VMEA - 2025

THE CALL

To the hands: prelude [wordless]

The first of the six-movement work, written by Caroline Shaw, depicts an unsettling feeling through the use of polyrhythms and dissonance. To us, the quintet’s harmonics portray windows opening into the world of the wordless.

The ruling Taliban in Afghanistan issued a sweeping morality law in 2024. Among other things, it bans women's voices outside the home, prohibiting them from laughing, speaking loudly, or singing.

The Crossing, a Philadelphia-based choir, sought to understand the suffering of others. Drawing on the 1680 seven-part cycle of cantatas by Danish composer Dietrich Buxtehude, titled Membra Jesu Nostri patientis sanctissima (loosely translated as "Most Holy Limbs of Our Suffering Jesus"), they created the Seven Responses project. Seven contemporary composers were chosen, each riffing off one of Buxtehude's "limb" cantatas. Caroline Shaw (b. 1982) was selected for His hands.

Buxtehude’s “limb” cantatas centered around Christ’s suffering and our suffering as a people. Three hundred years later, suffering remains prevalent, particularly among displaced refugees. Shaw’s To the Hands focuses on “the suffering of those around the world seeking refuge, and of our role and responsibility in these global and local crises,” Caroline Shaw, 2017.

Let us open our hands to those of others. (What are these wounds, in my hands, and in yours?) Walls are not the answer. We are all creatures.

Caroline Shaw, 2017

Thank you to Caroline Shaw and her team for this SSAA arrangement of the movement, and to David Mann for introducing it through the Voce Chamber Singers.

panta rhei

Panta Rhei, meaning everything flows, feels like anxiety that leads to anger. Like screaming into a pillow because there’s no use in anyone hearing you. Like calling for help, knowing no one is coming. BUT everything flows and nothing stays the same. Anger can turn into resistance.

The text of Panta Rhei combines a few phrases and words in Greek that speak to qualities exemplifying inner strength. The rhythms and vocal patterns are varied, as life is; the structure is as traditional as the cycles of life, with a strong female presence defining it.

Jim Papoulis, 2007

Thank you to Dr. Bret Amundson and the Bella Voce ensemble of the College of St. Scholastica for their thematic albums, which have inspired much of what we do at Lightridge HS in SSAA ensembles.

Panta Rhei - VA Grade 5

RUNNING UP THAT HILL

With the final season of Stranger Things set to release on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's shortly after this performance, it felt appropriate to bring back last season’s iconic music selection, Running Up That Hill. The experience of the women in Afghanistan feels like the Upside Down, a dark, archaic world that feels like it doesn’t exist, but is very much real. The lyrics lean into the idea of the desire to swap places and exchange the experience with those who walk with privilege, much like us on stage.

Thank you to John Mills for the heart you pour into the arrangements we have worked on together and for asking the tough questions others shy away from in music education.

THE RESPONSE

REFUGE

Refuge - VA Grade 4

AZAADI

It has always been a frustration seeing choral pieces come from cultures where choral music is not in the tradition, let alone harmony. Why do they need to fit into the choral box? The music of Afghanistan is rooted in influence of others … with a twist.

Thank you to Nyla Smith for the collaboration on this arrangement and for taking the time to learn more about our program!