An LGBTQ+ and ally vocal ensemble, coalescing an impressive 136 voices, will host a concert this weekend at the Church of St. Luke and the Epiphany. The Philadelphia Voices of Pride concert — scheduled for Jan. 12 and Jan. 13 — entitled “Among the Stars,” draws its name from the goal of the concert, which includes inspiring hope and feelings of self-empowerment through music that discusses human flight in many forms. Philadelphia Voices of Pride indicated in a press release that these themes are intended to fill a need in a time when those feelings can be missing; they explained that the concert will “[draw] a contrast with the negativity currently permeating our society.”
“There is so much division in the world right now, based on the smallest of differences,” said Artistic Director Daniel Schwartz. “The media focuses on all the tiny things that separate us — gender identity, race, religion — and often use those things to pit us against each other. And while of course those differences should be celebrated, most of what we are, we share with the rest of the human race. With the broad concert topics of flight, space and sky, the idea of the smallness of our differences is reinforced. The elements that make up our bodies were formed from stars; when we dwell on that, it’s harder to focus on the insignificant divisions, and hopefully, that stokes a sense of optimism.”
With the guidance of Schwartz, the concert will include classical, folk and film music by 13 contemporary composers, including six women from the United States, Australia, Norway, England, Scotland and Latvia, and collaborative pianist Daniel Espie. The music will be sung in four languages and will include works inspired by the concept of ‘flight,’ incorporating music from films such as “Star Wars,” Disney/Pixar’s “Brave” and “The Snowman.”
The “Star Wars” selection, composed by John Williams, will be sung in Sanskrit and will accompany “Duel of the Fates,” the song made famous in “The Phantom Menace” during the battle between Darth Maul, Qui-Gon Jinn, and Obi-Wan Kenobi. The song “Touch the Sky” from the Disney/Pixar film “Brave” reflects main character Merida’s desire to truly be herself and dreams to achieve her goals, fighting against societal stereotypes that she must marry. “Walking in the Air” from the film “The Snowman” shares the story of a young boy and a snowman traveling to the North Pole together. Fascinatingly, one song, “Sogno di Volare,” will be set to the writing of Leonardo Da Vinci, reflecting the idea of flight physically and intellectually for human beings.
With the theme of flight, the concert aims to push back against the heaviness of present society, demonstrating how flight reflects human potential. This broad theme will incorporate space flight, flights of imagination, flight as journey, flight in battle, and flight through song. Some of these choral works include “Ad Astra,” which draws from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) motto, “Ad Astra Per Aspera,” which means “a rough road leads to the stars.” This song will signal the ability to overcome, supporting the optimism the concert aims to convey.
A similar emphasis on reaching for the stars will be incorporated with Elaine Hagenburg’s song, “Measure Me, Sky,” drawing from poet Leonora Speyer’s words. Schwartz offered further insight into this song as well, stating he was particularly excited for the piece.
“Elaine is quickly becoming one of our favorite composers; she has a fresh, young compositional style that is filled with text painting,” Schwartz said. “This particular piece uses flowing lines of fast triplets to simulate gusts of wind carrying our thoughts of unlimited potential up toward the sky. I think the audience will sense the energy and joy this stirs in our singers, and hopefully, it will be contagious. It is also a pleasure and important to showcase living female composers, which is easy to do with someone like Elaine.”
“Flight Song,” another choral work to be showcased in the concert, was gifted to the St. Olaf Choir and its conductor and describes the choirs’ songs flying overhead, with hands rising and falling like wings to replicate the notion that humans can fly with their potential.
Additional songs will include “Hubble,” “Underneath the Stars,” “Across the Vast Eternal Sky,” “Sun, Moon, Sea, and Stars,” “Sing to the Moon,” “O Oriens” (“O Morning Star”) and “Northern Lights.”
Philadelphia Voices of Pride is dedicated to fostering education, expanding cultural life in Philadelphia and enhancing music. This organization donates its time, talents and financial resources to the larger LGBTQ+ community and to HIV and women’s organizations. While the community will be celebrated at the event, Schwartz also drew to light the importance of inclusion beyond the LGBTQ+ community.
“While it’s important to celebrate our differences, I’m most interested in finding common ground within and outside of our LGBT community and creating dialogues with others that we may not interact with on a regular basis,” he said. “I figured out a few years ago that programming LGBT-centric repertoire is not what makes us an LGBT ensemble. We are who we are because of our members, and as long as we are a safe space for our community, especially our trans and nonbinary members whose lives are currently under attack, then that is enough to make us a queer choir. I choose music that stirs my soul in some way and have discovered that we can always find common ground in the music or text, whether it’s written by Lady Gaga or a Christian composer from Germany 300 years ago. And I think our audience gets it too.”
The Philadelphia Voices of Pride’s “Among the Stars” will take place at 8 p.m. on Jan. 12 and Jan. 13 at the Church of St. Luke & the Epiphany, 330 South 13th St. For tickets and more information, visit pvop.org/concert-tickets.