed A rising tide lifts all the boats. Go tell it on the choral work that explores the links between mountain, over the hills and everywhere. Go tell the songs W.E.B. Dubois celebrated in African- it on the mountain, our new Jim Crow is born. American folk culture in his Souls of Black Folk with an additional sense of how data and Despite these inconvenient truths, though, we information shape and mold our perceptions can press on. in a contemporary 24/7 media landscape. I We can continue to ignore those labeled asked renowned author and historian Michelle criminals in our litigation and media advocacy Alexander to use her book The New Jim Crow as and focus public attention on more attractive a template for a and the rest—hip-hop, plaintiffs—like innocent doctors and lawyers techno, dubstep, trap, etc.—the sound of the stopped and searched on freeways, innocent contemporary African American experience— black and brown schoolchildren attending came into a synthesis. “Go Tell It” is a hybrid abysmal schools, or innocent middle- and work. It explores the collision of several cultures: upper-middle-class black children who will be European engagements with polyphony and denied access to Harvard, Michigan, and Yale if African-American explorations in polyrhythm. affirmative action disappears. The end result is a composition as much about data as it is about the choral experiment. We can continue on this well-worn path. But if we do so, we should labor under no illusions that we will end mass incarceration or Music by DJ Spooky shake the foundations of the current racial order. Text by Michelle Alexander We may improve some school districts, prolong Even at the height of Jim Crow segregation— affirmative action for another decade or two, when black men were more likely to be lynched or force some police departments to condemn than to receive a fair trial in the South—lawyers racial profiling, but we will not put a dent in the wouldn’t try to advocate for blacks unless they prevailing caste system. knew for sure, only if they knew if they had respectability. We must face the realities of the new caste system and embrace those who are most Go tell it on the distance from stigmatized oppressed by it if we hope to end the new Jim elements. Politics distancing themselves from Crow. any elements that stigmatized community.

Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and Based on the book The New Jim Crow: Mass everywhere. Go tell it on the mountain our new Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness Jim Crow is born. Copyright © 2010, 2012 by Michelle Alexander. Reprinted by permission of The New Press. Rosa Parks was not the first person to refuse her thenewpress.com seat. Rosa Parks. Claudette Colvin. Mary Louise Notes & Lyrics

I Can Barely Look I live with a bright future I feel uncomfortable “I Can Barely Look” is an exploration of how we, I feel nervous particularly youth, sympathize with the Syrian When we try to understand refugee crisis. Members of the Brooklyn Youth We see the world with hatred Chorus were presented with a collection of media-circulated photos of Syrian refugees and Ignorance, bliss were asked to respond to a series of questions about the photos. Pulling from a range of A little girl smiles responses, their words were then used to create An officer crouches down to meet her gaze the libretto for this work. This piece is dedicated She holds her hands out to my family who sought refuge in Syria during He holds one hand out the Armenian genocide, to those who have left Can I play with you? home for a more hopeful future, and to those— both young and old—who­ have the ability to Can I feel? help. Can I feel hopeful? Can I look closer? Can I look? Music by Mary Kouyoumdjian Text by members of Brooklyn Youth Chorus The world is becoming very dark edited by Mary Kouyoumdjian And I can barely look

Bright red shirt, blue shorts Please keep going Black and orange sneakers Leave your home and don’t look back Waves wash over him You’re safe here Face-down May God bless you A small child in the sand I’m sorry you’ve lost part of yourself I’m sorry this is the side of humanity you see One boy, one girl There’s still goodness in this world Crying, push against crowds Trying to break through I wish I could help you Armed policemen with shields That there was more that I could do Let the children through But I can barely look People are yelling I can’t look People are pushing How fearful the world can be People are yelling: Look how fearful the world can be “Let them through” I’d say nothing Grown men, policemen I feel nothing Standing near him making notes I’d just walk away Walk away, keep your distance Don’t touch the dead child at your feet

Notes & Lyrics

Freedom Is a Dream

Music by Jeff Beal Text by Pauli Murray

Freedom is a dream Haunting as amber wine Or worlds remembered out of time. Not Eden’s gate, but freedom Lures us down a trail of skulls Where men forever crush the dreamers— Never the dream. Freedom is a dream Haunting as amber wine Or worlds remembered out of time. Wh

Notes & Lyrics

Little-Boy Girl I only know…what makes me happy. “This conflict rises up to knock me down at every Music by Jeff Beal apex I reach Text by Pauli Murray (in my career and because) the laws of society do not protect me, This little “boy-girl” I’m exposed to any enemy or person This little “boy-girl” personality who may (or may not) want to hurt me.” little boy This little “boy-girl” personality little girl This little “boy-girl” personality little girl little boy little boy little girl as you call it Aunt Pauline little girl as you call it jokingly little boy gets me into trouble. And to try to live by society’s standards Permission granted by the Pauli Murray always causes me such inner conflict Foundation for the text used from The Firebrand that at times it’s almost unbearable. and the First Lady by Patricia Bell-Scott. I don’t know whether I’m right (or) whether society, (or) some medical authority is right— Wh

Notes & Lyrics

Advice to a Young Woman Music by Nico Muhly Text from The Lady’s New-Year’s Gift, “Advice to a Young Woman” is a piece in attributed to George Savile, Marquis of Halifax two sections. The first section deals with eye (1633—95) contact: an obsessive, minuscule way of policing women’s behavior. Careless glances, up-close … it must engage you to have a perpetual Watch observation: all of this translates into a neurotic, upon your Eyes, and to remember, that one pointillistic, and focussed series of pulses. careless Glaunce giveth more advantage than The choir sings in near unison—aggressive, a hundred Words note enough considered; the prescriptive. The piece suddenly cross-fades into Language of the Eyes being very much the most a joyful and ecstatic image of a young woman significant, and the most observed. dancing for pleasure. The music here is lightly swung, carefree, and never strays from a single … It is better for a Woman never to Dance, key. Because the most carefree fun I know how because she hath no skill in it, than to do it too to have is to sing with friends in canon, there is often, because she doth it well. a two-part canon here. This piece is dedicated to the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, with whom I have worked for many years. I tried, here, to play to their strengths: astonishingly precise teamwork, combined with a joy in music-making. Wh

Notes & Lyrics

Keeping the Look Loose Who I am is who to see, so keep your look loose.

I believe in the transformative power of music. All this vulnerability is the saddest thing The act of listening creates real physical changes circling and though it shouldn’t be, in the body. A musical rhythm can change your your gaze describes me to me. heartbeat. A harmonic progression can create Why do I see through you chills. These visceral, physical responses have rather than through me? the potential to unlock deep-seated emotions Why can’t I keep the look loose. and to open up new perspectives on the world. In “Keeping the Look Loose,” I wanted to follow It’s as if when you look my way you know the beautiful contours of Claudia’s writing, and more about me than I know about me. to let that guide the music. For me, this piece When did I part ways with myself? follows the speaker’s journey from a sense of You say handsome exists as an opposite, discomfort in the body to a final freeing of their You say beauty isn’t what is seen in me. inner gaze. This is why I decided to score the Loosen up or lose me. Keep the look loose. piece for a capella voices and body percussion. The unaccompanied chorus both propels and When did lovely begin to resist me? comments on the journey, creating melody and Being me can’t mean I am running accompaniment. The body percussion draws on Away from a world full of magnificence a variety of musical traditions that feature the when magnificence is named for me. strength of the body, including bharatanatyam, Let me have that thing, let me have me. flamenco, and step. Let’s keep the look loose.

It’s my promise to me. The culture’s been Music by Kamala Sankaram winding me up, now I’m getting Text by Claudia Rankine wound up for me, I’m climbing inside the look, making room for me. Why isn’t my expectation me? Strapped in I’m keeping the look loose. with vulnerability, dressed against self doubt, as the culture turns every conversation visual, To love what is born not made, it looks as if when my looks don’t reflect you, to be in my body as me. I want to be no one, including me, will say beautiful. exposed without the daily shame We need to keep our look loose. given to me by our culture’s games. I want to finally uncover my face and see Every time I look back you are looking that the sweetness of me is the sweetness without seeing the me that is me. of you keeping the look loose. Even as I turn the corner, you are defining me. Whatever I am wearing I am also wearing you. Shake out your stare; keep the eyes soft. Wh

Notes & Lyrics

Prophecy proud and self-confident, saying: “This is what we are doing. This is what we believe…” Music by Jeff Beal I have been cast aside, but I sparkle in the Text by Pauli Murray and Eleanor Roosevelt darkness. I have been slain but live on in the river of I sing of a new American history. Separate from all others, I seek no conquest, no wealth, no power, no Yet enlarged and diminished by all others. revenge: I am the child of kings and serfs, freemen and I seek only discovery slaves, Of the illimitable heights and depths of my own Having neither superiors nor inferiors, being. Progeny of all colors, all cultures, all systems, all I sing, I sing, beliefs. “This is the kind of world we want. I sing of a new American This is the kind of world we intend to work for. “The minute we deny any rights... to any citizen, Because, and never doubt it, given a chance to we are preparing the way for the denial of those see both sides honestly... rights to someone else. When will we act to all men who care about freedom will know prevent where they belong.” human misery rather than avenge it?” I sing, I sing of a new American I have been enslaved, yet my spirit is unbound. American, American, I sing “I would like to hear the voice of the American I sing people ring out loud and clear, Wh

Notes & Lyrics

Building Brooklyn Can’t find old trees for new ones they’ve found But you can’t take no shelter on that ground This song is a part of a bigger exploration on We bent the sunlight upon this place the building of Brooklyn entitled Working on a But we treated like strangers Building. The shifting, moving, and displacement of people. The recreating of infrastructure that Rents and incomes changed in our urban areas could hold diverse communities, people of 2013, the median rent $934— different races, religions, classes exchanged for A 64 percent—in our urban area an almost one-class system that dissolves long- That growing rent-to-income discrepancy has standing vibrant and diverse communities. A look led 30 percent of New Yorkers to be severely at how money and technology meet to own what burdened by their rent—across all incomes. you need and offer it back to you at a price one [rents and incomes changed in our urban areas ] may or may not be able to afford. That growing rent-to-income discrepancy has led-30 percent of New Yorkers to be severely Because the chorus wanted to sing about the burdened by their rent—across all incomes. issues they as young people are experiencing— gentrification, criminalization of communities, No there never was a building systemic racism—I thought of looking at how we No there never was a building here got here and the ways over time we have settled No there never was a park people in and out of Brooklyn and how we create There never was economic challenges around where people live, No this never was a school yard creating a system of constant struggle around the Nobody taught here basic need for shelter and security would fit in. I No was not surprised to learn that this tension and It’s always been a bridge stress is happening across all incomes. It’s always been a bridge It’s always been a bridge

Music by Toshi Reagon No we don’t have no service Text by Toshi Reagon This building closed here No we don’t have no service I am Here… this building closed Mine… No we don’t have I I I came first… No Pastries, You You You were first?... No Shirts, I’m coming From there to here… No milk, Nobody has ever gone away no staples, No gas, Oh my baby—it’s time to go No rain gear, These lands around us want us no more or shoes I don’t know what they’ll do without you and me Or detergent. Make the same of every street corner so their Just write us, Just write us, Just write us, reflection they’ll see Just write us I’ve worked all day and—I’m doing right But I got no place for us to sleep tonight We can bring We can bring Rents and incomes changed in our urban areas We can bring It all to your house 1960, New York City had a median rent of $568 Tell us where you live, Tell us where you live Median household income was at $44,948 in Never mind 1960 and had increased to $53,013 in 2013 We already know —only an 18 percent increase. 46 percent difference She lives House They live House Wh

Notes & Lyrics

He lives House Things happen that I love and it’s because of you We live House This is the most I live House This is the widest Nobody is ever done away… This is the most expansive and I thank you I thank you I have grown dependent on you You have been there in my unknowing Wh

Notes & Lyrics

Let Freedom Ring I could fall toward the masses when I see the vile deeds against what nature has decreed: Grieving the death of a loved one, a survivor Sun shine on all! Rain fall! searches for a response to violence by turning to the principles of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Earth give us space to be! Air give me breath naming injustice and actively participating in to be nonviolent resistance. Drawing further strength Let freedom ring! from thoughts of the Statue of Liberty, the survivor recalls the inscription at her base, a have you seen the lady? message of inclusivity, an offer of refuge, and an She said she spoke for us embrace of all. standing copper tarnished reminding all of us: Give me the tired, Give me the poor, Give me the masses reaching for the shore. Music by Shara Nova Give me the tired, Give me the poor, Text by Shara Nova Give me the tempest Give me the tired, Give me the poor, brother gone to air, now i to stone. Give me the masses reaching for the shore. pillow broke beneath my troubled pose Give me the tired, Give me the poor, sleep does not spare me from the outside Open up the golden door! light force your way to my eye Fear you are contagious, Let freedom ring! can one speak can one speak with words can one speak with words of love can one can one speak can one speak with words of peace can one name justice name king? justice is our king

Who’s Who

BROOKLYN YOUTH CHORUS Brooklyn Youth Chorus’ program encompasses Named WQXR’s 2016—17 artists-in-residence over 650 students in its after-school and and celebrating its 25th anniversary, Brooklyn public school outreach programs at its Cobble Youth Chorus is a collective of young singers Hill headquarters and locations in Bedford- and vocal ensembles re-envisioning choral Stuyvesant, East Flatbush, Red Hook, and music performance through artistic innovation, Sunset Park, Brooklyn. brooklynyouthchorus.org collaboration, and their distinctively beautiful sound. has hailed DIANNE BERKUN MENAKER is the founder the Chorus as “remarkable young singers,” and artistic director of Brooklyn Youth Chorus. who perform “with confidence, energy and Under her visionary leadership, the Chorus tenderness. The sheer beauty of their singing has become one of the most highly regarded [is] captivating.” This March, the Chorus ensembles in the country and has stretched the released its first solo recording, Black Mountain artistic boundaries for the youth chorus. Hailed Songs, which premiered at the 2014 BAM by The New York Times as “a remarkable choral Next Wave Festival. conductor,” Berkun Menaker has prepared choruses for performances with acclaimed With an incredibly versatile range and conductors , Marin Alsop, James repertoire, Brooklyn Youth Chorus combines Levine, Gustavo Dudamel, Robert Spano, and intensive voice training and music study with others. Most notably, she prepared the Chorus for exceptional performance experiences. The its 2002 debut with the Chorus has appeared with acclaimed orchestras in John Adams’ On the Transmigration of Souls, and conductors, including the New York and the recording for which the Chorus won a Los Angeles philharmonics, and London and Grammy Award in 2005. Berkun Menaker symphonies, and under the batons of is the creator of the Chorus’ Cross-Choral Alan Gilbert, Gustavo Dudamel, and Esa-Pekka Training® program, a proven holistic and Salonen. Additionally, the Chorus has performed experiential approach to developing singers with major recording artists such as Barbra in a group setting encompassing both voice Streisand, John Legend, and Grizzly Bear. and musicianship pedagogy.

The Chorus has been touted by The New York KRISTOPHER BURKE conducts Brooklyn Youth Times as a “consistently bold organization” that Chorus’ Men’s Ensemble and several training regularly commissions and presents new music ensembles. In addition, he conducts public in genre-defying forms. The Chorus’ repertoire school outreach programs, bringing Brooklyn includes more than 100 original works and Youth Chorus’ unique Cross-Choral Training to world premieres. The Chorus won a Grammy New York City public schools. While under his Award in 2005 with the New York Philharmonic direction, the Men’s Ensemble has performed at for the world premiere live recording of John the Capitol Building, the National Adams’ On the Transmigration of Souls. Hispanic Caucus’ Annual Awards Gala, Kings Theatre, and WQXR’s The Greene Space. The Chorus has appeared at important Burke received his BM in music education contemporary music festivals including the from Shepherd University and a MM in vocal Ecstatic Music Festival, MusicNOW, 21c performance from Shenandoah Conservatory. Liederabend, Barbican Mountain and Waves He has also studied with conductor Rudolph Festival, and the PROTOTYPE Festival. Founded Palmer and voice teachers Barbara Stenger by Artistic Director Dianne Berkun Menaker, and Dr. Byron Jones. Who’s Who

KRISTIN MARTING is a director of hybrid work Liberovici; Oceanic Verses by Paola Prestini; based in NYC. She has constructed 27 stage Elsewhere by Missy Mazzoli; You Us We All by works, including 12 original hybrid works, eight Shara Nova () and Andrew reimaginings of novels, and seven classic plays. Ondrejcak (2015 BAM Next Wave); The Blue Marting has directed 17 works at HERE and Planet by Peter Greenaway; and Yet Unheard, also premiered works at 3LD, Ohio Theatre, and a tribute to Sandra Bland by Courtney Bryan, Soho Rep. Her work has toured to 7 Stages, based on the poem by Sharan Strange. Her work Berkshire Festival, Brown, MCA, New World, First Responder was conceived and performed Painted Bride, Perishable, UMass, Moscow Art at MASS MoCA in response to Nick Cave’s Theatre, and Oslo. She has directed workshops Until. As part of her 2017 residency at National for Clubbed Thumb, New Georges, Playwrights Sawdust, she created Requiem for a Tuesday Horizons, Public Theater, Target Margin, and with bass-baritone Davone Tines and dancer/ others. Select residencies include Bard, Cal choreographer Reggie Gray and is working on Arts, LMCC, Mabou Mines, MASS MoCA, a CD release with visionary performance artist NACL, Orchard Project, Playwrights Center, Yuka Honda. She is host of the HELGA podcast and Williams. Marting was named a nytheatre. on WQXR’s Q2 music. com Person of the Decade, a Woman to Watch by ArtTable, and received a BAX10 Award. HILTON ALS became a staff writer at The New Marting is co-founder and artistic director of Yorker in 1996, a theater critic in 2002, and HERE, where she directs projects, cultivates chief theater critic in 2013. His first book, The artists (including 17 OBIE Award winners), and Women, a meditation on gender, race, and programs two performance spaces for an annual personal identity, was published in 1996. His audience of 30,000. most recent book, White Girls, discusses various narratives around race and gender and was HELGA DAVIS served as a principal actor in nominated for a 2013 National Book Critics the 25th-anniversary international revival of Circle Award in Criticism. Als is a professor at and ’ seminal opera Columbia University’s Writing Program, and his , including at BAM in work has appeared in The Nation, The Believer, 2012. Among the many collaborative and works and The New York Review of Books. He won written for her are Faust’s Box by acclaimed the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for criticism and lives Italian contemporary music composer Andrea in New York City. Wh

Who’s Who

THE INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY Jason Vieaux. Beal recently conducted the world ENSEMBLE (ICE) is an artist collective premiere of House of Cards in Concert with the committed to transforming the way music is National Symphony Orchestra. He also recently created and experienced. As performer, curator, conducted the Boston Symphony and Boston and educator, ICE explores how new music Pops Esplanade Orchestras in the recording and intersects with communities across the world. concert premieres of his film score BOSTON, The ensemble’s 35 members are featured as a feature length documentary about the soloists, chamber musicians, commissioners, Boston Marathon. and collaborators with the foremost musical artists of our time. A recipient of the American MARY KOUYOUMDJIAN is a composer Music Center’s Trailblazer Award and the with projects ranging from concert works to America/ASCAP Award for multimedia collaborations. As a first generation Adventurous Programming, ICE was also named Armenian-American and having come from a the 2014 Musical America Ensemble of the Year. family directly affected by the Lebanese Civil The group currently serves as artists in residence War and Armenian Genocide, she uses a sonic at for the Performing Arts’ Mostly palette that draws on her heritage, interest in Mozart Festival, and previously led a five-year music as documentary, and a background in residency at the Museum of Contemporary Art experimental composition to blend the old with Chicago. Read more at iceorg.org. the new. She has received commissions for such organizations as , Carnegie JEFF BEAL is a four-time Emmy Award Hall, , American Composers winning composer known for his genre-defying Forum/JFund, International Contemporary musical fluidity. His film scores have received Ensemble, REDSHIFT, Music of Remembrance, critical acclaim, while he remains a respected Friction Quartet, and Experiments in Opera. Her composer in the concert, theater, and dance documentary work was recently presented by worlds. Beal’s evocative score and theme for the 2016 New York Philharmonic Biennial, and the drama House of Cards received four residencies include those with Alarm Will Sound, Emmy Award nominations, winning for score. Roulette/The Jerome Fund, Montalvo Arts, Other lauded series include (USA) and and Exploring the Metropolis. Kouyoumdjian is HBO’s Rome and Carnivale. Film scores include pursuing her DMA in composition at Columbia documentaries Blackfish, Queen of Versailles, University, and holds an MA from New York and dramas Pollock and Appaloosa. Beal’s University and a BA from UC San Diego. She concert works have been performed by the St. is a co-founder of New Music Gathering. Louis, Rochester, Pacific, Munich, and Detroit marykouyoumdjian.com symphonies. Commissions include works for the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Smuin Ballet, Ying Quartet, and Grammy-winning guitarist Wh

Who’s Who

DJ SPOOKY (aka Paul D. Miller) is the executive screen includes music for the 2013 Broadway editor of Origin Magazine and is a composer, revival of The Glass Menagerie and scores for multimedia artist, editor, and author. His DJ films including the Academy Award-winning Mixer iPad app has seen more than 12 million The Reader. Born in Vermont, Muhly studied downloads. In 2012, he was the first artist-in- composition at The Juilliard School before residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He working as an editor and conductor for Philip has produced and composed work for , Glass. He is part of the artist-run record label , and scores of artists and award- Bedroom Community, which released his first winning films. Miller’s work as a media artist has two albums, Speaks Volumes (2006) and appeared in the Whitney Biennial; the Venice Mothertongue (2008). He lives in New York City. Biennial for Architecture; the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, ; Kunsthalle, Vienna; The SHARA NOVA (formerly Worden), born in Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh; and others. “the diamond state” of Arkansas to a family of His book Sound Unbound, an anthology of musical traveling evangelists, moved across writings on and digital media, is America throughout her youth, then went on a best-selling title for MIT Press. Miller continues to study classical voice at the University of his globe-trotting series of live events playing at North Texas. After moving to New York City she festivals from France to to Mexico City, assembled her chamber pop band My Brightest performing solo, with chamber groups, and Diamond in 2001, subsequently releasing four with orchestras, and giving talks at prominent albums on Asthmatic Kitty Records. Nova has universities and conferences. composed works for yMusic, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Young New Yorkers’ Chorus, Brooklyn NICO MUHLY is an American composer and Rider, Nadia Sirota, and , sought-after collaborator whose influences range among others. Her baroque chamber p’opera from American minimalism to the Anglican You Us We All premiered at the BAM Next Wave choral tradition. The recipient of commissions Festival in October 2015. Many composers, from the , Carnegie Hall, , and filmmakers have sought out St. Paul’s Cathedral, and others, he has written Nova’s voice, including , David more than 80 works for the concert stage, Byrne, , , Steve including the forthcoming opera Marnie. Muhly Mackey, Sarah Kirkland Snider, , is a frequent collaborator with choreographer and Matthew Barney. Nova is a Kresge Fellow, Benjamin Millepied and, as an arranger, has Knights Grant recipient, and a United States paired with Sufjan Stevens, Antony and the Artist fellow. Johnsons, and others. His work for stage and Wh

Who’s Who

TOSHI REAGON is a talented, versatile singer, NY IT Award for Outstanding Production of composer, musician, curator, and producer with a Musical, the Civilians, HERE, American a profound ear for sonic Americana—from folk Lyric Theater, the MacDowell Colony, and to , from to rock. While her expansive the Watermill Center. She has performed and career has landed her comfortably in residence premiered pieces with Beth Morrison Projects, at Carnegie Hall, the Paris Opera House, and Anthony Braxton, and the Wooster Group, among Madison Square Garden, you can just as easily others. She is currently the leader of Bombay find Reagon turning out a music festival, intimate Rickey, an operatic Bollywood surf ensemble venue, or local club. She is a recipient of a whose debut album was named Best Eclectic NYFA Award for Music Composition, a national Album by the Independent Music Awards Vox Women’s History Month Honoree, and was Pop. Sankaram’s opera THUMBPRINT will the music director for the national Women’s receive its West Coast premiere at LA Opera this March on Washington in January. Reagon’s June. kamalasankaram.com current touring projects include Celebrate the Great Women of Blues and Jazz, a 16-piece all CAROLINE ADELAIDE SHAW is a New York- women’s ensemble of some of New York’s best based musician. She is the youngest-ever winner instrumentalists and vocalists. She is currently of the , for her enigmatic developing an opera based on Octavia E. Butler’s composition . Her career novel Parable of the Sower, debuting fall 2017. defies categorization—she performs as a violin soloist, chamber musician, and as a vocalist KAMALA SANKARAM has been praised as in the Grammy-winning ensemble Roomful “strikingly original” (The New York Times) of Teeth. Recent commissions include works and “an impassioned soprano with blazing for Carnegie Hall, Guggenheim Museum, St. high notes” (The Wall Street Journal). Recent Paul Chamber Orchestra with , commissions include by Houston Grand Opera’s and mezzo-soprano . She Opera to Go, Washington National Opera’s also frequently collaborates with . American Opera Initiative, Beth Morrison Currently a doctoral candidate at Princeton, Projects, HERE Arts Center, and Opera Memphis. Shaw also studied at Rice and Yale. She loves Awards, grants, and residencies include: Kevin the color yellow, otters, Beethoven opus 74, Spacey Artist of Choice, Jonathan Larson Award, Mozart opera, the smell of rosemary, and the NEA ArtWorks, MAP Fund, Opera America, sound of a janky mandolin. Wh

Who’s Who

PRODUCTION & DESIGN TEAM Abraham.In.Motion); and projects at Trinity Repertory Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, Asolo PETER NIGRINI (set and video design) is one Rep, Cleveland Playhouse, ARS NOVA, and of Broadway’s leading projection designers who GEVA Theater. for the past 15 years has been a pioneer in the integration of digital projection technology GARTH MacALEAVEY (sound design) cut his and live theater. Designs include Real Enemies, teeth (and ears) as an engineer on the New which premiered in the 2015 Next Wave York City contemporary music scene (le Poisson Festival; Dear Evan Hansen; Amélie; the David Rouge, VisionIntoArt/National Sawdust, Beth Byrne musical Here Lies Love; Will Eno’s Wakey Morrison Productions, MATA). He specializes in Wakey; Fela!; An Act of God; Grounded at the concert amplification and sound design for both Public Theater; and Robert Woodruff’s adaptation traditional and experimental music performance. of Dostoyevsky’s Notes from Underground, An avid musician, MacAleavey’s career in audio first produced at Yale Repertory Theatre and was strongly influenced by his time as a student remounted at La Jolla Playhouse and Theatre of avant garde percussion at UCSC under the for a New Audience. In addition to his work in tutelage of Willie Winant. MacAleavey’s recent the theater, he also designs in other mediums, credits include the sound design for FLEXN including the Grace Jones Hurricane tour. He is directed by at the Park Avenue also a founding member and the sole designer Armory, engineering Jeff Zeigler/Andy Akiho/ for Nature Theater of Oklahoma. This summer Roger Bonair-Agard at the Prospect Park he will premiere a new production of Lucia di Bandshell for Celebrate Brooklyn, and mixing Lammermoor for . Alarm Will Sound with Dance Heginbotham in Seoul, Korea. His past credits include Kronos DAN SCULLY (set and video design) Recent Quartet, , Terry and work includes If/Then (national tour), Rocky Gyan Riley, David T. Little, , Paul (Broadway), Jedermann (Salzburg Festival), Simon, Atoms for Peace, Erykah Badu, Brooklyn Untitled America (Alvin Ailey American Dance Philharmonic, and many more. Theater), A Charlie Brown Christmas (New York Pops), The Orchestra Moves! (Carnegie Hall), and When the Wolves Came In (Kyle Abraham/ Wh

Who’s Who

JEANETTE OI-SUK YEW (lighting design) is a KATE FRY (costume designer) designs costumes lighting designer for theater, opera, dance, music for opera, theater, film, and dance. Her work performances, and installation. Her designs were explores clothing as poetry, to illustrate the described as “clever” and “inventive” (The New complex nature of identity as both individual York Times). She has designed for productions and contextual within society. Recently, Fry’s at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, BAM, St. designs have been shown with the Los Angeles Ann’s Warehouse, Manhattan School of Music, Philharmonic (composer Jacob Cooper) and at and internationally in Havana, Prague, Lima, the Spoleto Festival USA (The Little Match Girl, Edinburgh, Shanghai, and Tokyo. She designed a collaboration with puppeteer Mark Down and Tan Dun’s Water Passion, Mysterium Novum director Phelim McDermott). Beyond the stage, with the Nouveau Classical Project, The Idiot Fry’s work ranges from fine art—teaming up with Kristin Marting and Robert Lyons, Sam on French artist Julien Previeux’s project What Falls’ September Spring, Aya Ogawa’s Ludic Shall We Do Next (winner of the Prix Marcel Proxy (Bel Geddes Design Enhancement Award), Duchamp), to film and television, most recently HK Gruber’s Gloria—A Pig Tale with Alan designing costumes for a 1960s era television Gilbert and Doug Fitch, Schubert’s Fierrabras pilot, The Picture (directed by David Winkler). with Leon Botstein, Aaron Siegel’s Brother Fry’s work has been shown at The Public Brother, Company XIV’s Rococo Rogue and Theater, New York City Center, Grand Palais Nutcracker Rogue (received various Drama Desk Paris, 3LD, La MaMa, HERE Arts Center, Walt nominations), and Matthew Paul Olmos’ So Go Disney Concert Hall, REDCAT, Prototype Opera the Ghosts of Mexico Part One (Best Lighting Festival, The Bootleg Theater, Honor Fraser Design nomination). She is a recipient of the Gallery, Prague Quadrennial, and the Tribeca NEA/TCG Career Development Program. Film Festival. She earned an MFA from California Institute of the Arts. Wh

Notes & Lyrics

PETER McCABE (dramaturg) is resident wife Hillary Richard, their production of the rock dramaturg at HERE Arts Center. His credits and roll musical Lizzie Borden was nominated include Don Christobal by Erin Orr and Rima for three Drama Desk Awards and has spawned Fand, Send for the Million Men by Joseph over a dozen additional productions. He lives in Silovksy, and Casablacabox by Reid and Sara Brooklyn with his wife and three daughters. Farrington all at HERE. He received a Jerome Grant to write and produce the live radio/ NUNALLY KERSH (executive producer) is an theater event Stanford White: Murder, Love, independent producer in the contemporary and Insanity in the Guilded Age for Clocktower performing arts sector, working with a wide Radio. Presently he is working on Get Jack by variety of institutions and artists. Prior to Damien Gray and Kip Winger, a revenge drama working independently, she served as executive about the ghosts of Jack the Ripper’s victims; producer of Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, adapting his third Emperor and the Queen play SC for more than 15 years. Before relocating to into the burlesque opera with Kamala Sankaram; Charleston, she worked with a variety of New and developing a new unannounced cabaret York-based cultural organizations including the show with Damien Gray. As a producer, with his Lincoln Center Festival, PS 122, BAM, and the French Cultural Services. Wh

Brooklyn Youth Chorus

ARTISTIC & ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF

Dianne Berkun Menaker, Founder & Artistic Director Anjali Baijal, Interim Managing Director Jennifer Cambras, Director of Production & Events Frank Impelluso, Director of Marketing & Communications Marie-Laure Kugel, Director of Development & Institutional Advancement Jenni Kurosman, School Administrator Julian Sheffield, Director of Finance Andrea Arevalo, Community Engagement Manager Marjory Bruno, Office Coordinator Hannah Margolies, Development Associate Kristopher Burke, Jean Sophie Kim, Raquel Klein, Kristen Von Bargen, Conductors Neha Jiwrajka, Kiena Williams, Eric Williamson, Associate Conductors & Chorus Managers Angela Batchelor, Molly Goldberg, Chorus Managers Rachel DeVore Fogarty, Ryan Dodge, Travis Horton, Aleeza Meir, Paul Olson, Christine Reimer, Accompanists Ian McLellan Davis, Leah Miles, Sara Paar, Eugene Rohrer, Michelle Rosen, Matt Schlatter, Julian Shore, Mara Waldman, Eli Zoller, Music Electives Faculty Bryony Romer Consulting, Grantwriter Blake Zidell & Associates, Public Relations

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Marie DeRosa, Co-Chair Annie Keating Jennifer Sage, Co-Chair Ryan Martin Naomi Gardner, Secretary Arlette Ferguson Mathis Diana Adams, Treasurer Alexandra Partow Dianne Berkun Menaker, Founder Hillary Richard Jacqueline Aguanno Jonathan Rouner Judy Berkun Grace Row Dan Cogan Felicia Stingone J. Barclay Collins, II Lynn M. Stirrup Martha Eckfeldt Amanda Van Doorene Gail Erickson Dick Yancey M. Salomé Galib Nicolas Grabar TRUSTEES EMERITI Johari Jenkins Taylor Charles J. Hamm Narcissa Titman Wh

Brooklyn Youth Chorus

ARTISTIC ADVISORY BOARD

John Adams Deirdre Chadwick Julian Crouch Bryce Dessner Jeremy Geffen Hilda Harris Jim Keller Paola Prestini Ted Sperling Michelle R. Yagoda, M.D. Theodore Wiprud

SPECIAL THANKS & CREDITS

Brooklyn Youth Chorus gratefully acknowledges the following individuals and institutions for their extraordinary support of Silent Voices (as of April 1, 2017).

Aaron Copland Fund for Music Jacqueline and Joseph Aguanno Amphion Foundation Anjali and Hemant Baijal Bank of America Merrill Lynch BMW of Manhattan Dan Cogan and Liz Garbus J. Barclay Collins, II Benjamin Crane Marie DeRosa and Richard McNeil Gail Erickson and Christa Rice Charles J. and Irene F. Hamm M. Salomé Galib and Duane McLaughlin Garnerin Group Kate Hosford and Chris Welch Howard Gilman Foundation Annie Keating and Kim Hawkins Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund Michele Mirman and Mirman, Markovits & Landau, PC National Endowment for the Arts New Music USA NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Commissioner Tom Finkelpearl Jennifer Sage and Nicolas Grabar TD Bank and the TD Charitable Foundation The Morris and Alma Schapiro Fund The BMI Foundation The MAP Fund Dick Yancey

Special thanks to Marcus Wainwright and rag & bone for supporting the project by dressing the Chorus. The visual identity for Silent Voices was generously donated by Carbone Smolan Agency.