Calendar
2018-2019
Concert Archive
A Song Everyone Can Sing: A Community Sing featuring VOCES8
Sunday, March 10
3:00
Temple Performing Arts Center: 1837 N. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA
Tickets
$1; advance registration is required (sign up below). Individuals and choirs are encouraged to join us!
In celebration of LiveConnections’ 10th anniversary season, we’re dreaming big about accessibility and inclusion in our city. We’re creating a multi-media music extravaganza where EVERYONE can participate in making music together. Young and old. People of diverse abilities and backgrounds. People who love to sing and people who don’t think they can sing at all.
Join us for a Community Sing to culminate two years of our “A Song Everyone Can Sing” initiative. We’ve been asking: What is a Song? Who is Everyone? What does it mean to Sing?
The cornerstone is a new choral work that invites people with diverse abilities to participate through singing, movement, visuals and technology. Composer Jay Fluellen is writing the music, movement artist Shavon Norris is creating ways for bodies to participate, poet Daniel Simpson is collaboratively generating text with school and community choirs, Drexel University’s ExCITe Center is using technology to visualize sound and sonify movement, and arts accessibility leader Art-Reach is working with us on best practices.
At the Community Sing, renowned a cappella ensemble VOCES8 and local partner choirs will present the world premiere of the multi-faceted new work. VOCES8 will also perform a selection of their repertoire spanning jazz, pop, folk and classical genres, and showcase their innovative “VOCES8 Method” which ties rhythm and sound to neurological development.
The whole audience will be invited to join in the music-making, celebrating human ability and the joy of singing together.
Register
About the Artists
VOCES8. “The singing of VOCES8 is impeccable in its quality of tone and balance. They bring a new dimension to the word ‘ensemble’ with meticulous timing and tuning” (Gramophone Magazine). The British vocal ensemble VOCES8 is proud to inspire people through music and share the joy of singing. Touring globally, the group performs an extensive repertory both in its a cappella concerts and in collaborations with leading orchestras, conductors and soloists. Versatility and a celebration of diverse musical expression are central to the ensemble’s performance and education ethos. Learn more at www.voces8.com. (Photo: Andy Staples)
Jay Fluellen, composer, is a Philadelphia-born musician known as a composer, college professor, educator, accompanist, pianist, singer, and organist/choir director. He is currently a teacher with the School District of Philadelphia at Northeast High School and an organist and choir director at the historic African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas. Performances: on January 14th, 2017, Fluellen accompanied Valerie Gay in three original compositions and three arrangements of music by Hannibal Lokumbe, on March 8th, 2017 his choral composition “O Send Out Thy Light” was performed by Philadelphia All City Choir at the Kimmel Center under the direction of Dorina Morrow, on March 19th, 2017 his Jazz Magnificat and Nunc Dimmitis was performed by the Philadelphia Cathedral Singers under the direction of Thomas Lloyd, and on April 8th, 2017 his commissioned work for the Germantown Poetry Project, Jan Krzywicki conductor, Linda Reichert artistic director, received its premiere, on November 8th, 2017 his commissioned music for the production Walk In My Shoes, Teya Sepunick; director, received its premiere.
Shavon Norris, movement artist, is an artist, educator and facilitator. As a dance maker, Norris’ work has been presented at Manhattanville College, The Philadelphia Live Arts and Fringe Festival, Temple University, The National Constitution Center, Art Sanctuary, Chester Eastside Ministries, the CEC, and at Joyce Soho.
In 2017, Daniel Simpson and his wife, Ona Gritz, collaborated on two books. Finishing Line Press published a volume of their work entitled Border Songs: A Conversation in Poems last September. This January, Diode Editions released More Challenges for the Delusional: Peter Murphy’s Prompts and the Writing They Inspired, an anthology of prose and poetry, which Dan and Ona co-edited. Daniel Simpson’s collection of poems, School for the Blind, was published in 2014 by Poets Wear Prada. His work has appeared in Prairie Schooner, The Cortland Review, Beauty Is A Verb: The New Poetry of Disability, The New York Times, and elsewhere. The recipient of a Fellowship in Literature from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, he served, along with Ona Gritz, as Poetry Editor for Referential Magazine, an online literary journal, from 2013 to 2016. His blog, Inside the Invisible, can be found at www.insidetheinvisible.wordpress.com.
Drexel University’s ExCITe Center employs a novel multidisciplinary approach, bringing together design, technology, and entrepreneurship. Their mission is to inspire transdisciplinary research and discovery, connecting technology and communities. Learn more at drexel.edu/excite/.
Key partner choirs include Germantown Recovery Community, Northeast High School, Our Lady of Confidence Day School and Overbrook School for the Blind. These partners are collaborating with LiveConnections’ artists throughout the 2018-2019 season in generative workshops that will help shape the final piece. Special thanks to our friends at Art-Reach and Hands UP Productions for participating in the Community Sing.
Accessibility
We aim to create a welcoming concert experience for all guests. TPAC is ADA accessible, with an elevator and handicap accessible restrooms. The concert will be seated, with ample space for people using wheelchairs or mobility devices. Although we encourage an atmosphere of quiet listening out of respect for the artists, we understand that some guests may need to vocalize or move. The concert will not contain sudden loud noises or flashing lights. ASL interpretation, and large print programs will be available. Please indicate which accommodations you will use on the registration form.
You can find a Know Before You Go guide for the event here.
Resources
Policies
Advance registration is required. If you no longer plan to use your tickets, please let us know as soon as possible so that we may make the tickets available to others.
Doors open one hour before showtime. Choirs will be seated together in reserved sections. Individual tickets are for general admission in designated areas. There will not be food or drink available.
Press Release
Coming soon!