Sunday, May 7 :: 4 PM

BOSTON CITY SINGERS

“Resilience”

Jane E. Money, Founding Artistic Director
Emi Nishida, Pianist
Kimani Lumsden, World Rhythm Ensemble Director
Matthew Leese, Artist-in-Residence
Emma Greenough, Tour Choir Manager

With special guest Alastair Moock

Resilience                                                                            Words and music by Abbie Betinis (2017)
Melina Zullas, song leader

Ka Waiata Ki A Maria “I Sing to Mary”                            Richard Puanaki, arr. Matthew Leese 
Penelope Kibbe, guitar

 Let us sing to Mary,
The girl who said: ‘Yes -
Let it be as you command - that I become
The house of mankind’

 A simple woman
A strong woman
A quiet woman
The Mother of Jesus

The Mother of the World.

On the Mountain                                                 Traditional Ukranian, arr. Donald Patriquin (2022)
Anya Olmsted, introduction

The Rose That Grew From Concrete                            Tupac Shakur (1971 - 1996)
Read by Gavin Walker

Did you hear about the rose that grew
from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature's law is wrong it
learned to walk without having feet.

Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams,
it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
when no one else ever cared.

Amazing Grace                                                                   John Newton
Anisa Brown, introduction

If I Had A Hammer                                                            Pete Seeger and Lee Hayes
Soloist, Clio Moock

 Woke Up this Morning 
(With My Mind Stayed on Freedom)                                 Reverend Robert Wesby                              
Alastair Moock, Songleader

Hope is the Thing with Feathers                                        Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
Read by John Wu

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

Just the Way You Look Tonight                                        Jerome Kern & Dorothy Fields, arr. Michael Neaum
From Swingtime (1936)

All the Things You Are                      
From Very Warm in May (1939)                                         Jerome Kern & Oscar Hammerstein II, arr. Michael Neaum
(Boston City Singers commission)

Soloists: Leah Schneyer-VanZile, Lucy Alexander                                     

Lullaby of Birdland                                                               George Shearing & David Weiss (1952)
   arr. Andrew Carter & Emi Nishida

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings                                   Maya Angelou (1928 - 2014)
Read by Clio Moock

A free bird leaps on the back
Of the wind and floats downstream
Till the current ends and dips his wing
In the orange suns rays
And dares to claim the sky.

 But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage
Can seldom see through his bars of rage
His wings are clipped and his feet are tied
So he opens his throat to sing.

 The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
Of things unknown but longed for still
And his tune is heard on the distant hill for
The caged bird sings of freedom.

 The free bird thinks of another breeze
And the trade winds soft through
The sighing trees
And the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright
Lawn and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
His shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
His wings are clipped and his feet are tied
So he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with
A fearful trill of things unknown
But longed for still and his
Tune is heard on the distant hill
For the caged bird sings of freedom.

Yankadi Rhythm of the Susu People, Guinea               World Rhythm Ensemble                                

Jamaican Folk Song Suite #3                                           arr. Kimani Lumsden & Boston City Singers                                              

Resilience                                                                              Melina Zullas
Written and read by Melina Zullas

Maybe I’m too many miles away
Or too young to take a stand
But even though that’s what some say
This is a part of life I just don’t understand

Of course, there may be different roots
In every grove of trees
And explorers pick up different boots
Depending on where they’ll be

 But have you ever seen
A lonely school of fish
Or a singular ingredient
In an award-winning dish?

So if we are all one
Along this great journey
Why must some shun
Those who help a nation to see?

Liberty                                                     American Shape Note Hymn, Stephen Jenks (1800)

Keep Your Lamps!                               Spiritual, arr. Andre Thomas

Boston City Singers Tour Choir

Clare Ablett, Lucy Alexander, Kai Berelowitch, Anisa Brown, Christopher Burchard, Rowan Bush, Ryan Cooke, Penelope Kibbe, Filip Knippen, Angel Leggett, Kat Leavitt, Christopher Manthei, Lyla Mendoza, Finn Nikula-Gill, Ginny Nowak, Anya Olmsted, Cora Redmond, Jade Reese, Leah Schneyer-VanZile, Cora Smilack, Jonathan Verdier, Valery Verdier, Reuben Vierling-Claassen, Elise Walker, Gavin Walker, Cianna Walrond, John Wu, Kevin Wu, Melina Zullas

Thank you to our Education & Engagement Corporate Partner!