CHICAGO, IL - A concert of hope, survival, and support filled with emotionally moving songs about wind, sea, and rain. Under the direction of new Artistic Director, Paul Caldwell, Windy City Gay Chorus and Aria present "A Flood of Hope", a Hurricane Sandy Relief concert benefiting the Ali Forney Center in New York City for homeless LGBT youth that was destroyed in last fall's devastating storm on the east coast.
Performances are Saturday March 2 at 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. at Ebenezer Lutheran Church — 1650 W. Foster Ave., in Chicago's Andersonville neighborhood.
As this very special concert acknowledges a catastrophic event that thousands of people have yet to recover from and rebuild their lives, the members of WCPA wish to show their support here in Chicago, through the gift of music, to some of the most vulnerable and innocent victims affected by nature's fury — homeless lgbt youth. A Flood of Hope is dedicated to them to show our love and hope for a brighter day.
In WCPA's first concert under the direction of Paul Caldwell, some of the selections audiences will hear include Joan Szymko's "It Takes a Village", an adaptation of the West African proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child" and sung by the combined voices of Aria and Windy City Gay Chorus. Composer Joan Szymko embodies the cultural concept behind the saying — that it is truly ALL the individual parts linked and working together that create and support the whole.
"Requiem" by Eliza Gilkyson, arranged by Craig Hella Johnson, was written after the devastating Asian tsunami in 2004 as a call to compassion and a song of comfort. The work resurged in popularity after Hurricane Katrina.
Reminding us that as individuals, our actions can make the world a better place, Aria's performance of "I Am Only One" by African American composer Adolphus Hailstork is a song dedicated to the people who make up the New York City Police and Fire Departments. And "Weep No More" by David Childs is a song of solace based on an excerpt from a poem by John Keats.
Also on the program is "Prayer of the Children", by Kurt Bestor, who wrote this song while serving as a missionary in Serbia during the 1970s during the Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian ethnic conflicts. The song captured the sensations that the children struggling to live in that difficult time might have been feeling. It's a deeply moving and emotional song sung by Windy City Gay Chorus.
Dúlamán by Irish composer Michael McGlynn is an exercise in vocal fireworks, capturing the spirit of people in an effort to combat the erosion of the land were forced to carry seaweed from the shorelines along the barren coast of West Ireland to use for planting. The text is one that would have been sung while gathering the seaweed.
Rounding out the concert is "Grace Fell Like the Rain" by Paul Caldwell and Sean Ivory. Composed as part of a project to raise funds for arts organizations in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, Grace Fell Like the Rain chronicles the grass-roots efforts that sustained the city when governmental and institutional aid lagged. The choral works of Caldwell and Ivory (including Go Where I Send Thee, Hope for Resolution, John the Revelator and Ain't No Grave Can Hold My Body Down) have been telecast on PBS and A&E, and performed at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Sydney Opera House, and throughout Europe, Asia and Africa. Legendary guitarist Steve Vai recently collaborated with Caldwell and Ivory to create a choral-rock fusion song, Book of the Seven Seals. The work appears on Vai's latest CD, The Story of Light.
Artistic Director Paul Caldwell, a significant conductor and composer in his own right is thrilled to be able to share this work with Windy City Gay Chorus and Aria, and will also be conducting this year in Europe and Carnegie Hall, leading concerts comprised entirely of music he has composed.
"A Flood of Hope" featuring Windy City Gay Chorus and Aria will be performed Saturday, March 2, at 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. at Ebenezer Lutheran Church, 1650 W. Foster Ave. in Chicago's Andersonville neighborhood. General admission tickets are $20 and can be purchased online at windycitysings.org . Discounted tickets for Seniors ($15) or Students and Children ($10) are available only at the box office.
Windy City Performing Arts (WCPA) was incorporated in 1983 as the independent not-for-profit umbrella organization for Windy City Gay Chorus and Aria. Windy City Performing Arts celebrates diversity, honors creativity, and cultivates pride through the transformative power of music and the arts as Chicago's Premier LGBT Choral Arts Organization.
