Cycles of Resistance

Cycles of Resistance is a recital and album featuring art songs for voice and piano commissioned by soprano, Chelsea Hollow. The music and texts create a journey through international resistance movements over the last 120 years.

RECITAL DESCRIPTION
Cycles of Resistance is a recital and album of new commissions by soprano Chelsea Hollow aiming to expand perspective. Hollow says, “I believe that art can serve us in a variety of ways: we can escape into fantastic worlds; we can laugh, smile, and breathe together; we can gain perspective and empathy.” The music and texts of the album journey through a series of international resistance movements over the last 120 years; they are powerful, sometimes tragic and serve to add perspective, catharsis, and clarity. This project began as Hollow’s longing for her artist community during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. With a call for proposals, she invited composers to submit ideas which addressed issues important to them and their community. The 24 songs represent diverse perspectives and languages not yet common in the classical canon: Mandarin, Dutch, Turkish, Arabic, Sanskrit, and Czech in addition to English, chronicling examples of human resilience: Chinese feminist poetry from the early 1900s; a Dutch sonnet on love conquering all evils; the unity of young Czech girls imprisoned in Room 28 at Theresienstadt Internment Camp; a reminder that all humans are part of the disability community at some point in their lives; maternal hesitation, clarity, and urgency in the Flint, Michigan water crisis; harrowing tales of the Turkish Femicide; Prayers of Peace from the traditions of Islam and Hinduism; & inspiring speeches by U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and activist Valarie Kaur.

Cycles of Resistance features soprano Chelsea Hollow and pianist Taylor Chan. This classical concert utilizes the traditional recital ensemble of voice and piano and half of the works incorporate vocoder, looper pedal, modular synthesizer, and fixed media. Setting the poetry, speeches, and mantras are composers Niloufar Nourbakhsh, Sophie Xuefei Zhang, Anthony R. Green, Michael Wiener, Molly Joyce, Lauren McCall, Jason Cady, Özden Gülsün, and Myron Silberstein. From intimate moments of vocal and piano restraint, lush harmonic textures and sweeping coloratura melodies to looped vocal layering, vocoded harmonic expansion, and techno-inspired synth tracks; this program celebrates the extensive range of soundscapes possible in contemporary classical music.

PROGRAM
Darkness of the Womb by Niloufar Nourbakhsh
Two Poems by Qiu Jin by Sophie Xuefei Zhang
Living Water by Lauren McCall
Maagal by Michael Wiener
I. As-salāmu ‘alaykum from Prayers of Peace by Myron Silberstein
~Intermission~
The Beauty of Disability by Molly Joyce
Zachte Krachten by Anthony R. Green
AOC Takes the Floor by Jason Cady
Al kan kuşak by Özden Gülsün Keskin
III. Śānti-Pāțha from Prayers of Peace by Myron Silberstein

The full program runs 90 minutes including spoken program notes. If a shorter runtime is preferred, we have comprehensive selections prepared for 75 and 50 minute lengths. For shorter programs and audience Q&A we will likely choose one larger work to do in full with a runtime of 10-15 minutes.

This recital has a virtual program to explore in addition to the traditional pdf and is well suited for live performances as well as streaming programming. Supertitles, composer interviews, and spoken program notes make the recital engaging, personal, and activating.