SATURDAY, JANUARY 24TH (PORTLAND)
NEWMARK THEATRE

6:00pm - Lobby Opens

7:00pm - Hall Opens

7:30pm - Peformance begins
The program is two hours, including a 15-minute intermission

9:30pm - End of Performance

SUNDAY, JANUARY 25TH (BEAVERTON)
PATRICIA RESER CENTER FOR THE ARTS

2:00pm - Lobby Opens

2:30pm - Hall Opens

3pm - Peformance begins
The program is two hours, including a 15-minute intermission

5pm - End of Performance

American Sign Language Interpretation | Every performance Sweet Honey In The Rock® gives has a core member of the group interweaving dynamic American Sign Language interpretation with the music to create a seamless ballet of movement and voice. Both performances will provide an artistic bridge between the Deaf and hearing worlds.

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Currently consisting of members Carol Maillard, Louise Robinson (both original co-founders of the group!), Nitanju Bolade Casel, Aisha Kahlil, and featured musician Romeir Mendez on upright acoustic bass and electric bass, as well as Barbara Hunt providing interpretation. This weekend’s performances also feature Navasha Daya Hill joining the ensemble as a vocalist. Sweet Honey In The Rock is a powerful and unique concert entity that fuses the elastic 360-degree possibilities of the human voice with a theatrical flair that keeps avid audiences returning for more year after year.

Kinetic, cultured and connected, this internationally renowned Grammy Award® nominated female a cappella vocal quartet has a history of over four decades of distinguished service. They have created positive, loving, and socially conscious message music that matters as it pertains to spiritual fortification, and consistently taken an activist stance toward making this planet a better place for all in which to live. Thus, the theme of the group’s 24th recording, #LoveInEvolution, Sweet Honey In The Rock’s first studio album in nine years and most contemporary project to date.

Sweet Honey In The Rock, which has been the subject of two PBS television specials, (including American Masters), is a beloved performance ensemble that, over its 50-year history, has maintained a resilient spirit and found a way to successfully fuse the talents of the 24 women that have graced the Sweet Honey In The Rock stage into their patented sound without ever skipping a beat.

Ever evolving, the soul survivors once even expanded to six vocalists before settling back to four, all in the name of retaining its adventurous spirit, keeping up with the times and reaching greater numbers of like-minded spirits.

This performance is the first chance anyone in the world has to grab our brand new album - made up entirely of Resonance-commissioned works! Learn more here.

Exceptional Artistry | Under Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon, Resonance Ensemble has performed challenging and diverse music, always with an eye toward unique collaborations with artistic partners from around the country.

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. Resonance has commissioned new works from composers Jasmine Barnes, Kenji Bunch, Melissa Dunphy, Renée Favand-See, Damien Geter, Joe Kye, Kimberly Osberg, Judy A. Rose, Vin Shambry, Mari Esabel Valverde, Freddy Vilches and poets S. Renee Mitchell and A. Mimi Sei. Each concert connects the musical experience with tangible ways the audience can take action in collaboration with our community partner organizations.

Tangible Connection | 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.

Program notes coming soon!

Resonance Note: We have long enjoyed Jasmine’s music, including a commission that was performed at the last Sweet Honey in the Rock performance! Check out her work with us at the link below.

Cecille Elliott is a frequent collaborator of Resonance Ensemble. Elliot has been a foundational member of our “masterful” alto section (Oregon ArtsWatch) for over five years, As a multi-instrumentalist, Cecille has become a fixture in the musical community as a guitarist and string player as well.

As a composer, she was commissioned by Resonance to write an original quintet, We Are Murmurs, which Resonance has performed four times since its premiere in 2023—it has also since received a professional recording as part of Resonance’s upcoming album, Safe Harbor. This latest collaboration, It’s So Quiet, is one in a long line of Resonance-Elliott projects—and certainly won’t be the last!

Click below to read Cecille’s full program note on this beautiful work.

The origin of There’s a Man Goin’ Round Takin’ Names is unknown to me, but I am positive that its meaning is just as relevant in today’s world as it was when it was first sung. 

The symbolism of ‘The Man’–the representation of the systematic racism that is woven into our society which is used to oppress those who are not in power–has existed since before the founding of the United States. ‘The Man’ literally took the names of enslaved Africans and African Americans, and today he comes to take those through the senseless shooting of black people. 

Nina Simone said, “The artist’s duty is to reflect the times in which we’re living.” As a result, I decided to arrange this song with the harsh realities of our country ever present in my mind – with reverence for those who have lived and who continue to live under the afflicting hand of ‘The Man.’”

Program note by Damien Geter

Tonight’s performance is supported by the Donors for Black Artistry initiative. Developed and led by Resonance Board Member, writer/activist A. Mimi Sei, the program seeks to honor Black creatives in a wide array of disciplines—every day of the year. Learn more about how you can support incredible Black Artists at the link below!

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