Hi hi hello! Really quick addition to the last newsletter, which was so jam-packed I forgot to mention that I have two premieres happening this week!?
First: TONIGHT! The Mendelssohn Chorus here in Philadelphia, the greatest city on earth, is premiering a new song they commissioned from me: "Slice of Pie," with lyrics by the badass writer and activist Feminista Jones. Feminista's wry poem pulled some unexpected music out of me: I somehow wrote a jazz standard!? I'm not kidding, that's absolutely what it is, so I committed to it and threw in a trumpet, bass and drumkit. I spent a good part of my teen years learning jazz standards, idolizing Stéphane Grappelli (still do), and wishing that there were more places in the world for jazz violists, so I guess that history has at last been brought to bear.
To listen to "Slice of Pie," register here (for free) and then join us on Zoom at 7:30PM EST:
Second: FRIDAY NIGHT! A consortium of choirs led by Chorosynthesis commissioned a 19-minute multimovement work from me to commemorate the passing of the 19th Amendment: Amendment: Righting Our Wrongs. As you can probably tell from the title, it's a work that goes beyond the issue of women's suffrage to examine the many ways that voting rights have been suppressed in this country, and highlight the ongoing struggle for universal suffrage for all Americans. Texts come from Stacey Abrams, Frances Harper, Zitkála-Šá, Francis Bellam, Astrid Silva, Mary Church Terrell, various state constitutions, and I even contributed some lines myself. The choir is accompanied by solo cello which I think sounds glorious—I hope I get the chance to write for this combination again!
You can join us by heading to this Facebook Live event with Santa Monica College choirs at 7:30PM PST (10:30PM EST) this Friday:
Right, that's it! Sorry to break the occasional nature of this newsletter to send you this addendum, my bad!
<3
Melissa
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