Hela Rotan

Arranged by Ken Steven. Directed by Victor Martinez and laurel stinson

 Composer Ken Steven is an Indonesian born composer, and in this piece merges a gives a modern take on a folksong from the island of Maluku in eastern Indonesia. The central metaphor is about the game of “Hela Rotan” or Tug-of-War; Rotan is the vining palm used to make rope. The song is a parable of competition-as-cooperation between different communities. The song also mentions the “drums of Java” which may be a reference to the eruptions of the volcano of Krakatau.

Blue Skies

by Irving Berlin. Arranged by Steve Zegree. Directed by laurel stinson

Berlin originally wrote this piece for the musical Betsy in 1926. While Betsy only ran 39 performances, the song’s instant popularity catapulted it beyond the original show. Blue Skies became on the the first songs featured in a “talkie,” inspired its own titular Fred Astaire film, and featured prominently in Star Trek. The song was a favorite of Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, and Lieutenant Commander Data.

Blue skies, smilin’ at me
Nothin’ but blues skies do I see
Bluebirds singing a song
Nothin’ but bluebirds all day long
Never saw the sun shinin’ so bright
Never saw things lookin’ so right
Noticin’ the days hurryin’ by
When you’re in love, my how they fly
Blue days, all of them gone
Nothin’ but blue skies from now on
Never saw the sun shinin’ so bright
Never saw things lookin’ so right
Noticin’ the days hurryin’ by
When you’re in love, oh how they fly
Blue days, all of them gone
Nothin’ but blue skies from now on

United in Purpose

by Roger dilworth. lyrics by maya angelou. directed by laurel stinson

This moving Gospel piece reminds us of what we owe to each other. Dilworth took the text for the piece from this moving passage in Dr. Angelou’s book, Rainbow in the Cloud: The Wisdom and Spirit of Maya Angelou.

The onus is upon us all to work to improve the human condition.
Perform good deeds, for that is truly the way to battle the forces of entropy that are at work in our world.
The composite of all our efforts can have an effect.
Good done anywhere is good done everywhere.
When we unite in purpose,
we are greater than the sum of our parts.

Summertime

by George gershwin, dubose and dorothy heyward, and ira gershwin. Arranged by roger emerson. Directed by laurel stinson

Written first as an aria for the 1934 opera Porgy and Bess, the song has gone on to become an iconic jazz standard, appearing on billboard charts throughout pop history. We refer the interested to the Wikipedia entry for more on its history.

Tarekita

by Reena Esmail. Directed by Mary goebel and laurel stinson

Composer Reena Esmail wrote this piece for The Urban Voices Project. While writing a totally different piece for The Urban Voices Project, she spent one rehearsal substitute teaching and discussed traditional Indian rhythms. The choir members became so engaged in the topic that Esmail ended up writing Tarekita for them to perform. Esmail says of her piece:

TaReKiTa is a vibrant joyful piece in a raga (an Indian classical melodic framework) called Jog, which incorporates both major and minor modalities into a single scale. The text syllables are onomatopoeic vocalizations of the sounds produced by Indian instruments.

That Lonesome Road

by James Taylor and Don Grolnick. Arranged by simon carrington. Directed by laurel stinson

James Taylor, American singer-songwriter best known for massive 70’s hits Fire and Rain and You’ve Got a Friend, wrote this piece in 1981. Interestingly Taylor had an 11 year marriage to Carly Simon, composer of Let the River Run.

Wanting Memories

by Ysaye M. Barnwell. Directed by Mary Goebel and laurel stinson

Barnwell wrote Wanting Memories for the 1980 dance piece Crossings. The lyrics resonate deeply by our choir members for the mothers we have lost. Barnwell’s notes say of the piece:

I did dedicate the WANTING to my father when we recorded it but it was written while both my parents were still alive.  

What was special though was that I am an only child and when my father died and then my mother, and I prepared to sell the house I grew up in, I found bags of photos, letters and other memorabilia – the kind of things especially an only child hopes for …

You can see a good deal of these photos and samples of the letters on my website: 

So in a sense, the song was  an unconscious wish or prayer that actually came true.

And So It Goes

by Billy Joel. Arranged by Bob Chilcott. Directed by Laurel Stinson.

Though unreleased till 1989, Joel wrote the piece in 1983 about his relationship relationship with model Elle Macpherson, of whom Joel also wrote This Night and, at least in part, Uptown Girl.

Let the River Run

by Carly Simon. Arranged by Craig Hella Johnson. Directed by Mary Goebel and Laurel Stinson

Simon wrote, composed, and performed this number as the main theme of Working Girl in 1988, earning Simon an Oscar, Golden Globe, and Grammy in one fell swoop. Simon says she pieced the lyrics together from the script and the poetry of Whitman and Blake.