On why I am grateful for Resonance Ensemble

“I am still grateful that Resonance stands for showing us the best of humanity by highlighting our existence’s brutal truths through music.  ”

— Aminata R. Sei, Resonance Ensemble Board Member

If you know me well enough, you'd know that music is an integral part of my existence—all forms of it. I remember not quite knowing what to expect when my friend, composer Damien Geter invited me to a quaint church performance in the heart of Northeast Portland. I walked into what seemed like a much-cultured group of people and found a seat in one of the front pews so I wouldn't miss a note. I remember the warmth of blissful euphony matched with professionalism and a rare sense of purpose, the unexpected consciousness of a chorus that delivered great music while transporting its audience through the realities of the day and raising awareness of social issues. I had never witnessed that before Resonance. Impressive. I left that church knowing I'd answer as best I could, every invite that Damien sent me to see this again.

I was asked to another event at Cerimon House, and again I was blown away by not only the musical arrangements and delivery but the group's commitment to uplift and celebrate those who oftentimes have been forgotten in our community. Mental illness, depression, suicide, addiction, failing health, abuse, and victimization, to name a few of the conditions we often gloss over or dismiss. Resonance found a way to bring them all to light. The juxtaposition of these misappropriated sordid instances against music made them come to life in a manner that unearthed the truth and the dangers of our selective neglect. I am still grateful that Resonance stands for showing us the best of humanity by highlighting our existence's brutal truths through music. 

I did not hesitate when Damien, Katherine, and the late Dinah asked that I join the Resonance Ensemble Board. I've enjoyed the privilege of serving. I was also profoundly honored when Damien asked me to write the foreword for An African American Requiem (rescheduled for May 7th, 2022). I am confident it will long-stand as a seminal work that takes on yet another brutal reality that threatens our humanity- racial injustice.

The work of Resonance Ensemble continues to inspire even as the world struggles in this pandemic. Under the Overpass truly encapsulates our resilience as a community. Resonance did a fantastic job capturing and reflecting such beauty in music, especially in this challenging moment in time. I encourage your continued support for Resonance Ensemble, and I am grateful for it.

Indeed, they show us the best of humanity, every time. 

Two Days Left to Give: 
Make Your Year-End Gift Today.

We bravely aimed high this month and, thanks to our incredible donors, we've raised almost $15,000 towards our December giving fundraising goal of $30,000.

So much of what we do depends on your support. Please donate by December 31st. Your gift will allow us to bring performing art to our community safely and free of charge. Your gift will support our digital programming with performances like Under the Overpass and Commissions for Now.

Plus, there are fun gifts for our supporters!

We believe that art is essential and must be accessible, now more than ever.

If you’ve already donated, thank you! Please forward this email to your friends and family, and help us spread the word about the important work Resonance is doing.

Donate here.

Meet a Resonance Singer: Dee McDuffey

“Resonance Ensemble is like a family to us. I am looking forward to the next time we can all sing together. ”

— Dee McDuffey, Alto

We asked Resonance singers who are featured in the "Under the Overpass" video series to share their experiences as artists during these times, and what it was like to sing together after so much time apart.

A special thank you to Dee McDuffey for contributing to this video. We miss you.

► ABOUT "UNDER THE OVERPASS"

This series of videos celebrates Resonance’s hometown of Portland, Oregon, and the space it provides for Resonance artists to continue to create despite the pandemic. Masked, imperfect, together. Starting in the summer of 2020, singers and spoken word artists met in acoustic spaces around the city - six feet apart, masked, and yet together. Viewers will experience music performed in these gritty, hauntingly beautiful spaces.

In collaboration with Oh! Creative and Portland filmmaker Kenton Waltz, the series features Resonance singers and other local artists and musicians all captured under Portland's famous bridges. All five films will be available to view for free here on our YouTube channel, and also on our website and Facebook page.

► How you can help

Resonance believes that art is essential and must be accessible, now more than ever. Please consider making a donation to support our "Under the Overpass" Video Series.

Your gift will allow us to bring performing art to our community safely and free of charge.

For more information on how you can be a Season Supporter, click here.

Meet a Resonance Singer: Cecily Kiester

“I’m really grateful to be part of Resonance Ensemble and their continued efforts to lift us up and help us to see the beauty in the world. ”

— Cecily Kiester, Alto

We asked Resonance singers who were featured in the "Under the Overpass" video series to share about their experience as an artist during these times, and what it was like to sing together after so much time apart.

Thank you to Cecily Kiester for contributing to this video.

► About "Under the Overpass"

This series of videos celebrates Resonance’s hometown of Portland, Oregon, and the space it provides for Resonance artists to continue to create despite the pandemic. Masked, imperfect, together. Starting in the summer of 2020, singers and spoken word artists met in acoustic spaces around the city - six feet apart, masked, and yet together. Viewers will experience music performed in these gritty, hauntingly beautiful spaces.

In collaboration with Oh! Creative and Portland filmmaker Kenton Waltz, the series features Resonance singers and other local artists and musicians all captured under Portland's famous bridges. All five films will be available to view for free here on our YouTube channel, and also on our website and Facebook page.

► How you can help

We believe that art is essential and must be accessible, now more than ever. Please consider making a donation to support our “Under the Overpass” Video Series.

Your gift will allow us to bring performing art to our community safely and free of charge.

Resonance Kicks Off Their Year-End Giving Campaign on a Re-imagined Path

2020 has been profoundly challenging. 

During this pandemic, arts organizations—Resonance included—have had to cancel or postpone in-person performances. It has been devastating for artists, financially and spiritually. Recently, Resonance had to push the date of Damien Geter’s eagerly anticipated An African American Requiem with the Oregon Symphony into 2022 -- especially disappointing in light of our commitment to Black lives, and the need to share this vision now.

We re-imagined a path forward.

Once we realized we couldn’t perform safely in person for a while, we asked ourselves how we could continue to bring you powerful new music that responds to the social issues of our times? 

We found a way. 

Instead of the concert stage, we now share music through the lens of a camera, with innovative video events given for free to global audiences online: 

• Under the Overpass, an exciting series of videos under Portland’s historic bridges;

• Commissions for Now, three major world premieres addressing this moment; and

• Six Feet Apart, a world premiere video sharing deeply personal stories of Oregonians during the pandemic, with our partners at Anima Mundi Productions.

None of this is possible without your help.

Our concerts are designed to reflect the times, and when you give to Resonance Ensemble, you become a part of that reflection. Our goal is to raise $30,000—which covers the costs for three of these videos—by December 31st, and we can’t do it without your help. As you are able, will you make a special year-end contribution to Resonance Ensemble to help us create new art to share worldwide, at no cost to viewers?

Join us on this path toward change.

Resonance exists so that you have the opportunity to experience music that moves people, inspires reflection, and creates change. To donate today, either to the general fund or to the Dinah Dodds Fund for the Creation of New Art, please mail back the enclosed envelope with your check or credit card information, visit resonancechoral.org, or call us at 503-427-8701.

Your donation, no matter the size, makes our work possible. As Sonya Renee Taylor writes, we are being given the opportunity to stitch a new garment, to envision a new world post-pandemic. The arts can help lead us there. Along with our artists, staff, filmmakers, and board, I thank you for your support. 

Sincerely,

Katherine FitzGibbon, Artistic Director

Cyber Monday Sale - Save on Rez Merch all week long!

Cyber Monday has become the online equivalent to Black Friday and was created to offer a way for smaller businesses to compete with larger chains for end of the year sales.

We aren’t usually in the business of selling retail items, but our limited edition t-shirts and masks are the perfect way to kick off our “Let’s Find A Way” Fundraising Campaign which starts this week!

20% off all merch - including our limited edition the Resonance Mask - starts now through Friday, Dec 4th!

Resonance Ensemble Performs Under Portland’s Bridges in “Under the Overpass”

For immediate release: November 17, 2020 
Media Contact: Liz Bacon Brownson

Web: resonancechoral.org
Email: liz@resonancechoral.org
Phone: 971-212-8034

PORTLAND—All of Portland is a stage in Resonance Ensemble’s new digital concert series, Under the Overpass. Beginning in the summer of 2020, artists were filmed in acoustic spaces under Portland’s famous bridges -- six feet apart, masked, and yet making music together. 

This Thursday, November 19, Resonance will release its second episode of the series, with Resonance singers joined by the singers of Kingdom Sound Gospel Choir, acclaimed soloist Onry, and pianist David Saffert, in a stunning rendition of “Stand By Me” filmed under the trestles of the Ross Island Bridge. Viewers worldwide can watch the world premiere for free at 3:00 p.m. Pacific time at Resonance Ensemble’s website and YouTube channel.

About Under the Overpass: 

Because of the pandemic, Resonance and other arts organizations have had to cancel or postpone in-person performances, including Damien Geter’s eagerly anticipated An African American Requiem with the Oregon Symphony. Resonance has embraced the opportunity to reimagine its 2020-2021 season, Normal Never Was, which includes Under the Overpass as well as brand-new commissions highlighting timely social issues. 

Each video in the Under the Overpass series showcases a different bridge in Portland. The performances, which are no more than six minutes long, are released and then archived on the organization’s YouTube channel for free, with a complete presentation of all the episodes available worldwide in June 2021.

The artists in each video worked with filmmaker Kenton Waltz and production company Oh! Creative to execute their vision. No longer confined to indoor theater venues, the film crew scouted spaces that could offer natural stage elements that allowed for singers to sing masked and six feet apart, yet still create an artistic moment on film. Each video on the series illustrates how art moves forward, despite current challenges. 

“Because of the pandemic, we have had to be more imaginative and creative in how we present our work,” says Resonance Ensemble Artistic Advisor Damien Geter. “This series explores what art looks like in this new world.”

Under the Overpass Episode Details: 

Episode 1 (the pilot project) was released on YouTube in October, with four more set to unfold throughout the season. Viewers can view each episode as it premieres for free on Resonance Ensemble’s website and YouTube channel. To be the first to receive the announcement, sign up for the mailing list at resonancechoral.org.

Oct 28, 2020
Episode 1: Hawthorne Bridge (pilot project)

Four Resonance singers fight through a windy summer evening under the Hawthorne Bridge to perform a wistful version of Dr. Ysaye Barnwell’s “Wanting Memories.” 
CLICK HERE TO WATCH EPISODE 1

Nov 19, 2020
Episode 2: Ross Island Bridge with Kingdom Sound Gospel Choir

Acclaimed artist Onry joins singers from Kingdom Sound Gospel Choir and Resonance Ensemble, along with pianist David Saffert, under the trestles of the Ross Island Bridge, to perform a stunning rendition of Ben E. King’s “Stand by Me.” 
CLICK HERE TO GET READY FOR EPISODE 2 (premieres Thursday, November 19)

Jan 27, 2021
Episode 3: St. Johns Bridge with Kingdom Sound Gospel Choir 

Singers from Kingdom Sound Gospel Choir and Resonance Ensemble sing a dynamic version of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” under the St. Johns Bridge at Cathedral Park. 

April 28, 2021
Episode 4: North Portland with Third Angle New Music

Resonance collaborates with Third Angle New Music to present a sneak peek at Darrell Grant’s yet-to-be-premiered jazz opera Sanctuaries, under a bridge in North Portland.

May 27, 2021
Episode 5: Tillikum Crossing Bridge

The series will culminate in the world premiere of a new commission by Damien Geter for a Resonance octet, to be performed under the Tillikum Crossing Bridge.

June 30, 2021
A special full viewing of the entire series

Viewers worldwide can watch the videos as they are released at Resonance Ensemble’s website and YouTube channel.

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BECOME A SEASON SUPPORTER! In lieu of traditional subscription packages, Resonance is asking those who are able to support Resonance in whatever amount they can. The contributions of our Season Supporters bring timely new musical works to life, for free, for global audiences. Supporters can receive incentives including branded masks, T-shirts, and special invitations to exclusive events, including a behind-the-scenes seat at the filming of the final episode of Under the Overpass.

“We realize that times are hard for so many, and that art is a fundamental right that should be available to everyone—especially now,” says Resonance Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon. “It is our hope that those who can will join us to support the new, pivotal works Resonance is producing, that is being created and performed by artists who are responding to these times. I am excited to see what the future brings for all of us.”

For more information about Under the Overpass and to become a Season Supporter, visit resonancechoral.org or contact RE’s Box Office, (503) 427-8701. 

Special thanks to our sponsors Ronni Lacroute, Oregon Cultural Trust, Oregon Community Foundation, Miller Foundation, Collins Foundation, and the Regional Arts & Culture Council, and to our individual donors.

Note to Journalists: Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon and Artistic Advisor Damien Geter are 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 twelfth 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. 

For more information: 

Website:/resonancechoral.org
Youtube :/c/ResonanceEnsemble
Facebook: /resonanceensemblepdx
Instagram:/resonanceensemblepd
Twitter: /resonanceensemblepdx
Hashtags: #NormalNeverWas #UnderTheOverpass #ResonanceEnsemblePDX #RossIslandBridge

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With heavy hearts we say goodbye

It is with deep sadness and heavy hearts that we say farewell to our dear friend Marilyn Crilley, who served on our board since 2017 and died on November 3, 2020. Marilyn brought years of experience as a dedicated arts board member, a passion for social justice through the arts, a brilliant mind and generous heart, not to mention her trademark dry wit. We are grateful for all of the support and advice she provided us through the years, including her words of wisdom as we reimagined our mission and grew the scope of our organization. 

Marilyn always offered thoughtful insights about race and inequality, and while she was a private person, she shared her experiences with the incarceration of Japanese-American families during World War II and identifying the ways that prejudice and racial injustice persist. We promise to carry her commitment to unearthing and overturning inequality and injustice through the arts, as we carry her in our hearts.

We will miss her very much and send our heartfelt condolences to her husband George Rowbottom (a dedicated arts advocate as well) and her family and friends.  

We will post Marilyn’s obituary and any information on her memorial service once we know more.

Thank you, Oregon!

Resonance Ensemble among the 621 cultural organizations awarded a total of $25.7 million dollars.

Resonance Ensemble is thrilled to share that we recently received over $43,000 from the Oregon Cultural Trust and Multnomah County Cultural Coalition. The funds, allocated to the Cultural Trust for Oregon cultural organizations facing losses due to the COVID-19 health crisis, were made available through a $50 million relief package for Oregon culture approved by the Emergency Board of the Oregon Legislature in July. 

We join 620 other cultural organizations in Oregon that were awarded a total of $25.7 million in Coronavirus Relief Fund Cultural Support grants. Thank you to local, state, and federal officials for their hard work in helping keep Oregon arts and culture alive.

Read the full press release on Oregon Cultural Trust’s website here.

These funds are life blood to Oregon’s cultural community. While they won’t replace all the losses suffered during the pandemic, they will ensure Oregon culture survives this crisis. We are deeply grateful to the Oregon Legislature for making this possible. - Chuck Sams, chair of the Oregon Cultural Trust Board

PRESS RELEASE — Resonance Ensemble Announces its 12th Season: "Normal Never Was"

For immediate release: September 16, 2020
Media Contact: Liz Bacon Brownson | liz@resonancechoral.org | 971.212.8034

We will not go back to normal. Normal never was. Our pre-corona existence was not normal other than we normalized greed, inequity, exhaustion, depletion, extraction, disconnection, confusion, rage, hoarding, hate and lack. We should not long to return, my friends. We are being given the opportunity to stitch a new garment. One that fits all of humanity and nature.

—Sonya Renee Taylor, award-winning performance poet, activist, and transformational leader
(reprinted with permission)

Resonance Ensemble announces its 12th season, “Normal Never Was,”
featuring bold new works by composers and poets responding to this
moment in ways that only art can reflect. 

PORTLAND, OR — Normal Never Was, Resonance Ensemble’s imaginative 12th season, brims with performances that respond to the striking new challenges of the pandemic and to those that always were: racial and gender violence, inequality, and loss. 

From an exciting new video series under Portland’s historic bridges, to three major world premieres commissioned by Resonance, to a groundbreaking collaboration across Oregon, Resonance creates visionary art with world-class composers and musicians. 

“We were challenged this season to come up with ways to perform with our artists’ and audiences’ safety in the front of our minds,” says Resonance Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon. “We look forward to taking the stage once it’s safe to do so. Until then we offer other creative ways for our audiences to experience art that responds to the times, and we share these stories as we always do: through powerful new music written by innovative composers.” 

UNDER THE OVERPASS Video Series 
This series of videos celebrates Resonance’s hometown of Portland, Oregon, and the space it provides for Resonance artists to continue to create. Starting in the summer of 2020, singers and spoken word artists met in acoustic spaces around the city - six feet apart, masked, and yet together. Viewers will experience music performed in these gritty, hauntingly beautiful spaces. Resonance will produce four episodes beginning this October, free of charge and available for the whole world to enjoy.

COMMISSIONS FOR NOW Virtual World Premiere Series 
Resonance has commissioned three dynamic composers to create new works in response to this moment, as we face a global pandemic and envision a world free of racial and gender violence. Resonance will create powerful video premieres and release them for free. The composers are:

• Jasmine Barnes, a brilliant up-and-coming composer based in Dallas, whose multifaceted works frequently address questions of race and religion

• Damien Geter, who will share two “sneak peek” excerpts from his forthcoming work An African American Requiem, a bold, thought-provoking musical response to racial violence against African Americans (presented jointly with the Oregon Symphony)

• Mari Ésabel Valverde, an award-winning composer who is openly transgender, who is creating a new work with author/playwright Dane Figueroa. Titled We Hold Your Names Sacred, this work will share perspectives of trans women of color and reflect on losses due to gender violence

Coming in Spring 2021: 

SIX FEET APART
In the face of loss, life continues. 
As a global health crisis continues to rage across our world, our communities are facing unprecedented challenges. Resonance Ensemble partners with Ashland-based Anima Mundi Productions to offer this evocative world premiere in an innovative video presentation, coming in Spring 2021. Six Feet Apart harnesses the power of music and poetry to give voice to communities and foster collective healing in times of crisis. Since the beginning of the pandemic, composer Ethan Gans-Morse and poet Tiziana DellaRovere have worked to collect stories from around Oregon and to set the resulting stories of hope, travails, and triumphs to music. This work explores these stirring stories and brings them all together in an innovative video presentation with striking visuals by one of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's finest video designers.

We will announce the date of this virtual world premiere later this fall, with an opportunity for supporters to participate in a live Q&A with the creative team on its release date. The video, and an accompanying compilation of the pandemic stories, will thereafter be shared free of charge. 

AN AFRICAN AMERICAN REQUIEM 
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
Date to be announced

The eagerly-anticipated world premiere of An African American Requiem by Resonance’s Artistic Advisor Damien Geter

Oregon Symphony and Resonance Ensemble join forces to present the world premiere of An African American Requiem, Portland composer Damien Geter’s bold, thought-provoking musical response to violence against African Americans in the United States. Combining traditional Latin Requiem texts with civil rights declarations, poetry, and the famous last words of Eric Garner and now George Floyd, “I can’t breathe,” this performance will honor past and present victims of racial violence and spur reflection on how to build a more hopeful future. 

Resonance and the Oregon Symphony will announce a newly rescheduled date shortly, for a time when our community can all come together in person, post-pandemic, to share this significant and necessary musical work. Our mailing lists will be the first to know.

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About Resonance Ensemble

In its twelfth 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. 

#NormalNeverWas
#Resonance2021

About Dr. Katherine FitzGibbon
About Artistic Advisor and composer Damien Geter
About composer Jasmine Barnes
About composer Mari Ésabel Valverde
About Anima Mundi Productions

Meet the newest member of the Resonance Team: Tia Bangura!

Resonance Ensemble is excited to welcome Tia Bangura to our growing Resonance team as the Communication and Artist Coordinator.

Originally from Portland, Tia believes that the arts have the power to positively transform lives and communities. As an administrator, she finds joy in managing behind the scenes operations and seeing artists and audiences engage with art and each other.

Tia’s past work experiences have primarily been in museums. She has worked at the Portland Art Museum, The Studio Museum in Harlem, and the Tenement Museum in New York City. While Tia is still interested in the visual arts, she is excited to learn more about music and build a stronger connection to the performing arts through her work with Resonance Ensemble.

Tia holds a Master of Arts degree in Arts Administration from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology and Black Studies from Portland State University.

As our Communication and Artist Coordinator, Tia will be responsible for contracting musicians, creating social media content, keeping our music library organized, and coordinating our volunteers.

Fun facts about Tia:

“I love to travel! Whether I'm in a different city, state, or country, I enjoy being in a new environment and exploring all it has to offer.”

Favorite foods: Pancakes, burgers, and ice cream.

Last movie Tia watched: Steven Universe: The Movie

Musical inspirations: I'm a big fan of Beyoncé, Solange, Sade, and Rebecca Sugar.

We are so excited to have Tia on our team. On behalf of all of us, welcome aboard, Tia!