Join us on Friday and Saturday, May 10 and 11 at 7:30 pm at St. Cecilia Music Center when the Grand Rapids Women’s Chorus will premiere our 12th commission from the GRWC Memorial Fund titled “I AM” by Jocelyn Scofield as part of our Spring Concert “Finding Home”.

Scofield created I AM as a singing meditation that honors the individual and the whole. It is meant to affirm an individual's worth, as well as the whole collective. She states, “When a choir prepares for a performance, they rehearse a piece dozens if not hundreds of times, and I wanted the experience of rehearsing I AM to be an ongoing declaration of the singer’s value. Therefore, every phrase in this piece is an affirmation.” The repeated line “I am home, I belong, I am worthy” is relentlessly poignant.

This season members of the chorus have spent time exploring stories…sharing stories we tell each other about how we experience this time in the world, belonging, grieving, or finding our way…the things that make us feel at home or conversely, disconnected.

We will celebrate the brave stories of women who came before us, who spoke up with a voice of activism, in the hopes of making the world a safer place for all of us to live. Presenting the legacy of Ida B. Wells in her piece “No Fairy Tale Here”, contemporary composer Zanaida Robles tells this story with fervency and beauty, as does Melissa Dunphy in “Wild Embers” as she talks about the Burning Times. The program will include contemporary choral works by Andrea Ramsey, Joan Szymko, Elaine Hagenberg, Rosephanye Powell, and Koko Jones, featuring dynamic vocal soloists as well as diverse compositional styles from pop to jazz.

Join us for a memorable night of stories and song.

Tickets are available on a sliding scale pricing to accommodate all, and ASL interpretation will be provided.