Resonance Ensemble Closes Season with Music Reflecting on Asian American History & Identity
Historic Protest Songs Meet Contemporary Choral Works in a Collaboration with A Thousand Tongues.
On Sunday, June 7 at 2:00 PM, Resonance Ensemble closes its season with A Grain of Sand, Revisited, at the Alberta Rose Theatre, presented in collaboration with Minneapolis-based arts organization A Thousand Tongues (ATT). Through music and storytelling, the program asks us to consider what is at stake in revisiting and redefining Asian America today.
In 1973, New York-based activists Chris Kando Iijima, Nobuko Miyamoto, and Charlie Chin recorded A Grain of Sand: Music for the Struggle by Asians in America. Raw, intimate, and politically urgent, the album captured the voices of a generation newly claiming the term “Asian American,” with songs rooted in anti-war activism, interracial solidarity, and anti-imperialist struggle.
A. Tam, Conductor & Co-Curator
A Grain of Sand, Revisited premiered with Minnesota Chorale to enthusiastic audiences in 2025, co-curated and led by Paolo Debuque (Founding Artistic Director of A Thousand Tongues), Adrianna Tam (Luther College), and Shohei Kobayashi (Resonance Associate Conductor). The program brings selected covers from the original album, arranged by Debuque, Tam, and Kobayashi, into conversation with composers and writers of the broader Asian diaspora; personal anecdotes and historical context; and archival images.
Tam reflects on access to community and belonging. “Without realizing it, I grew up in a part of Texas with relatively easy and frequent access to my cultural community. Since moving to a small college town in the Midwest, I’ve had to grapple with feelings of isolation and not belonging that I didn’t anticipate experiencing in my own country,” shares Tam. “A Thousand Tongues has become an important ‘third space’ where I can be in community and share my and others’ stories through song.”
Closing a season defined by honoring resilience, A Grain of Sand, Revisited invites Portland audiences to listen across five decades and consider what it means to carry these voices forward now.
P. Debuque, Conductor & Co-curator
“A Grain of Sand is a powerful display of political action through music; programming around it has been so fulfilling,” says Debuque. “We can’t wait to share this concert with Resonance’s Portland audience.”
During the concert, Resonance Ensemble will also announce its 2026–27 season, offering audiences a first look at what’s ahead.
Tickets and more at resonancechoral.org