NOVA IX: ZODIAC PROGRAM

we all live under the same stars Dear friends, Welcome to NOVA IX: ZODIAC, Constellation Ensemble's celebration of new music, shared voices, and our endless fascination with the sky above us.

Each year, our NOVA series (New. Original. Vocal. Art.) invites composers to create new works for tenor and bass voices that respond to a central theme. For NOVA IX, we asked twelve composers to look upward to the zodiac, that ancient ring of constellations through which humans have long charted time, told stories, and sought meaning. The result is twelve world premieres, one for each sign: constellations sketched into sound.

The zodiac is where astronomy and imagination meet. For millennia, people across cultures have traced the same scattered stars and found in them rams and lions, scales and waterbearers—mirrors for our own passions and contradictions. These twelve composers, writing from Chicago to Houston or San Francisco to Mexico City, carry that tradition forward: the drive of Aries, the loyalty of Taurus, the wit of Gemini, the longing of Pisces. Together their works remind us that to look at the stars is, in the end, to look at ourselves.

This program also opens a new chapter for me personally. As a baritone in this ensemble and, now, as President of the Board, I step into this role with deep gratitude and real excitement for where Constellation is headed. My hope is to help this ensemble grow boldly into its next chapter: commissioning fearless new music, deepening our community partnerships, and widening the circle of artists and listeners who call Constellation home. A portion of this concert’s proceeds supports the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, because we believe art and advocacy belong together.

NOVA IX marks the conclusion of our 12th season—twelve years of telling new stories, elevating new voices, and starting new conversations. That work has only ever been possible because of you.

New music is an act of faith, and every commission, premiere, and performance depends on a community willing to invest in art that did not exist before. If these voices move you tonight, I invite you to help us keep them singing through your attendance, your generosity, and your belief in what we do.

To those who have championed us from the beginning and to those just discovering our music, thank you. Your presence sustains us, and we don't take it for granted.

With gratitude and admiration,

Matt Brennan

Baritone & Board President Constellation Ensemble

NOVA IX: ZODIAC June 5, 6 & 7, 2026 Trinity United Methodist Church • Grace Episcopal • Lincoln Park Conservatory Wilmette, IL • Oak Park, IL • Chicago, IL

♉️ CREATURE. COMFORT.

BEN ZUCKER

♊️ GEMINI

ROBERT MCCONNELL

♋️ A LULLABY FOR SAINT-EXUPERY

ELISA SCHMELKES

♌️ IF I WERE A LION

SHANE SCOTT COOK

♍️ DEAREST VIRGINE

ZAE MUNN

♎️ FOR YOUR

ADORE ALEXANDER

♏️ POWER TO RISE

RYAN TOWNSEND STRAND

♐️ ALL SEEMS BEAUTIFUL

NYANDENG JUAG

♑️ I ASKED MY LOVE

BENJAMIN T. MARTIN

♒️ EVERYTHING FALLS

ELLIOTT JG ENCARNACIÓN

♓️ TWO BODIES SPIN

ALISSA VOTH

♈️ INTO RAGE (A HYMN TO THE RAM)

* ALL WORLD PREMIERES *

TABES BRIDGES

TEXTS AND NOTES

creature. comfort.

Text from Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare, Torches are made to light, jewels to wear, Dainties to taste, fresh beauty for the use, Herbs for their smell, and sappy plants to bear; Things growing to themselves are growth’s abuse, Seeds spring from seeds, and beauty breedeth beauty; Thou wast begot; to get it is thy duty.

Upon the earth’s increase why shouldst thou feed, Unless the earth with thy increase be fed?

By law of nature thou art bound to breed, That thine may live when thou thyself art dead; And so in spite of death thou dost survive, In that thy likeness still is left alive.

Gemini text by Robert McConnell A man I knew, just for an hour, I asked when I was born.

“June Second,” I replied. “A Gemini!” he said. “That explains a lot!”

I doubt my soul is free, and sadly, what I am, I am.

But whatever power steers the stars, If I am a two-faced jerk, it’s not my birthday’s fault.

A Lullaby for Saint-Exupery Text based on Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Oh, Sahara! I’m alone with you. Again, Oh, Sahara!

Forced down from the air, helpless until dawn.

Hillocks of sand, luminous slopes, darkness and moon-ray, fears and hopes.

Dreams like these may partake of the miraculous. Mineral Sahara, fill my night with your dreams.

I open my eyes to the pool of the sky, seized with vertigo, plunging down. I’m lying down upon my back, face to face with the hatchery of stars, no roof between those depths and me. I’m falling down, but I do not fall. I am bound to Earth. I’m surrendering my weight. The Earth is transporting me through the void of night.

I discover myself filled with dreams; they come to me soundlessly, like the waters of a spring. Somewhere, a presence, a warmth. A park, dark with firs and linden trees. An old house that I loved.

It fills my night with its presence.

And deep in my heart I know I’m no longer this speck of dust strewn between the sand and the stars. I am the child of this house, its memories, its earthy smell, the voices that animated it. My dreams are more real than these dunes.

Oh, Sahara!

If I Were a Lion Text by Shane Scott Cook If I were a lion, I would take what’s mine.

Dearest Virgine Lyrics by Zae Munn and Charlotte Munn-Wood Vrrrgo, dearest Vrrrgo: may I call you Virgine? Or Veergo for short?

I would rather call you Virgine.

There’s a bit of you in me: You are methodical, reliable, hardworking. You’re self-sufficient.

I’m analytical, self-contained.

You open the door to the home you have built. You are Virgine.

There’s a bit of you in me: You are discerning. I am judicious.

You are self-critical, unassuming. You’re realistic. I’m practical.

To the home you have built, you are Virgine.

One unto yourself! You bring order to chaos. You are one unto yourself.

Virgine.

There’s a bit of you in me: You’re sympathetic, affectionate, tenderhearted. You’re single-minded.

I am compassionate. I’m tenderhearted. I’m resolute.

To the home you have built, you open the door.

You are Vrrrgo, Veergo, Virgine!

For Your Text by Adore Alexander I see you.

I heard you.

I understand you.

I forgive you.

For your selfishness — but the beam tilts — for the bridge you walk across while you set fire to the other side.

For your shadow, cast long across my brightest days, For your echo, always louder than the words I speak, For your thirst, that drains the well and offers nothing, For your blindness, worn like a veil when I am bleeding, For your convenience, your silence, your violence, your unwillingness.

For my — My silence wasn’t an absence of opinion; it was a mercy you didn’t deserve.

Your weight weighs on me.

And now, the mercy is gone.

Power to Rise Text taken from Alan Leo’s Astrology for All and The Art of Synthesis Fixed and watery…strong in desire…persistent in purpose, Seldom turned aside.

Depth of feeling here…secretive…does not waste force.

Inclined towards jealousy, resentment, or excess, yet…

The power to rise from difficulty!

All Seems Beautiful Text by Walt Whitman From this hour I ordained myself loos’d of limits and imaginary lines, going where I list, my own master total and absolute, listening to others, considering well what they say, pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating, gently, but with undeniable will, divesting myself of the holds that would hold me.

I inhale great draughts of space; the east and the west are mine, and the north and the south are mine.

I am larger, better than I thought; I did not know I held so much goodness.

All seems beautiful to me.

I will scatter myself among men and women as I go.

Whoever denies me, it shall not trouble me; whoever accepts me, he or she shall be blessed and shall bless me.

I Asked My Love Text from the Persian of Abu-Said, translated by Edwyn Powys Mathers I asked my love: “Why do you make yourself so beautiful?”

“To please myself.

I am the eye, the mirror, and the loveliness; the loved one and the lover and the love.”

Everything Falls Text from The Waves by Virginia Woolf I see nothing.

We may sink and settle on the waves.

The sea will drum in my ears.

The white petals will be darkened with sea water.

They will float for a moment and then sink.

Rolling over the waves will shoulder me under.

Everything falls in a tremendous shower, dissolving me.

Two Bodies Spin Text by Alissa Voth Underneath the surface, above the subterranean two bodies spin between polarities.

Wound between attraction and resistance, between resistance and attraction. floating

sinking pulling

They wind between resistance and attraction, between attraction and resistance.

They spin between polarities above the subterranean, underneath the surface.

Into Rage (A Hymn to the Ram) Text by Alejandra Villarreal Martinez Trampling the earth, shedding ringlets of flame, The golden-fleeced ram, Chrysomallos, his name, Broke free from his paddock, two children astride, Took flight o’er the mirror-dark sea’s rising tide.

Driving back stars, woolen fury and haste, To deliver his charges to safety, he raced, When a storm-wind approached with a whip and a whirl, And, alas, in its frenzy unseated the girl.

Churning the air, Chrysomallos dove down, But felt the boy losing his grip on his crown.

“Lose both?” thought the ram, “I must save one, at least!”

A wretched choice for any man, god, or beast.

Gnashing his teeth, full of wrathful regret, He leapt for the heavens–and higher–and yet– “Stop, go back!” cried the boy to the great wingéd sheep.

“Or else let me follow her into the deep.”

Bursting through clouds, scatt’ring showers of rain, Chrysomallos entreated the boy to remain: “No good man has lived who was not friends with grief, So, weep fully and well. May it give you relief.”

Whimp’ring aloud, the boy clung to the ram, Who, reflecting, thought, “How like the cry of a lamb.

Tend your horns, little one, they will strengthen with age, And in time you will turn your despair into rage.”

2026 NOVA COMPOSERS ADORE ALEXANDER (b. 1989) first began exploring his compositional voice during his studies at Morehouse College. It was there that he recognized the transformative power of the concert hall, viewing the stage not just as a platform for music, but as a space for vital dialogue. Alexander defines his role through a dual lens: acting as a moderator for difficult social conversations and as a storyteller who inspects truth through diverse perspectives. Alexander’s recent work reflects this commitment to expanding the classical music narrative. He was honored to serve as the first Composer-in-Residence with the William Ferris Chorale for their "Emerging Voices" partnership with Chicago Public Schools during the 2023-24 season. This residency allowed him to continue his mission of community-centered artistry, providing a platform for marginalized voices and mentoring the next generation of creators. On the national stage, Alexander’s lyrical sensitivity has garnered significant acclaim. His art song serves as the title track for the album Dear Mrs. Kennedy, a centerpiece of the Letters to Jackie Project. This poignant work received a high-profile recital performance at the Ravinia Music Festival, further establishing his place as a leading voice in contemporary vocal music. Whether collaborating with major institutions or local youth, Alexander remains dedicated to challenging the traditional canon. By moving beyond the repetitive performance of historical works by a narrow demographic, he seeks to hold a mirror to the world through his music—allowing audiences to see themselves reflected in all their complex shades and experiences. alexandercountertenor.com TABES BRIDGES is a Chicago-based composer and baritone whose music takes listeners on fantastic journeys of harmony, language, and color. A lifelong singer, Tabes is obsessed with the interplay between words and music, and his long-term artistic goals include pushing the limits of textual sources in vocal music, and expanding the boundaries of text setting as a technique for creating instrumental music. Tabes studied composition and voice (as well as mathematics) at Columbia University, and currently studies privately with composer Juhi Bansal and baritone Evan Bravos. He sings regularly with new music groups Stare at the Sun and Vox Venti, as well as the 10-voice professional Schola at Episcopal Church of the Atonement, and has recently performed with The Oriana Singers. Recent commissions have come from the William Baker Choral Foundation (Ten Years' Time, an "epistolary choral opera" with libretto by Alejandra Villareal Martinez), Fourth Coast Ensemble (They Learn Their Voices, a "little cantata" for four vocal soloists and piano on poetry of Ami Kaye), and Chicago tenor Ryan Frenk (a number of art songs, including ``Stars" [Sara Teasdale] and ``want (to the point of need)" [Alok Vaid-Menon], which won prizes in the 2024 and 2025 iterations of Chicago SongSLAM). His music has also been sung by Wicker Park Choral Singers and the choir of St. Giles Episcopal Church, and heard on WFMT, Chicago's classical and folk radio station.

SHANE SCOTT COOK (b. 1994) is a composer, performer, and songwriter whose work explores themes of community, connection, nature, and the queer experience. His music, shaped by an eclectic background as a classical percussionist, jazz singer, folk enthusiast, and musical theater aficionado, has been commissioned and performed

by Del Sol Quartet, Akropolis Reed Quintet, Salastina, Roots in the Sky, Stare at the Sun, Young New Yorkers’ Chorus, Choral Arts Initiative, Duo Cortona, and Hindustani vocalist Saili Oak. He served as Teaching Artist-in-Residence at the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music (2023–25), where he taught piano, guitar, percussion, and music theory to public school students in rural Northern California. Recent appointments include Composer-in-Residence for Del Sol Quartet’s 2025 ChamberFest, Composer Fellow for the 2025 Akropolis Chamber Music Festival, and 2024 Sounds Promising Young Composer Fellow with Salastina.

In 2025, Shane’s premieres included bloom for Quintet Attacca and mezzo-soprano Quinn Middleman (EarTaxi Festival), Namesake for tenor and piano (Boston Singers’ Resource and Catalyst New Music), speak, winner of The Capital Hearings’ Young Composers’ Competition, and Neon Landscape, a string trio funded by the Moody Center at Rice University. In the same year, his choral works received awards and/or recognition from Stare at the Sun, Young New Yorkers’ Chorus, Choral Arts Initiative, and the EcoVoice Project. Other recent highlights include the 2025 Dragon Prize in Choral Music, first prize at Fourth Coast Ensemble’s 2024 Chicago SongSlam, and the premiere of The Distance Between for soprano Lindsay Kesselman and UT Austin’s New Music Ensemble.

An Illinois native, Shane is currently based in Houston, TX and began doctoral studies at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music in 2025. shanescottcook.com Michigan native ELLIOTT JG ENCARNACIÓN is a composer and conductor of choral and operatic repertoire. He studied orchestral conducting with David Gilbert and choral conducting with Kristina Börger at the Manhattan School of Music. His composition teachers include Michael Alfera, J. Mark Stambaugh, David Garner and the late Conrad Susa.

He has written premieres for Terpsichore Winds, CappellaSF, the San Francisco Chamber Music Society, the Hot Air Music Festival, and dozens of religious institutions around the country. As a selftaught tenor, he has appeared as a soloist with The San Francisco Symphony, The California Bach Society, The Dessoff Choirs, The Long Island Symphony Choral Association, Zephyr Symphony, and Musica Sacra. He can be heard in choral contexts with premiere choral ensembles around the country, including the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Voices of Ascension, Byrd Ensemble, Vox Humana, Aeternum, the San Francisco Opera, and has recorded under the Delos and Decca labels. He has served as Artistic Director for the Opera Theater Unlimited, Prodigal Opera Theatre, and Composer in Residence for the International Orange Chorale in San Francisco. elliottencarnacion.com

NYANDENG JUAG is a singer-composer based in Chicago, Illinois. Originally from Augusta, Georgia, she received a BA in Music from Kenyon College in 2022, where she studied composition with Ross Feller, voice with Rebecca Keck, and conducting with Benjamin Locke.

Nyandeng finds inspiration in her South Sudanese heritage, and in diversifying new music repertoire and communities. She was named the 2023-2024 Hearing in Color Young Composer-in-Residence, and her first commission, “Stranger,” was premiered by La Caccina in November 2023 in Chicago, IL. Nyandeng has received commissions from the Music Institute of Chicago, Fourth Coast Ensemble, and soprano Laura Strickling for The 40@40 Project.

As a singer, Nyandeng has performed with La Caccina, Chroma, Rockefeller Chapel Choir, and C21 Ensemble. When she isn’t making music, she enjoys knitting, crocheting, reading, running, and hammocking on Lake Michigan.

Benjamin Martin (b.1998) is a composer, singer, and musical collaborator based in Chicago, IL. While interested in all manner of expressive media, his love of the human voice, the written word, and musical storytelling is often at the center of his compositional orbit.

Martin’s works have been performed by a number of ensembles throughout the country, including the Grossman Ensemble, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago Fellows, NEXUS Chamber Music, TAK Ensemble, Blackbox New Music, Lake Forest College choir and orchestra, and Northern Ohio Youth Orchestra, among others. His work has also been featured at a number of summer festivals, including New Music on the Point, VIVO Music Columbus (as the winner of the 2021 VIVO Innovation Grant), Brevard Summer Music festival, the EAMA Institute in Paris, and the Cortona Sessions for New Music.

Recent honors include a 2025 BMI Composer Award, an ACO EarShot Reading, and being named the winner of the 2025 IL-ACDA Composer Award.

Passionate about bringing new works to life, Benjamin has also served as the assistant conductor for Oberlin Opera Theater’s productions of Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up and Rachel Peters’ Wild Beast of the Bungalow, with libretti by Royce Vavrek. Most recently, Benjamin returned to Oberlin and Opera Columbus as principal conductor for the world premiere of Melissa Dunphy and Jacqueline Goldfinger’s opera Alice Tierney.

Benjamin received a BM from Oberlin Conservatory in Composition with a minor in Vocal Performance. While attending, he was the recipient of the 2022 Walter E. Aschaffenburg prize in Composition. He is currently pursuing his PhD at the University of Chicago, where he studies with Augusta Read Thomas. benjaminmartincomposer.com

ROBERT MCCONNELL has built a dynamic career as a conductor, composer, and organist. Equally at home in opera, oratorio, and symphonic repertoire, he is a frequent collaborator with Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet where he has conducted performances of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Joby Talbot, Atonement by Laura Rossi, Jane Eyre by Philip Feeney, the Siegfried Idyll by Richard Wagner, and Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker as choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon. Robert has also conducted Nutcracker with the Peoria Ballet, The Tender Land by Aaron Copland and Street Scene by Kurt Weill with the DePaul Opera Theater, Trouble in Tahiti with the Northwestern Opera Theater, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Calyx Vocal Ensemble, excerpts from Bach’s St. John Passion with the Oregon Bach Festival, and has appeared as a guest conductor with Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Opera in the Neighborhoods Program, Door County’s Peninsula Music Festival, and the Skokie Valley Symphony. As a composer of sacred vocal music, Robert has been commissioned to write pieces for First Presbyterian Church of Evanston and the North Shore Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

Robert currently serves as the Director of Worship and Music of First Presbyterian Church of Lake Forest. He is a graduate of Northwestern’s Bienen School of Music where he studied conducting with Victor Yampolsky and composition with Jay Alan Yim and Augusta Read Thomas.

ZAE MUNN is now a Chicago-area composer following her recent retirement from her position of Professor of Music at Saint Mary's College in South Bend, Indiana. She continues as the Director and Resident Composer of the Summer Composition Intensive . Past faculty positions include Bowdoin College, Transylvania University, Lehigh University, and Interlochen Arts Camp.

Her DMA and MM degrees in composition are from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and her BM in composition is from Chicago Musical College of Roosevelt University. Born in 1953, Munn's early musical training was as a cellist, with additional studies in piano, voice, and conducting.

Recordings are available from Navona Records, Capstone Records, Centaur Records, and a number of independent labels.

Zae is active in the dog rescue community and has fostered nearly 80 dogs in her home over the last several years. zaemunn.com

ELISA SCHMELKES considers her natural habitat to be a choir. She is at her happiest when surrounded by singers, and believes in the power of collective singing to build community bonds and bring about social and cultural changes in the world. Although she mostly identifies as a composer and choral conductor, she is also a communicator and an activist. She is based in Mexico and the singing nation she fell in love with, Latvia.

Her choral music has won awards and been performed across the Americas and Europe. In 2025 she was Composer-In-Residence with Chicago a cappella’s ¡Cantaré! program. She usually composes music with socially-relevant content, and is as much an activist as she is a musician. Her causes include immigration justice and more-than-human rights. schmelkes.com A storyteller first and foremost, tenor and composer RYAN TOWNSEND STRAND creates work rooted in the power of human connection through music. Winner of the #TwitterCommission for his vocal work #Red, Strand’s artistic voice centers on narrative-driven collaboration and immersive listening experiences. With a lifelong affinity for choral music, he is particularly drawn to surrounding audiences in sound and creating performances that invite collective reflection and emotional connection. He is the creator and producer of Letters to Jackie, a large-scale song cycle based on letters sent to Jacqueline Kennedy following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which culminated in his acclaimed album “Dear Mrs. Kennedy” on Sono Luminus. As executive director of Constellation Men’s Ensemble, Strand has championed the commissioning and performance of new vocal music by diverse American composers. ryantownsendstrand.com Alissa Voth (she/her) is a composer and paper artist based in Chicago, Illinois. Her creative work explores narrative and the unconscious mind with an artistic focus on the voice and woven imagery.

She is a PhD candidate at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University, where she focuses her studies on the agency and assemblage of objects. Her music is performed in Chicago and beyond by groups such as Stare at the Sun vocal ensemble, Mycelium New Music, Ensemble Mise-en , Contemporaneous Ensemble, and the Chicago Composer's Orchestra. alissavoth.com

Ben Zucker is an experimental composer and performer, interested in music’s unique capacities to model systems of change through a rigorous, dynamic play of contemplation and visceral immersion in sonic extremes. Starting from a background in jazz and theater, this speculation now regularly mixes in explorations of philosophy, improvisation, ambience, alternative notations, juxtapositions, and protocols. His practice includes “stirring compositions…built on a lifetime of musical curiosity” (Chicago Reader), and performances on vibraphone, brass, keys, voice, and electronics across styles. This intentionally diverse practice has included highlights such as compositions featured at the Berlin Philharmonie, London Roundhouse, and in PBS documentaries, residencies with OneBeat and the Stockholm EMS, and collaborations with groundbreaking musical figures ranging from Anthony Braxton to Sudan Archives. Deeply invested in the structural elements of musical life, their career has also involved extensive engagement with labor organizing, education, and project management. He lives in Chicago, working as a freelance artist, lecturer at Roosevelt University, President of New Music Chicago, and curator for Elastic Arts’ Improvised Music. benzuckersounds.com

2026 NOVA COMMISSION SPONSORS

John Bierbusse — Gemini John Concepción — Aquarius David & Sandy Lentz — Leo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius Michael & Lindsay Strand — Virgo Gifts of $500+ were made for commission sponsorship.

If you’d like to help us complete our astrological constellation and sponsor a star with a gift, please visit our website or speak with one of our board members. constellationensemble.org/home/support

tenors

Chuck Chandler, Matthew Cummings, James Judd, Ryan Townsend Strand basses

Matthew Brennan, Conor Broaders, Dorian McCall, Pete Wesoloski Constellation Men’s Ensemble is a Chicago-based vocal group dedicated to creating distinct performances in unique spaces, empowering the next generation of singers through educational engagement, and expanding the repertoire for low voice vocal music by commissioning new works from both emerging and established composers.

Since 2019, Constellation has partnered with other local nonprofits to raise awareness and funding for impactful organizations to the Chicagoland community through our Community Uplift program.

Community Uplift Partners to date include the Care For Friends, Chicago Park District, Chicago House, Center On Halsted, Boys & Girls Club of Metropolitan Chicago, CASA Cook County, Fostering Dignity, and the Alzheimer's Association of Illinois.

In 2016, CME founded our new music series NOVA—“New. Original. Vocal. Art.” NOVA seeks to capitalize on our mission of commissioning new works and expanding the repertoire for tenor/bass voices. In 2022, NOVA V premiered works dealing with the theme of humanhood including our largest commission to date, Robert Maggio’s Man Up/Man Down, exploring how masculine identity takes shape in our evolving world; how our personal histories of family, race, religion, education, status, exposure, geography, etc. affect the formation of our identities. Constellation’s debut album Man Up/Man Down was released in 2023 with Sono Luminus Records and is available wherever you listen to music.

CME has also been selected multiple times to participate as Artists-in-Residence with Music of the Baroque’s Strong Voices program, bringing music education and performance into Chicago Public Schools. The ensemble regularly participates in broader city initiatives like ChicagoSings, and has performed in collaboration with institutions such as the Bahá’í House of Worship, the Chicago Park District, and universities across the Midwest. Pre-COVID, they toured New England and Maine, working with over 2,000 middle and high school students through their passion of connecting with the next generation of singers. CME is the 2019 winner of the American Prize in Choral Performance, professional division. constellationensemble.org

To continue achieving our mission of distinct performances in unique spaces, please consider making a gift right from your seat or on your way home following the performance. Remember that your donations help support our 2026 Community Uplift Partner, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights, in their vital work working to win policies to ensure a more equitable society rooted in dignity and respect for all. Make your gift go even further and consider a monthly gift to CME! We rely on the generosity of our community to achieve the level of creativity and musicianship you experienced tonight.

Thank you for all that you do to support music in Chicago and beyond.

Constellation Men’s Ensemble is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, and donations are tax deductible as allowed by law.

CME Board of Directors Matthew Brennan, board president Ryan Townsend Strand, executive director Matthew Cummings, treasurer Brandon Mensing, board member Joshua Poucher Bellas, board member 6331 N Glenwood Ave Unit 2 • Chicago, IL 60660 info@constellationensemble.org Season Artwork by Janie Killips

@constellationensemble • constellationensemble.org

___________________________ Constellation Men’s Ensemble would like to extend very special thanks to the following, whose generosity has made NOVA IX possible Chicago Symphony Orchestra CME Board of Directors DePaul University Grace Episcoal Oak Park Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights Lincoln Park Conservancy Trinity Wilmette

___________________________ 2026 COMMUNITY UPLIFT PARTNER

ICIRR is dedicated to promoting the rights of immigrants and refugees to full and equal participation in the civic, cultural, social, and political life of our diverse society. Created in 1986 in response to President Reagan signing into law the Immigration Reform and Control Act, ICIRR has been at the forefront of helping immigrants realize and contribute to the dream that is America. With our member organizations, we engage in advocacy, nonpartisan electoral work, public policy, research and analysis, training, outreach and the provision of safety net programs that empower and support immigrants nationally and in Illinois.

ICIRR is the largest and most diverse immigrant coalition in the state, and one of the largest nationally, continually impacting the lives of Illinois’ 1.8 million immigrants. icirr.org