Program Notes
Archival Promotional Material
Singing for Our Lives!
Spring 2002 Concert
April 27, Harrisburg Unitarian Church
May 4, York Unitarian Church
Benefit Concerts for
Honoring women who have faced cancer -- and those who love them.
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Food for Thought
Feminist Barbara Ehrenreich's most recent book, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, is a heart-wrenching, infuriating, funny, smart, and empowering account of life at a minimum wage. It had just gone to the publisher when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and turned her sharp eye on the breast cancer industry in Welcome to Cancerland, in the November 2001 issue of Harper's magazine. Harper's kindly gave permission to Breast Cancer Action to put the article on its web site. Don't miss it.
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Dan Krynak, Artistic Director
Catharine Roth, Accompanist (Piano)
Renee Bartholomew, Percussion
Cameo String Quartet: Hannah Belser, First Violin; Debra Anderson, Viola; Estelle Hartranft, Cello; Lynn Murphy, Second Violin
The concert featured the central Pennsylvania premiere of Where I Live, a Breast Cancer Oratorio by Diane Benjamin, and a wide variety of music for healing, remembrance, and celebration. An annotated list of all music follows.
"Every single one of these pieces gives me goosebumps." That's what one singer said during rehearsal for this concert.
Program with Notes
Where I Live
A Breast Cancer Oratorio by Diane Benjamin
This piece was commissioned by the Denver Women’s Chorus in 1999 when their music advisory committee discovered that four of their six members were daughters of breast cancer survivors.
It was premiered in May 2000 with two performances in Denver as well as performances in Ft. Collins and Colorado Springs, and a subsequent performance in San Jose, California at the 2000 GALA Choruses Festival. Additional performances have been given by choruses in Washington DC, Los Angeles, Portland, Oxford (Ohio), Grand Rapids, and Phoenix.
Ms. Benjamin says of the piece, “Where I Live was both a difficult and an easy piece to write. In 1998, one of my friends was diagnosed with breast cancer. Katherine graciously allowed me to become part of her journey, as she found a path of healing and courage through this life-threatening condition. I wanted to create a piece that would offer support to those living with and surviving cancer, validating their experience. I wanted to create something that would encourage their loved ones, family and friends, and that would inspire other in the community to step forward and help. I wanted to raise questions about the role of environmental pollution and the importance of focusing on cancer prevention, not just diagnosis and treatment. And I wanted to create something beautiful and healing for all of us. I hope I have succeeded.”
The Composer
Diane Benjamin is a musician and composer living in Minneapolis. A self-taught composer who wrote her first piece at age eight, she took up composing again in 1992. Her choral commissions and instrumental pieces have been performed throughout the United States and Canada. Her most recent commission was a three-movement work, commissioned for a joint concert by the Portland Gay Men’s Chorus and Denver Gay Men’s Chorus in June of 2001. Many of her choral works are published by Yelton-Rhodes Music in Los Angeles.
The oratorio alternates seven songs and six narrative pieces. Special thanks to the cancer survivors who gave their spirits and their voices as narrators.
- Somebody
- Lyrics by Diane Benjamin
- Soloist: Virginia D.
Duet: Virginia D. and Jan D.
- Narration 1
- Doctor, 20th March, 1985, by Jenny Lewis. Published in Art.Rage.Us San Francisco; Chronicle Press, 1997
- That Was the Fruit of My Orchard
- Lyrics by Patricia Goedicke, from The Tongues We Speak: New and Selected Poems, Milkweed Editions, 1989.
- Soloist: Linda N.
- Narration 2
- Living in an Unstable Body, by Barbara Rosenblum and Sandra Butler in Cancer in Two Voices, Spinsters, Ink: 1991. Available from Spinsters Ink, 32 E. First St. #330, Duluth MN 55802.
- In the Hospital
- Lyrics by Patricia Goedicke, from The Tongues We Speak: New and Selected Poems, Milkweed Editions, 1989.
- Soloist: Cathy N.
- Narration 3
- from the essay Can You Come Here Where I Am? by Katherine Trayham, copyright 1995, E.M. Press
- Help Me
- Lyrics copyright 1995, E.M. Press, from the essay Can You Come Here Where I Am? by Katherine Trayham.
- Narration 4
- from Sandra Steingraber, Living Downstream, NY: Vintage Books, 1987.
- Peace
- Lyrics from Barth, Carol, untitled poem in Remen, R. MD Ed. Wounded Healers, Wounded Healer Press, 1994. Copyright Rachel Naomi Remen, MD.
- Soloist: Joanne N.
- Narration 5
- from Terry Tempest Williams, Refuge, New York: Vintage Books, 1991
- My Body
- Spoken lyrics from Lewis, Grace Ross. 1001 Chemicals in Everyday Products, copyright 1999 John Wiley and Sons.
- Sung lyrics by Diane Benjamin
- Special guest soloist: Lee M.
- Narration 6
- from Audre Lourde, The Cancer Journals, San Francisco, Aunt Lute Press, 1980.
- Teach Me How
- Lyrics from Flint, Vivekan, untitled poem in Remen, R. MD Ed. Wounded Healers, Wounded Healer Press, 1994. Copyright Rachel Naomi Remen, MD.
- Soloist: Jan D.
-- Intermission --
- Kwaheri
- Traditional Kenyan: “Good-bye, dear friend. We will meet again if God wills.”
- As performed by Libana on Fire Within
- What I Want
- Stephen Smith
- Pat Lowther was a Canadian poet. She wrote this poem while living in an abusive marriage, and later died at the hands of her husband. After her death, Stephen Smith set her poem to music.
- She Piped for Us But We Would Not Dance
- Libby Larsen
- This is lively madrigal-like piece is one of three comprising a work entitled Today, This Spring, which was commissioned by David L. Cooper and Thomas Scott in remembrance of David's wife and Tom's sister, both of whom succumbed to breast cancer. She Piped For Us is based on the text of a sermon at Kathryn Scott Peterson's memorial service: “She would have us dance and sing.”
- In Remembrance
- Eleanor Daley
- Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep
I am the thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glint on snow.
I am the sunlight-ripened grain,
I am the gentle morning rain.
And when you wake in the morning’s hush,
I am the sweet uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there, I did not die.
- Sky Dances
- Jennifer Stasack
- It’s spring. Lie back in the grass and watch the clouds.
- This lyrical gem is a perennial favorite.
- Will the Circle Be Unbroken?
- Traditional Appalachian, arranged by J. David Moore
- Yemaya
- Marythah Paffrath
- Yemaya is one of many orishas, or deities, honored by the Yoruba of west Africa. Represented by the ocean, she is a powerful source of life strength, and mystery. Yemaya is revered and worshipped today, in west Africa as well as in the many lands where people of Yoruba ancestry live. As performed by Libana on Night Passage.
- Breaths
- Ysaye Maria Barnwell
- This stirring chant is familiar to every fan of Sweet Honey in the Rock.
- Gate, Gate (pronounced Gah-tay, Gah-tay)
- Brian Tate
- The Sanskrit text of Gate Gate appears at the end of the Prhajnaparamita Heart Sutra and is generally regarded as the essence of Buddhist teaching. Gaté is “gone,” gone from suffering to liberation, from forgetfulness to mindfulness, from duality to non-duality. Parasamgaté can be loosely translated as “the entire community of beings has gone over to the other shore.” Bodhi is the light inside, enlightenment, or awakening. Svaha is a cry of joy or excitement, like “hallelujah.”
- Harrisburg encore: Music In My Mother's House
- York encore: Wild Women Don't Get the Blues
- Ida Cox, arranged by Ruth Huber
Archival Material
These are printed materials in PDF (Adobe Acrobat) format. (If they don't open for you, see here.)
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