Cycles of Resistance Album

Cycles of Resistance is an album featuring 22 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.

Coming 4/21 to all major streaming services!
Check back for listening links.
Join us at the release concert on 4/29 in San Francisco!

Cycles of Resistance LP Story
Cycles of Resistance began as my response to the isolation I was feeling during the early days ofthe pandemic. I needed to connect to my artist community. I felt called to continue my mission of creating activist driven art. I wanted to represent my global community within the classical song canon. What began as a call for proposals turned into a gorgeous recital program chronicling resistance movements from around the world; inspiring examples of the power of human connection, hope, strength, and unity. 

These works encapsulate much of what we need today: urgency, inspiration, and strength to stand united in support of what is good. I want to share this music with an audience larger than a single concert hall; it is global music that should be shared on a global scale in a way that is highly accessible. So, I am releasing these commissions as an album: Cycles of Resistance.

Art can serve society in a variety of ways: we can escape into fantastic worlds, laugh, smile, breathe together, connect to our humanity, and gain perspective and empathy. Cycles of Resistance is an album in service of humanity, perspective and empathy. The music and the texts take the listener on a journey through several moments of resistance from around the globe over the last 120 years; they are exquisite, powerful, and inspiring–some are tragic. To quote James Baldwin, “Everybody’s hurt. What is important…is that you must find some way of using this to connect you with everyone else alive…You must understand that your pain is trivial except insofar as you can use it to connect with other people’s pain.” Cycles of Resistance chronicles powerful 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.

I could not be more proud of the work I’m bringing into the world and am excited to share this music with everyone.