Voices of Mannahatta, Apr 8, 2025

I heard Voices of Mannahatta on Apr 8, 2025. It wasn't a concert by Voices of Ascension but a concert presented by V of A as part of their season. It was all contemporary music centered in the indigenous American experience. It was unlike anything I'd heard before and a definite departure for Voices of Ascension. I hope they'll be doing more of this kind of thing.

Here's a video by V of A artistic director Dennis Keene and guest conductor and guest artistic director Danielle Jagelski:

The first piece was "I Remember It, My Land" by Urie Ridgeway and Opalanietet. Opalanietet performed it, singing and playing a drum. He then gave a short spoken introduction to the concert, giving us context for the performance. The program notes went into more detail about the complexity of a musician of color finding a place in the overwhelmingly white classical music business and community. I should mention that there were 20 singers on the program and they were all people of color.

The next two pieces were my favorites on the program. "Vision Chant" by Andrew Balfour was written for a cappella choir. It was rapturously beautiful with rich harmonies - - the opening was calm and lovely, eventually taking a turn into a section with sharp rhythms. This is a piece that should be performed often, it could be sung by many choruses. This chorus had a beautifully blended sound and the singers sang this challenging music with conviction and deep feeling.

Raven Chacon's "Voiceless Mass" was next, an instrumental piece with the musicians placed around the church. It was scored for flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, pedal organ, string quartet, double bass, two percussionists, and electronics. The opening reminded me of the first minutes of *Das Rheingold,* a low, rumbling, barely perceptible thrum. I've heard the opening of *Rheingold* described as sounding like the creation of the world, like anyone knows what that sounded like. This sounded even more like that, if possible. I had the clarinetist standing very close on the left and the double bass player behind me.

The conductor (Jagelski) conducted in the traditional manner for most of the piece, giving downbeats and upbeats, etc. At one point she turned facing the audience and raised her hands up in the air in what appeared (to me) to be a gesture of thanks or connection to a higher power. She lowered her left hand, kept her right hand up in the air and slowly moved it down, with her arm straight. The music continued and it appeared that the musicians took their cues from the placement of her arm. Like the first violin changed pitch when her hand was at 10:00. That sort of thing. Unlike anything I had seen before. I found myself listening to this piece in a way I had rarely (maybe never) listened to another piece of music. It was hypnotic, fascinating, utterly captivating.

Next up, two pieces for the full chorus by Cris Derksen. "Triumph of the Euro-Christ" was beautiful at times but maybe not always sure of where it was going or what it was doing. "Prayer For Mist" was grounded and secure in ways the other piece was not. It reminded me of Arvo Pärt, it had that same chilly austerity. Both pieces were expertly written for chorus.

"Holy Ground" by Danielle Jagelski was written for five solo singers and one percussionist playing many instruments, the amazing Colleen Bernstein. Here's a piece written by Jagelski and performed by her and Bernstein:

"Holy Ground" had lots of vibraphone being played with a bow, also cymbals being played with a bow. One of the singers started the piece standing very close to me. He dipped his cupped hands into a bowl of water, raised them, and let the water flow through his hands, over and over in rhythm. I imagine the other four singers were doing similar things but I couldn't hear them. The singers moved to the stage and sang lines that were pulsating, overlapping, shimmering. There was a video element to this piece (created by Sage Ahebah Addington, projected by Brandon Membrere) projected onto the wall above the altar. The wall itself is gold and has Klimtish swirls carved into it, it was fascinating seeing the video images interacting with that texture. The video started with colored circles slowly dancing around, eventually we saw a tree, the sky, rushing water, and was that the Brooklyn Bridge? The singers moved back into the aisles. More water handling from that guy - - he also struck a metal disc with a mallet and dipped it into the bowl of water, banding the pitch. The other singers were doing this around the room, a lovely effect. A kinetic section late in the piece was less successful. It reminded me of that moment in Lionel Richie's "Say You, Say Me" where it sounds like you've turned the dial on the radio a dropped into another song. Thankfully the Jagelski piece got back on track pretty quickly and had an exultant finish.

The full chorus was back (with that amazing percussionist from the previous piece) for "We Are On Native Land" by Brent Michael Davids. This piece opened with continually shifting rhythms and an infectious energy. The middle section was sustained with unexpected harmonic changes and switches from full chorus to four or five solo singers. These changes in texture made the piece a success. The musical raw material didn't sound so distinctive to me. The rhythmic patterns of the opening came back and built up to an exciting ending.

The concert ended with Opalanietet singing Lenape hymns - - once again him singing and playing a drum but this time he was joined by the other singers, positioned around the church. It was a perfect closer to a marvelous program.