Dear Friends,
Happy 2016! I hope you are experiencing a wonderful beginning to this New Year.
As I reflect on the past 365 days, I am grateful, as always, for opportunities both personal and professional, for time spent with family and friends, and for challenges overcome. However, my gratitude—and perhaps yours—is colored with grief. Sorrow lingers for those we lost in Paris, Egypt, Syria, Beruit, Mali, Nigeria, Turkey, Kenya, and within our own States to hatred, apathy, self-obsession, prejudice, and narrowmindedness.
Though I know the roots of these conflicts reach far below the soils of nations and into the bones of peoples, tribes, and communities, many events left me speechless in anguish. As the terrible stories multiplied, I felt more and more powerless; after all, what could I do? I imagined children without parents, brothers without sisters, wives without husbands, and best friends without lifelong confidantes. Some weeks, it was enough to make a person want to stay home for the rest of her days.
But I know I mustn’t—we mustn’t.
We all must venture out and continue to live.
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A Sunday morning rehearsal in Brooklyn, New York.
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We must keep building bridges in the ways we best know how: by learning, teaching, traveling, speaking other languages, volunteering, presenting lectures, making art, reading, playing, defending those with no voice, and caring for one another. In the face of those who burn bridges and drive people apart—the very antithesis of what we must do and of what Ensemble Companio strives to do—it is even more important.
Bringing people together is in Ensemble Companio’s blood. Our mission statement, written during our first year of existence, is “to build bridges between people through authentic performances of the finest choral music.†In fact, our drive to connect is so important to us that we don’t hold music during performances. It makes concert preparation more difficult, to be sure, but singing to an audience without that particular barrier is transcendent. I can tell you that singing with Ensemble Companio has healed me when I was broken. Our performances have inspired and uplifted audience members, and I have watched the music form connections between singers and listeners alike.
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Director Joseph Gregorio introduces a piece during our mini concert at a senior living center.
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If you haven’t yet joined us for a rehearsal, a concert, or a reception, please do! And if you have, we can’t wait to see you again. Our last two rehearsals of the season (9am-5pm Saturday and 9am-12pm Sunday; always open for listening!) are as follows:
February 6-7 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Brooklyn, NY
March 12-13 TBD in West Chester, PA
And, I’m thrilled to announce three concerts this spring (with a possible fourth to be added):
April 2, 7:30pm at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Brooklyn, NY
April 3, 2:00pm at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Wilton, CT
April 30, 7:30pm at Trinity Memorial Church in Philadelphia, PA
Additional details on locations may be found at http://www.ensemblecompanio.org/concerts.
It brings us the greatest joy to connect with you through music and the conversations that follow. We hope that you feel that same joy and take it with you as you build bridges of your own.
I look forward to hearing from you at president@ensemblecompanio.org. And until we meet again, let us all hold one another a little closer than before.
Yours, |
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