2017: Year in Review!

by Wendy Moy

We at Chorosynthesis are grateful for your support throughout this past year. Due to wonderful supporters like you, 2017 was a monumental year for our organization. We would like to take the next 5 minutes of your life to share all that happened, thanks to you! Chorosynthesis Singers embarked on a tour of Washington State with our Empowering Silenced Voices 2.0 program which included a high school exchange, a residency with Mid-Columbia Mastersingers, and the Symposium on New Choral Music and Social Consciousness. During this tour, we premiered 16 works addressing many relevant topics of issues of social consciousness such as child advocacy, women’s rights, human rights, displacement, the environment, technology, and perspectives on terrorism and war. In times such as these, this music is giving hope when hope is sometimes hard to see. Additionally. . .

NW Conference Session: Re-Imagining Relevance through New Music & Social Consciousness

by Wendy Moy

March 8, 2018, 8 am - 9 am
Hilton Pavilion West Ballroom, Portland, OR
NW ACDA Conference Session
To register for conference: http://www.nwacda.org/divisional.html

Discussants: Jeremiah Selvey, Wendy Moy, Justin Raffa, Reg Unterseher

The purpose of this panel discussion is to provide thoughtfulness on the importance of new music and social advocacy as we reconceive the impact of the choral art in our various communities. The panelists will speak from the depth and breadth of their own experiences, as well as broader trends in the field, to provide practical ways to revitalize our choral communities by way of supporting the diversity of our humanity. This panel discussion will explore how we can integrate social consciousness and new music into our choral settings as a means of making the choral art more immediately relevant to our singers, communities, and audiences. The framework for this conversation will be Equity, Diversity, Compassion, and Transformation. Some of the topic areas will include the following:

1. The role of art, especially choral music, to alerting social consciousness and advocacy...
a. How composers use art to evoke social awareness and to connect to communities beyond their own.
b. How singers and audiences are finding deeper connections to the art and to each other by way of the shared passion for particularly socially conscious topics.
c. How choirs are connecting and collaborating with community organizations and social causes.
2. Programming socially conscious music…
a. Importance of performing new works in addition to the canon.
b. Resources available for finding high-quality socially conscious repertoire appropriate to our ensembles, as well as composers who are empathetic to social consciousness.
c. How groups are re-purposing works from the canon in ways that draw attention to social consciousness.
d. Using programming to draw attention to socially conscious issues.
3. Potential fears or barriers to becoming an advocate for social consciousness…
a. Balancing the potentially polarizing views on social issues in your ensemble and community.
b. Becoming a caretaker for the potential psychological barriers to performing socially conscious music.

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Chorosynthesis Singers Featured in Choral Journal!

by Wendy Moy

Chorosynthesis Singers was one of 13 choirs featured in the article, An American Choral Tapestry, part of the Choral Journal's Focus on Diversity Initiatives. Read how we are using new music to champion issues of social consciousness/justice. https://acda.org/files/choral_journals/Broeker-HarrisNov17.pdf

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Kickstarter for ESV 2 →

by Jeremiah Selvey

Thanks to all of our supporters, we have embarked on a project that continues our work from the last couple of years. This time we decided to do a Washington State Tour and recording of a double CD for international distribution.

We really are spreading the love, thanks to people who have decided to support the cause. We need to raise $5,000 by Jan 2. Will you help us to accomplish that goal by sharing our Kickstarter campaign and by considering giving yourself? Help us get this amazing music out to the world!
 

Seattle Hospitality

by Jeremiah Selvey

During “Empowering Silenced Voices,” our out-of-town singers truly felt blessed to have a “home away from home,” where they could rest in preparation for a week of intense music-making. We are doing it again—another project of music with a cause, and we could use your help with some Seattle Hospitality.

Chorosynthesis Singers comprises professional singers from all over the country. During the Seattle portion of our next project (Empowering Silenced Voices 2.0), we are seeking potential hosts for these out-of-town guests. Did you know that by providing singers with a comfortable stay in Seattle it enables them to do a really good job in their performances with us? By helping them, you help us...GREATLY! So thank you for taking this into consideration...

If you can't host a singer in your home, perhaps you could volunteer to provide meals for our singers? We are looking for a sponsor for Saturday night's post-concert reception and Sunday and Monday's dinners (during our recording session). If you are interested or know someone who connects with music and social justice and might be able to help out, please let us know.

If you can host a singer in your home, here's what we hope for from volunteers to host these singers...

  1. Time Frame: Saturday, January 14 (afternoon) through Tuesday, January 17
  2. Location: Preferably close enough for singers to use public transportation to get to/from rehearsals and performances without exorbitant travel times. Rehearsals are at Seattle Pacific University.  (Don't let this keep you from volunteering, as we may be able to work something out.)
  3. Overall Goal: Keep our singers well rested and able to stay focused (without too much stress) on their work with Chorosynthesis Singers.
  4. Expectation: Basic room and board (including specified meals, if possible), assisting with transportation (as able and willing), separate beds for each singer, laundry options, WiFi, access to full bathroom, and accommodations for allergies (food, pet). If you have access to a piano or keyboard, even better; or maybe you won't mind them practicing a little at home (if appropriate).
  5. More specifically, we ask the following:
    1. Hosts will arrange for water, coffee/tea, and other light snacks for non-meal times.
    2. Host will provide breakfast every morning Sunday through Tuesday.
    3. Host will provide dinner (or food that the singer can self-prepare) on Saturday (late afternoon) with time to arrive at the venue by the call time.
    4. It would be appreciated if hosts would provide lunch (or lunch food that singer can self-prepare) on Sunday and Monday.
    5. It would be appreciated if hosts could arrange to assist singers with transportation (including car rides or a drop-off at a light rail station or key bus stop).
    6. Hosts should disclose any pets or possible exposure to food allergies.
    7. Hosts should provide separate beds for each performer, even if 2 performers are sharing a room.

If any of these points pose a challenge for you, but you are interested in helping out, PLEASE talk to us. We might be able to work something out.

Please contact us at chorosynthesis@gmail.com with the subject line Seattle Hospitality to get the conversation started. Thank you!

     

    4th New Choral Music Reading Session

    by Jeremiah Selvey

    It is the middle of summer, and the sun is shining brightly, soon to set in the topographically stunning city of Seattle. Meanwhile, in the darkness of night, a South American composer goes to the bar because his Internet connection at home stopped working. While in the bar, he begins to Skype with Seattle singers, educators, and conductors who make up an ad hoc reading choir at the New Choral Music Reading Session that Chorosynthesis is hosting. This event is the third reading session of Chorosynthesis, and this time, we get to see some of the interesting personalities and lives of our composers.

    Not only have the members of this ad hoc choir been able to experience the amazing compositions that are unpublished and on topics of social justice, but they also get to know more about the backgrounds of the pieces through conversations with the composers. They also get to discuss frankly and openly their perspectives of experiencing the work for the first time as a singer. This reading session is definitely not your typical reading session.

    As they walk out the door, they take their music packets full of scores, including the contact information of the composers they were able to meet. Some of them will be in touch with these living composers, and they just might find the treasure that they seek for their own performing contexts as they get to know any number of these composers.

    *****

    On October 2, 2016, Chorosynthesis will host its 4th New Choral Music Reading Session, sponsored in part by the University of Washington School of Music. We invite all stakeholders to join us:

    • Educators
    • Composers
    • Professional Solo/Chamber Singers
    • Conductors & Singers of MANY types of choirs:
      • Professional
      • Church
      • Community
      • Academic (secondary, college)

    Learn about our past and future calls for scores, meet composers, sing through new music on themes of social justice, and take a packet home with you. FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

    To register and secure your free packet, fill out the form here: www.chorosynthesis.org/reading-session-sign-up.

    Recording Contract with Centaur Records

    by Wendy Moy

    We are excited to announce that based on the live recordings of our March 2016 concert, we have secured a contract to record a double CD of new music on social consciousness! We will be presented by international classical label, Centaur Records.

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    Diversifying Voice Training in Colleges & Universities?

    by Jeremiah Selvey

    The performance field of singing has diversified. This diversification indicates to universities and conservatories that we might want to consider the way we are training singers. Training to perform opera and/or musical theater roles is indeed a good path for some singers, but we are at a crossroads where specialization in oratorio or chamber music is also possible. A career as an independent, entrepreneurial singer is now possible for more people, especially if we give them the administrative and marketing skills necessary to achieve their goals and dreams in today's market. Who's with us in helping shape the future education of today's singers?

    Previews of our Empowering Silenced Voices Concert

    by Wendy Moy

    Click on the following link to watch previews of our upcoming "Empowering Silenced Voices" Concert on March 19, 7:30 pm at the Good Shepherd Chapel in Seattle.

    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnqoMxzvjkPQf_G4DqzxHuNbz6QcRRnvY