"Fired UP!" A Call for Equality and Activism

Artistic Director Elinor A. Armsby has chosen two outstanding selections to anchor the spring program.

The major work presented this May is “Lifting as we Climb” written in 2019 by Joan Szymko to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment’s passage to the US Constitution. The 1920 legislation gave women the right to vote; yet, as the piece highlights, it would be decades before all women could truly access the ballot box. While celebrating the women’s suffrage movement, Szymko amplifies the voices of Black Women activists in history and calls on everyone to protect the hard won civil liberties of all against the current assaults on human rights, equality, democracy & universal suffrage.

“Lifting As We Climb” is scored for women’s choir, dramatic speakers from the community in the roles of suffragists from Sojourner Truth to Stacey Abrams, piano, alto saxophone and drums. Cantilena is joined by women from local organizations which champion diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Cantilena is thrilled to be premiering “Handmade” by Kelvyn Koning. This commissioned work “highlight[s] the stories of homeless LGBTQ+ youth through their own voices.” Having interviewed homeless shelter staff and individuals who have had no home, Koning writes that this song of care, compassion, and healing “aims to remind our community that some of our most vulnerable members are not ‘others’ but fully-realized people with a vast range of stories.”

Other works include “Bread & Roses” – Mimi & Richard Farina, “The March of the Women” – Ethyl Smith, “When Thunder Comes” – Mari Esabel Valverde, and “Harriet Tubman” – Walter Robinson/arr. Kathleen McGuire.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Arlington Commission for Arts and Culture (ACAC) Grants Committee, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council (MCC), a state agency, and a Projects and Festivals Grant from the Mass Cultural Council [MCC]

Cantilena is supported by a Cultural Sector Recovery Grant from the Mass Cultural Council [MCC] to partially support this spring 2023 program.