A Note from the Artistic Director
Tonality is a choir that was formed to envision a new environment where diverse singers could come together to create community and sing for justice. This mission propelled us to respond to the recent judicial decisions as well as our political climate
As we re-imagine what it truly means to be pro-life, we choose to take a broader look at our system of health care in the United States. We will hear stories and songs that paint a clearer picture of how many - again, mostly those who fall within one or multiple identities that are marginalized - fall victim to lack of resources, access, respect, and empathy. We also understand that many individuals who work within the healthcare system too become victims of overextension and the fear of litigation. And lastly, we do want to state explicitly our understanding of the nuance within reproductive health and our choice to believe, uphold, and respect persons who can become pregnant.
While difficult and controversial, we feel we have a duty to members of our community to continue to shed light on these topics to encourage activism and to aid in the healing process. On this note, we understand that these issues may be difficult to listen to, so please feel free to step out at any point during the concert as needed.
We sincerely hope that you hear these messages in a new way, find a closer connection to others who have been directly affected by these stories, and discover new ways to become involved in creating a new reality where the concern “for life” is reflected in personal and systemic practices in our country and around the world.
Thank you for joining us.
Concert Program
Give Us Our Peace
I’ve been in the storm so long.
I’ve been in the storm so long, children.
Been in the storm so long.
Oh, give me little time to pray.
To All, To Each
Come, come, come,
lovely and soothing death.
Undulate round the world,
serenely arriving, arriving,
In the day, in the night,
to all, to each, to all to each,
Sooner, sooner or delicate death.
Greed
Refrain:
I been thinkin’ ‘bout
how to talk about greed. (2x)
I been wond’rin’ if I could sing about greed,
try’n’ to find a way to talk about greed.
Greed is a poison rising in this land.
The soul of the people
twisted in its command.
It moves like a virus seeking out ev’ryone.
Greed never stops its work,
is never ever done.
Refrain
It moves within the culture
touching us all,
Greed really isn’t picky,
it’ll make anybody fall.
Greed is a strand in the American dream.
Having more than you need
is the essential theme.
Refrain
Maybe you don’t know exactly
what I mean
You don't really want to know
about your and my greed.
Greed is sneaky and
hard to detect in myself.
It shows itself clearly in everybody else.
Refrain
I can see it in you, You can see it in me.
We can see it in big corporations,
all throughout the government.
See it in the banks,
I can see it in the military.
See it in the church.
I can see it in my neighbor.
It all shows up clearly.
Refrain
"One Last Breath" from The Sacred Veil
In the dark and distant year,
The wand’rer weary, full of fear
Confronts a fated force
more powerful than life.
A carriage made of sea has come
to take his wife.
The waves too dark and deep to swim
He hears his love cry out to him,
Her piercing anguish rising high
above the foam.
“Please don’t let go of me for you,
You are my home!”
From the shore he sees his bride
As she fights hard against the tide
He swears a sacred vow
that ev’ry loved one keeps.
He steels himself,
Takes one last breath,
And leaps.
Mother's Song
If snow falls on the far field where travelers spend the night, I ask you cranes, to warm my child in your wings.
Lady in Blue
Tubes, tables, white-washed windows.
Grime from age wiped over once.
Legs spread. Anxious. Anxious.
Eyes crawlin up on me.
Eyes rollin’ in my thighs.
Metal horses gnaw at my womb.
Dead mice fall from my mouth.
I didn’t really mean to,
I didn’t really think I could,
Just one day off.
Get offa’ me all o’ this blood!
Bones shattered like soft ice cream cones.
I couldn’t have all o’ those people
lookin’ at me pregnant.
I couldn’t have my friends see this.
This, this dyin’ danglin’ ‘tween my legs
and I didn't say a word.
Not a sigh.
Not a sigh or a fat scream.
Scream to get those eyes offa me!
Get those steel drums outta me!
Get those eyes up offa me!
Get those steel drums outta me!
This hurts! This hurts me!
Eyes crawlin’ up on me.
Eyes rollin’ in my thighs.
Metal horses gnaw at my womb.
Dead mice fall from my mouth.
I didn’t really mean to,
I didn’t really think I could,
Just one day off.
Get offa’ me all o’ this blood!
Get offa’ me all o’ this blood!
Get offa’ me all o’ this blood!
Get offa’ me all o’ this blood!
Bones shattered like soft ice cream cones.
And nobody came ‘cause nobody knew once I was pregnant and ‘shamed of myself.
"Child of Wonder" from The Sacred Veil
Child of wonder
Child of sky
Time to end your voyage
Time to die.
Weary waters beckon
Dark and deep
Child of soft surrender
Child of sleep.
Child of sorrow
Child of rain
There is no tomorrow
No more pain.
Turn your silvered sails
Toward the light
Child of mourning
Child of night.
Child of iridescence
Child of dream
Stars and moons will guide you
Down the stream.
Stretched on ocean waves
Exchanging foam
Welcome home my child
Welcome home.
Big White Room
Sitting in a big white room alone
Tilt my head back, feel the tears fall down
Close my eyes to see in the dark
I feel young, broken, so, so scared
I don't wanna be here anymore
I wanna be somewhere else
Normal and free, like I used to be
But I have to stay in this big white room
With little old me
I'm going crazy
I'm losing my mind
I'm going crazy
In this big white room of mine
I'm going crazy
I'm losing my mind
I'm going crazy
In this big white room of mine
Sitting in a big white room alone
Close the door
Don't want the pain to come in
I clench my fist
And try to stay strong
I cry, feel sick
My heart is beating out of control
Can I run run faster than you
I wanna feel my body again
Feel the wind in my hair
But I have to stay in this big white room
'Cause no one else cares, no
I'm going crazy
I'm losing my mind
I'm going crazy
In this big white room of mine
I'm going crazy
I'm losing my mind
I'm going crazy
In this big white room of mine
Everybody's looking at me
Everybody's staring at me
What do I do now
Smile, yeah
Everybody's looking at me
Everybody's staring at me
What do I do now
Smile, yeah
I'm going crazy
I'm losing my mind
I'm going crazy
In this big white room of mine
I'm going crazy
I'm losing my mind
I'm going crazy
In this big white room of mine
I'm going crazy
I'm losing my mind
I'm going crazy
In this big white room of mine
I'm going crazy
I'm losing my mind
I'm going crazy
In this big white room of mine
Let Your True Self Sing
Cold winds blow over my barren soul,
Scattered pieces of my life across broken time,
I am alone.
Surrounded by eternity
I hear a voice
Calling me:
Come back…
I am broken, yet whole.
Listen deeply,
Your true self sings
Throw open the door,
Come back to that voice,
Share that voice,
Your voice…
I Want To Know Her
One of these days I’ll learn to talk to you
so you can hear the love, believe the love
through the words that scare you.
Maybe we can share all the wounds
we’ve inflicted on each other.
Oh mama, oh mama, I want to know you.
Who stole the ease of apology from you?
What made everyone a threat?
Where is the place that cut your wings?
When can I see her, the child in you
that aches to know
why she cannot speak?
I want to know her so I can know you.
So she can meet the child in me too.
Hear the love, believe the love
through the words that scare you.
So she can meet the child in me too.
Treat A Stranger Right
Chorus:
Everybody oughta treat a stranger right.
Everybody oughta treat a stranger right.
And everybody oughta treat a stranger right.
A long way from home,
A long way from home,
A long way, a long way from home
Verse 1:
Be mindful how speaking.
Be careful how you go along.
You must always treat a stranger right.
Don't insult him in your home,
don't insult him in your home
and everybody oughta treat a stranger right.
(Repeat Chorus)
Verse 2:
Well all of us are strangers
and none of us has a home.
You must never hurt your brother or sister
and cause them to pull their own,
And cause them to pull their own
and everybody oughta treat a stranger right.
(Repeat Chorus)
Performers
Soprano
- Hannah Abrahim
- Anna Crumley
- Cassandra Duschene
- Gracie Laboy
- Meredith Pyle
- Becca Tomasko
Alto
- Tehillah Alphonso
- Kim Dawson
- Katelyn Dietz
- Natalie Gonzalez
- Hannah Lewis
- Molly Pease
Tenor
- Sam Avila
- Isaiah Chacon
- Kion Heidari
- Rohan Ramanan
- David Morales
- Josh Munnell
Bass
- Jonathan Byram
- Brandon Guzman
- Ian Gabriel Luna
- Anthony Moreno
- Aaron Jung
- Lorenzo Zapata
Soloists
- Kim Dawson, Give Us Our Peace
- Hannah Abrahim, Greed
- Molly Pease, Lady In Blue
- Natalie Gonzales, Big White Room
- Hannah Lewis, Treat A Stranger Right
Instrumentalists
- Zev Shearn-Nance, percussion
- Chris Rorrer, cello
- Jonathan Richards, upright bass
- Christina Galisatus, piano
- Kristen Simpson, piano
Deaf Performers
- Mikey Agyin
- LaMehammad
- RiRi Richardson
Interpreters
- Selena Flowers
- Gema Niebla
- Ashley Rodriguez
Usher Interpreters
- Ashley Rodriguez
- Gema Niebla
Special Thanks
Company Manager & Executive Administrator
- Hasan Crawford
Tonality Board of Directors
- Dr. Alexander Lloyd Blake, Executive Director
- Dr. David Connors, Board Chair
- Dr. Tram Sparks, Vice Chair
- Joe Trapanese, Secretary
- Dr. Kimberly Bradshaw, Treasurer
- Patrick Achis
- Stacy Brightman
- Jacob Broussard
- Shawn Kirchner
- Stuart Marks
- Caroline McKenzie
- Jordan Reddout
Honorary Board Members
- Michael Abels
- Kris Bowers
- Lara Downes
- Dr. Melissa Dunphy
- Brian Lauritzen
- Kevin “K.O.” Olusola
Advisory Board Members
- Dr. Derrell Acon
- Melissa Denton
- Kristy Edmunds
- Ted Hearne
- Luke McEndarfer
- Jen Belladin Rogers
- Sara Scott
- Leslie Thomas
- Booker White
We sincerely thank:
- Dr. David Connors, Dr. Tram Sparks, and the Tonality Board of Directors
- Kristen Simpson
- ProBono ASL
- The Colburn School
- The Ebell of Los Angeles
- Healthcare Ally
We are gathered today on the unceded land of the Tongva peoples. We ask you to join us in acknowledging the Tongva community, their elders both past and present, as well as future generations. This land has nourished, healed, protected and embraced the Tongva peoples for many generations in a relationship of balance and harmony. As members of the Tonality community we acknowledge this legacy. We promote this balance and harmony. We find inspiration from this land; the land of the Tongva. This acknowledgement demonstrates Tonality’s commitment to the process of dismantling the ongoing legacies of settler colonialism and honoring our Nation’s Indigenous Peoples.
Acknowledgments
2022-2023 Supporters of Tonality
- Dwight Stuart Youth Fund
- California Arts Council
- California Community Foundation, LA Recovery Fund
- County of Arts and Culture OGP Grant
- Tejemos Foundation
- Ross Endowment Fund of the Jewish Foundation of Los Angeles
Tonality Sustainers ($2500 & above)
- Michael Abels
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Support Affiliated Non-Profits
Healthcare Ally
Healthcare Ally’s mission is to educate, inspire, and train healthcare workers on LGBTQ+ topics so that they may become healthcare allies and provide inclusive care for LGBTQ+ people. Learn more at www.HealthcareAlly.org or @HealthcareAlly on Instagram.
Support Tonality Today.
Contributions made to our organization are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
Here are three ways you can contribute:
- Donate in person: If you wish to make a donation during or after our concert, please see one of our volunteers or board members.
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Tonality
325 N Larchmont, Suite 306
Los Angeles, CA 90004
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Kindly help us to spread the word to others who care about valuing social justice in our society.
Upcoming Events
Music @ The Wallis is generously made possible by Terri and Jerry Kohl At War With Ourselves – 400 Years of You features a text by National Book Award-winning poet Nikky Finney inspired by her 2013 poem “The Battle of and for the Black Face Boy.” The music was composed by Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Abels, composer for the Jordan Peele films Us and Get Out. This powerful new work for string quartet, narrator, and chorus explores race relations, social justice, and civil rights in 21st century America. KRONOS QUARTET TONALITY MUSIC BY Michael Abels TEXT & NARRATION BY Nikky Finney CONDUCTED BY Alexander Lloyd Blake
Music @ The Wallis is generously made possible by Terri and Jerry Kohl Making their Wallis debut, GRAMMY-award winning vocal choir Tonality combines melodic harmonies to present concerts on themes of social justice in hopes to catalyze empathy and community activism. Put Your Guns Down discusses issues related to gun violence in the United States. Some of the selections will discuss mass shootings, police brutality, the effects on victims, school shootings, and suicide prevention. The concert also focuses on an active sense of peace as we come together to find solutions toward the epidemic of gun violence in this country. This evening’s performance will feature the world premiere of Alexander Lloyd Blake’s Running From, Running To: A Musical Reflection on Ahmaud Arbery.