From the President & CEO

From Inspiration to Action

To rise to today’s challenges, choruses need to marshal the power of their deeper missions.

The cover of this issue of the Voice features a photo of the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club performing Seven Last Words of the Unarmed by Joel Thompson. The seven movements of this beautiful and devastating piece represent the last words of seven unarmed black men killed by police. When I heard the premiere of the fully orchestrated version led by Eugene Rogers at the 2017 SphinxConnect conference, I was deeply moved by an experience that was both heartbreaking and inspiring.

Today, sadly, Seven Last Words of the Unarmed has been called into special service. In the face of more killings of unarmed Black Americans by police officers in recent months, culminating in the May 25 death of George Floyd, this extraordinary piece is being shared widely to offer solace, to demand justice, and to call us to action. To extend the work’s impact as a catalyst for social justice, it has become the center of a multi-faceted online project (sevenlastwords.org) that includes a documentary and education resources, information about policing reform efforts, and discussion guides for schools and communities.

Systemic racism, with symptoms ranging from outright hatred, bigotry, and white supremacy to unconscious bias and complacency, has plagued our nation since its founding. It’s clear that we’ve not done nearly enough to eradicate this virus. We all, individually and collectively, must move from good intentions to specific, meaningful actions in our communities.

Chorus America is committed to doing more to dismantle racism and to help choruses meet their potential as important agents of change. To rise to this challenge, choruses and choral organizations will need to face it with clarity and determination—to go beyond our music and marshal the power of our deeper missions. We’re being challenged to do that as a choral community in multiple ways right now. The We all, individually and collectively, must COVID-19 virus has been devastating to our field, with ongoing move from good financial losses and the timeline for restarting operations and welcoming singers and audiences intentions to specific, meaningful actions in back still uncertain. I am confident that new studies will shed our communities. more light on mitigating risks for singers, researchers and physicians will develop better treatments for those who are sick, and we will discover that Holy Grail: a vaccine. But, as someone who is not skilled at being patient, I also know that the urgency to have these things now, coupled with the uncertain timeframe, is very frustrating.

As stories have appeared in the news about choruses being affected by the virus, I’ve been getting a lot of questions from family, friends, and journalists. Some of them are curious about the technology behind the virtual choir performances they’ve been appreciating on social media, and many want to hear more cautionary tales of viral spread. But rather than discuss aerosolization or lament technology and latency issues, I talk about all the ways that choruses are about so much more than standing together and singing on a stage.

I share data from our 2019 Chorus Impact Study about how people who sing in choruses are more likely to vote, volunteer, and give. I talk about how, right now, choruses are joining together to organize food drives, to bring joy to people who are isolated and lonely, and to teach children and youth important social and emotional skills. I tell them that there is a strong correlation between choral singing and tolerance and respect for the value of diversity. I talk about how, when faced with the threat of the virus, choruses are adapting virtual technologies to increase access to their art, to continue to connect with their singers and audiences, and above all, to serve.

I try to leave them with this truth: Choruses are powerhouses of creativity, community, and civic engagement. You may not be hearing them (live) right now, but they continue to be important to the fabric of communities.

Singing together has always been about creating something bigger than each of us alone. Choruses are uniquely equipped to meet the challenge of these unprecedented times and to bring lasting change to our world. Let us work together to leverage the power of our art beyond inspiration to action.

Catherine Dehoney President & CEO, Chorus America