NEC Chamber Singers + Erica J. Washburn: Great Music for a Great (Virtual) Space

The NEC Chamber Singers share a program of non-idiomatic choral works by Black composers, spanning from the Renaissance to the 21st century and from Brazil, Germany, and the United States. This concert was created using a combination of in-person ensemble recording and remote submission.

From Erica J. Washburn:

Choral singing, whether in unison or in parts, is the oldest form of ensemble music making. It has lived for thousands of years despite human oppression and catastrophe. 

The pandemic has required us to try our hand at replicating the traditionally intimate experience of choral singing while standing 16 feet apart, masked, and in some cases, separated by thousands of miles. What this pandemic could not change is the passion for choral artistry, and it most certainly was not going to prevent NEC choristers from dedicating themselves to finding a way, despite the challenges, to share their art.

Every human has a voice, whether the use of that instrument flows from their vocal cords or their hands. Every human must be seen and should be heard. 


WATCH CONCERT STREAM:
 

Ensembles
  • NEC Chamber Singers
Conductors

  1. Ysaye M. Barnwell | Would You Harbor Me? (1994)

    Would you harbor me?  Would I harbor you?
    Would you harbor a Christian, a Muslim, a Jew, a heretic, convict or spy?
    Would you harbor a runaway woman or child, a poet, a prophet, a king?
    Would you harbor an exile or a refugee, or person living with AIDS?
    Would you harbor a Tubman, a Garrett, a Truth, a fugitive or a slave?
    Would you harbor a Haitian, Korean, or Czech, a lesbian, trans, bi or gay?

    Ysaye M. Barnwell

    Artists
    • Edward Ferran, tenor

  2. R. Nathaniel Dett | Ave Maria

    Ave Maria

    Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum,
    Benedicta tu in mulieribus,
    Et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus.

    Sancta Maria, mater Dei,
    Ora pro nobis peccatoribus
    Nunc et in hora mortis nostrae.



    Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord be with you,
    Blessed art thou among women
    And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

    Holy Mary, Mother of God,
    Pray for us sinners
    Now and at the hour of our death.

    Artists
    • Jonathan Lawlor, baritone

  3. Jens Ibsen | How god comes to the soul (2014/2020)

    Wie got kumet in die sele

    XIII. Wie got kumet in die sele.

    Ich kum zů miner lieben
    Al sein töwe vf den blůmen.

    XV. Wie got die sele empfahet.

    Siest wilkomen liebů tube.
    Du hast so sere geflogen in dem ertriche,
    Das dine vedern sint gewahsen
    In dem himelriche

    Mechthild von Magdeburg (1210–1285)
    from The Flowing Light of the Godhead

    How god comes to the soul

    How god comes to the soul.

    I come to my beloved
    As the dew upon the flowers.

    How god receives the soul.

    Welcome my precious dove.
    You have flown so keenly over the earth
    That your feathers reach to heaven.

    Artists
    • Samantha Fox, alto
    • Madeleine Wiegers, soprano

  4. Spiritual (arr. Stephen L. Hayes) | Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray

    Couldn’t Hear Nobody Pray

    Couldn’t hear nobody pray, Lord, I couldn’t hear nobody pray,
    O well I was way down yonder by myself and I couldn’t hear nobody pray,
    O Lord, I couldn’t hear nobody pray.

    Dark was the night and cold the ground on which my Lord was laid.
    Great drops of blood like sweat rolled down, in agony he prayed.
    O Lord, I couldn’t hear nobody pray…

    Father remove this bitter cup, if such thy sacred will.
    If not content to drink it up, thy pleasure I fulfill.
    O Lord, I couldn’t hear nobody pray…

    Artists
    • Maxwell Herman, tenor

  5. B. E. Boykin | Consolamini (2016)

    Consolamini

    Consolamini, consolamini popule meus:
    Cito veniet salus tua:
    Quare mærore consumeris,
    Quia innovavit te dolor?
    Salvabo te, noli timere,
    Ego enim sum Dominus Deus tuus,
    Sanctus Israël, Redemptor tuus.

    Comfort ye

    Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people,
    My salvation shall not tarry:
    Why wilt thou waste away in sadness?
    Why hath sorrow seized thee?
    Fear not, for I will save thee:
    For I am the Lord thy God,
    The Holy One of Israel, thy Redeemer.

  6. José Mauricio Nunes Garcia | Domine, tu mihi lavas pedes?

    Domine, tu mihi lavas pedes?

    Domine, tu mihi lavas pedes?
    Respondit Jesus et dixit ei:
    Si non lavero tibi pedes, non habebis     partem mecum.

    John 13: 6-8



    Lord, dost thou wash my feet?
    Jesus answered and said to him:
    If I do not wash thy feet, thou shalt have no part with me.

  7. Undine Smith Moore | Striving after God (1958)

    Striving after God

    True art is made noble and religious by the mind producing it.
    For those who feel it, nothing makes the soul so religious and pure as the endeavor to create something perfect.
    For God is perfection.  And whoever strives after perfection is striving after God.

    Michelangelo

    NEC Chamber Singers

    Tyler Bouque
    Ashley Chen
    Edward Ferran
    Samantha Fox
    Maxwell Herman
    Jonathan Lawlor
    Corinne Luebke-Brown
    Colin Miller
    Joseph Nizich
    Nicholas Ottersberg
    Cassandra Pinataro
    Daniel Rosenberg
    Jennie Segal
    Anneke Stern
    Emma Strange
    Chloe Thum
    Madeleine Wiegers
    Kerui Yang

     

     

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