Resonance announces 15th anniversary season with guest artist Bobby McFerrin and new commission by Darrell Grant
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — June 14, 2023
15 years of purpose, artistry and connection.
PORTLAND, OR—The award-winning Resonance Ensemble, under the direction of Founder and Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon, announces its 2023-24 season. REVOLUTION 15: a fifteenth anniversary season that celebrates Resonance’s mission of creating powerful programs that promote meaningful social change. Resonance unveils world premieres, welcomes innovative guest artists including the 10-time GRAMMY award winning Bobby McFerrin, and reprises new works by Resonance-commissioned composers from the past 15 years.
Known as “one of the Northwest’s finest choirs” (Willamette Week), Resonance Ensemble designs its thematic programs in collaboration with community partners to highlight the challenges and opportunities facing our world now.
“We are thrilled to announce our season, Revolution 15,” says Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon. “We love that it brings back artists who have been part of Resonance’s growth and transformation over the last 15 years, as well as showcasing our continuing commitment to new collaborations with world-class artists like Darrell Grant and Bobby McFerrin.”
Season highlights include:
The release and live concert performance of Resonance Ensemble’s debut album LISTEN
The world premiere of a new commission from popular Portland jazz artist and composer Darrell Grant
A community-building, improvised “CircleSongs” performance by vocal virtuoso Bobby McFerrin, his quartet Motion, Resonance Ensemble musicians, and local high school choir students. McFerrin joins Resonance to play our audiences as his second instrument
A recital of Black art song, curated by Damien Geter, inspired by the Portland Art Museum special exhibit “Black Artists of Oregon”
Regional premieres of works by Melissa Dunphy and Joel Thompson
Conductors Katherine FitzGibbon, Damien Geter, and Shohei Kobayashi
The return of Resonance Ensemble commissions from the past 15 years, with works by Jasmine Barnes, Kenji Bunch, Melissa Dunphy, Renee Favand-See, Damien Geter, Joe Kye, Kimberly Osberg, Judy Rose, Mari Esabel Valverde, and Freddy Vilches
“This is a packed season designed with care, community, and vision,” says board member Nancy Ives. “Seasons like this one are part of the reason I am proud to serve on Resonance’s board and believe so deeply in our mission.”
The full calendar of events can be found below, with more exciting guest appearances, artistic collaborations, and community partnerships being announced later this year. Subscriptions are available TODAY, with multiple subscription options available. Single tickets will go on sale September 1st, 2023.
For information about ticketing and subscriptions, click here.
Full Season Calendar
LISTEN
A CD Release Concert
October 14, 2023 | 7:30 PM
October 15, 2023 | 3:00 PM
Lincoln Hall 75 @ PSU
Join Resonance Ensemble for a performance of the music from our first album, LISTEN. This concert features a collection from the first ten years of Resonance’s innovative commissions and regional premieres—including works by Melissa Dunphy, Dominick DiOrio, Mari Esabel Valverde, Stacey Philipps, Lee Hoiby, Renée Favand-See, and more.
Black Art Song
curated by Damien Geter
February 25, 2024 | 7:30 PM
Resonance Ensemble’s resident Artistic Advisor Damien Geter curates a recital of art song by Black composers, surrounded by – and in conversation with – the artworks of the Portland Art Museum’s “Black Artists of Oregon” exhibit, the first of its kind to consider the work of Black artists collectively in Oregon. Geter is joined by Resonance guest artists, with songs by composers Margaret Bonds, Geter, and more.
Amendments
Righting Our Wrongs
March 16, 2024 | 7:30 PM
March 17, 2024 | 3:00 PM
Amendments features the world premiere commission by Oregon composer Darrell Grant.
Also featured: selected works by Joel Thompson (best known for his opera, The Snowy Day, and powerful choral work Seven Last Words for the Unarmed) and Melissa Dunphy’s (composer of LISTEN), Amendments, a work that “juxtaposes the voices of the founding fathers with the voices of minority women fighting for universal voting rights.”
CircleSongs
with Bobby McFerrin
April 5, 2024 | 7:30 PM (BEAVERTON)
Patricia Reser Center for the Arts
April 6, 2024 | 7:30 PM (PORTLAND)
The Armory at Portland Center Stage
A healing community singing workshop by the world-renowned Bobby McFerrin and his dynamic quartet, Motion, that engages audience participation to change the world—which we will share not only with audiences but with Oregon high school choirs.
Now in his seventies, McFerrin has returned to the stage, performing his Circlesongs, the best kept secret in Berkeley, CA — until now.
Mission 15
A fifteenth anniversary concert
June 8, 2024 | 7:30 PM
The Winningstad Theatre
Our fifteenth anniversary finale concert. We celebrate this special anniversary with a performance of 15 audience-favorite Resonance commissions. This showcase speaks (sings) for itself, highlighting the mission-based art we have championed and the brilliant composers who created it.
SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE
Become a subscriber to our 15th season and experience “one of the Northwest’s finest choirs” exploring stories through moving, thematic concerts with world-class collaborators!
A range of season subscriptions are now available, including both full-season and customized bundles that allow you to tailor the season to serve your needs. Tickets to individual concerts will go on sale to the public on September 9th, 2023. To order, visit resonancechoral.org or call our box office at (503) 427-8701.
Note to Journalists: Katherine FitzGibbon is available for print, online, and broadcast interviews. If you would like more information on our season or would like to schedule an interview, please contact Liz Bacon Brownson at liz@resonancechoral.org or by calling 971-212-8034.
About Resonance Ensemble
In its fifteenth season, Resonance Ensemble, a professional vocal ensemble based in Portland, Oregon, creates thoughtful programs that promote meaningful social change. Resonance Ensemble works to amplify voices that have long been silenced, and they do so through moving, thematic concerts that highlight solo and choral voices, new and underrepresented composers, visual and other performing artists, and community partners. Under Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon, Resonance Ensemble has performed challenging and diverse music, always with an eye toward unusual collaborations with artistic partners from around the country: poets, jazz musicians, singer-songwriters, painters, dancers.
The Resonance Ensemble singers are “one of the Northwest’s finest choirs” (Willamette Week), with gorgeous vocal tone, and they also make music with heart. The groundbreaking work that Resonance Ensemble has been producing over the last few years has been noted by local media and national arts organizations. In Oregon Arts Watch, Matthew Andrews described Resonance as “Part social commentary, part group therapy, and part best damn choir show in town;” (June 2019) Chorus America honored Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon in the summer of 2019 with the Louis Botto Award for Innovative Action and Entrepreneurial Zeal for her work rededicating Resonance to promoting meaningful social change, and for the meaningful community partnerships she creates. For the tribute to Dr. FitzGibbon, please visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaJMVozrcPo.
About Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon:
Katherine FitzGibbon is Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Lewis & Clark College, where she conducts and oversees the vibrant voice, choral, and opera areas. In 2014, she was an inaugural winner of the Lorry Lokey Faculty Excellence Award, honoring “inspired teaching, rigorous scholarship, demonstrated leadership, and creative accomplishments,” and in 2019, she received the David Savage Award for “vision and sustained service.” She has also conducted choirs at Harvard, Boston, Cornell, and Clark Universities, and at the University of Michigan and has served on the faculty of Berkshire Choral International.
Dr. FitzGibbon founded Resonance Ensemble in 2009, initially dedicated to thematic, collaborative vocal performances with artistic partners. In the last several years, she and Resonance have shifted their mission, using the same innovative thematic programming approach to amplify voices that have long been silenced, focusing on underrepresented composers and communities. In June of 2019, Chorus America honored Dr. FitzGibbon with the prestigious Louis Botto Award for Innovative Action and Entrepreneurial Zeal in recognition of her work with Resonance Ensemble. Chorus America’s press release noted, “As founder and artistic director of Resonance Ensemble, FitzGibbon has captained a bold organizational shift—from its original mission exploring links between music, art, poetry, and theater, to a new focus exclusively on presenting concerts that promote meaningful social change.”
With Resonance, she has collaborated with the Portland Art Museum, Third Angle New Music, Portland Chamber Orchestra, Thomas Lauderdale and Hunter Noack, poet/performer S. Renee Mitchell, the Chuck Israels Jazz Orchestra, and many actors, composers, visual artists, and dancers. She has commissioned new works from Darrell Grant, Melissa Dunphy, Renee Favand-See, Damien Geter, Joe Kye, Judy A. Rose, Kenji Bunch, Kimberly Osberg, Freddy Vilches, Vin Shambry, Dr. S. Renee Mitchell, Mari Ésabel Valverde, and Jasmine Barnes.
Dr. FitzGibbon is President-Elect of the National Collegiate Choral Organization, and her choirs have performed at the NCCO, ACDA, and OMEA conferences. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in music from Princeton University, Master of Music degree in conducting from the University of Michigan, and Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting at Boston University. Her research has been presented and published internationally.
CLICK HERE TO MEET OUR 2023-24 Guest Artists
CLICK HERE to peruse our venues for the season
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