A Free Arts and Music Festival is Coming to Portland!
“This festival is the result of artists from many disciplines and traditions working together to honor and celebrate our planet. We hope all who join us will leave with a renewed sense of ways in which we all can work together to heal our Earth.”
Resonance Ensemble presents “Earth’s Protection,” a free arts and music festival with Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Mass for the Endangered and special guests Nancy Ives, Ed Edmo, Joe Cantrell, Four Directions, and Fear No Music
PORTLAND, OR — Resonance Ensemble concludes their 2022-23 Justice For All season on Friday, June 9, with Earth’s Protection: a free festival of music, visual art, and dance—featuring special guest performances and partnerships with Portland Audubon, Fear No Music Ensemble, and Four Directions.
Harold Paul of Four Directions
Beginning at 5:00 PM, festival-goers are invited to the grounds of Lewis & Clark College to dine from local food trucks, and visit Portland-based Cherokee artist Joe Cantrell’s “Our Planet: Universe” photography exhibit with works available for purchase. At 6:30 PM attendees can enjoy a drumming and dance demonstration by the Nez Perce performing ensemble Four Directions, under the direction of Harold Paul, featuring jingle dance, fast and fancy, and circle dance—with audience participation welcomed.
Resonance is also excited to announce a new partnership with Portland Audubon, a nonprofit environmental organization dedicated to wildlife conservancy. Portland Audubon will be on site to share information about initiatives audience members can implement and support and is a featured community partner for this event.
Image from the release of a rehabilitated bald eagle in downtown Portland. Provided by Portland Audubon
The afternoon of commemoration and celebration will then culminate at 7:30 pm in a concert at Agnes Flanagan Chapel. In this final concert of the season, Resonance Ensemble presents the Oregon premiere of Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Mass for the Endangered, with projections by Joe Cantrell and Deborah Johnson. Composer and Oregon Symphony principal cellist Nancy Ives performs her Songs from Celilo, with poet Ed Edmo reading his original text. Other highlights include works by Jasmine Barnes and Reena Esmail, and appearances by tabla player Shrikant Naware and the Fear No Music ensemble.
The event is free to all, and pre-registration for the seated concert in Agnes Flanagan Chapel is required.
“As we began planning this concert in partnership with Native elder artists Joe Cantrell and Ed Edmo, it became clear that our regular concert format couldn’t contain everything we wanted to share,” says Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon. “This festival is the result of artists from many disciplines and traditions working together to honor and celebrate our planet. We hope all who join us will leave with a renewed sense of ways in which we all can work together to heal our Earth.”
Left to Right: Joe Cantrell, Ed Edmo, and Nancy Ives
This event is generously sponsored by Ronni Lacroute, the Oregon Arts Commission, Oregon Cultural Trust, and the Oregon Community Foundation.
Attendance is free, and donations in lieu of ticket purchase are gratefully accepted.
Concert pre-registration is required in order to ensure adequate capacity. Attendees are invited to bring blankets and lawn chairs for the pre-show picnic seating. Visit resonancechoral.org for more information.
Event Summary
The free festival, located on the grounds of Lewis & Clark College, will begin at 5:00 pm with:
A 5:00 picnic, with food available for purchase, in front of the Agnes Flanagan Chapel
The “Our Planet: Universe” exhibit of the photography of Joe Cantrell in the Diane Gregg Pavilion, adjacent to the Chapel. This collection of images will be available for purchase, with proceeds generously allocated to benefit future work of Resonance Ensemble
A 6:30 drumming and dance demonstration by the Nez Perce performing ensemble Four Directions, under the direction of Harold Paul, featuring jingle dance, fast and fancy, and circle dance—with audience participation welcomed.
The main concert event begins at 7:30 pm in the Agnes Flanagan Chapel, with free admission to those who have pre-registered, as capacity is limited. The concert includes:
The Oregon premiere of Sarah Kirkland Snider’s powerful work Mass for the Endangered with video designed by Deborah Johnson (CandyStations), conducted by Resonance Ensemble Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon, with the vocalists of Resonance Ensemble and instrumentalists of Fear No Music Ensemble.
The performance of an original work, Songs for Celilo, by composer-cellist Nancy Ives. Scored for “singing cellist,” this work includes original poetry and narration by renowned writer Ed Edmo (Shoshone-Bannock), with projected imagery by photographer Joe Cantrell (Cherokee). Songs for Celilo pays tribute to the human, cultural, and environmental costs of the 1957 flooding of Celilo Falls by the Dalles Dam installation.
The first live performance of Resonance’s pandemic-era commission Normal Never Was, by composer Jasmine Barnes
Tabla player Shrikant Naware will join Resonance Ensemble to perform Reena Esmail’s The Tipping Point
Note to Journalists: Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon, composer Nancy Ives, and photographer Joe Cantrell are available for print, online, and broadcast interviews. If you would like more information or would like to schedule an interview, please contact Liz Bacon Brownson at liz@resonancechoral.org or by calling (503) 427-8701.
FOR CALENDAR SUBMISSIONS
EVENT TITLE: Resonance Ensemble Presents: Earth’s Protection
TIME & DATE: Friday, June 9th | Festival begins at 5:00pm, Concert begins at 7:30pm
LOCATION: Lewis & Clark College: The Agnes Flanagan Chapel (615 S. Palatine Hill Rd)
PRICING: Admission is free, but pre-registration is required. Donations in lieu of ticket purchase are gratefully accepted.
Umatilla Indian women beside Celilo Falls on the Columbia River, 1899 - Courtesy of Washington Rural Heritage Museum
Resources and additional program information coming later this month - check back soon to see how you can enhance your experience!
Unless otherwise indicated, all photos in this release are by Rachel Hadiashar