I’m excited to get back to making music with my choirs at school and at church this week, but it’s hot out here in SoCal! Don’t be deceived by the pumpkin spice lattes and halloween decor showing up in stores— summer is still with us.
As for me, I kinda like the heat, but I’m praying for a mild fire season this year. Be careful out there.
The Arid Land by Lynn Riggs
There will be willows plunging Their bloodless roots in air And the hard crooked flying Of buzzards circled there.
About the treeless wastes No sand may ever heap With water, nothing will run And nothing creep.
Arid, desolate, defiant Under its iron band Of sky, we yet may love This so sunny land.
Composition
Not gonna lie: I’m a little overwhelmed at the moment, but looking forward to some extra composing time afforded by the upcoming Labor Day holiday… What will you do with yours?
Conducting
As the Director of Music at Neighborhood UU Church Pasadena, I cordially invite you to join our Neighborhood Church Music Ensembles this fall!
Soundcloud Song of the Month
Magnificat
by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Memories of the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Singers from 2022 – what a joy it was to rehearse and perform with this group! Here’s the Coleridge-Taylor Magnificat from that concert.
Listen to Magnificat by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor by Zanaida Stewart Robles on #SoundCloud:
Lately, I’ve been reading and watching stories about apocalypses and dystopias. Some recently-watched films and TV series include “The Last of Us,” “Don’t Look Up,” “Oppenheimer,” and “Fallout.” Also feeding the fires of my apocalyptic musings are the following 3 books: “This is How You Lose the Time War” by Amal El Mohtar and Max Gladstone, “A Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick” by Zora Neale Hurston, and “The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On” by Franny Choi. Even after what seems like annihilation, life and love find a way of continuing, in some form or another, even in post-apocalyptic times.
I asked Perplexity for a definition. Here’s what it said:
“An apocalypse refers to a revelation or disclosure of great importance, often involving the end of the world or a catastrophic event. The term originates from the Ancient Greek word “apokálupsis,” meaning revelation…It’s important to note that while “apocalypse” is often associated with destruction, its original meaning emphasizes revelation and disclosure, which may or may not involve catastrophic events.” I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s no such thing as THE apocalypse. But our world(s) – what ever we define as our world – keep ending over and over again, everywhere, at different times and in different places. We’ve already known massive apocalypses that affect millions over decades and apocalypses that inevitably and utterly destroy us, irrevokably changing each of us from the inside out…apparently just like an apocalypse is supposed to. It’s inevitable.
Isn’t apocalypse the nature of our existance? Isn’t that why today is so SO precious? Because annihilation is inevitable? Because change and evolution and death and new life and new days are inevitable? Though it’s unbareable at times, I accept that I’m living in a time of apocalypse and that a new day is on the horizon, for better and/or for worse, how ever we define “better” or “worse.” Things may get weird and awful and scary going forward, but it will get beautiful, too. We’re truly gonna be okay. It’s inevitable.
Composition
I just finished my commission for the 2025 ACDA National 11-12th Grade SATB Honor Choir. With poetry by Paul Lawrence Dunbar, it’s an up-tempo piece dealing with perseverance and hope. I think it’s gonna be hella-fun to sing! Can’t wait for the premiere in March 2025 at the ACDA National Conference in Dallas, TX.
Preparing to conduct 5 movements from Shawn Kirchner’s glorious “Songs of Ascent” for this year’s ZSR Summer Choir Intensive has been a rich and humbling experience. The performance will happen on 8/11 as part of the 10am service at Neighborhood UU Church in Pasadena.
Singing
Woohoo! On Saturday 8/10, I’m singing in the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Orchestra World Tour happening at the Shrine Auditorium.
by Maurice Duruflé, sung by Zanaida Stewart Robles
Ah, memories of the pandemic! I smiled as I recently listened to some of the first recordings I ever posted. I was particularly tickled with the recording of the Duruflé “Pie Jesu” I made with my dear friend and collaborator Wells Leng. I kinda love what we came up with.
I recently came across this old flyer – what a blast from the past! In the summer of 2011 during my USC days, I collaborated with my friend Seth Houston to conduct a bunch of new music, including Dale Trumbore’s “Sing to the Lord,” the recording of which occasionally gets played on Sunday mornings during Brian Lauritzen’s “A Joyful Noise” program on Classical California KUSC 91.5FM.
Summer vibes at home
A tale of 2 kitties
Ollie visiting the Ivory Tower as we watched “The Never Ending Story”
After I specifically forbade Archie from stepping on my pillow, getting cat hair all over it.
Please check out my website, which now lives at a very easy-to-remember address!
zanaida.com
(For those of you reading this from the blog, you’re already here! Both zanaida.com and zanaidarobles.com will now get you to the good stuff. Thanks for visiting!)
I’m somewhere in between Juneteenth and Independence Day. I feel fiercely American. I feel fiercely Black. Balancing various aspects of my identity is challenging. While I’m finally proud of who I am and where I come from, I am still learning to live authentically and humbly in community with other Americans who are both the same and different from me. In other words, I’m still trying to “do the work.” I inhabit creative spheres where ADEIB and social justice are at the forefront of our consciouness – where we often talk about “doing the work,” which means…well what does it mean??
I asked Perplexity, a conversational search engine, to define “doing the work.” Here’s what it said:
“The phrase “doing the work” is often used in personal development, professional growth, and social justice contexts. It generally refers to the process of putting in effort, time, and energy to achieve a goal, improve oneself, or address important issues…The key aspect of ‘doing the work’ is that it often involves challenging oneself, facing uncomfortable truths, and making consistent efforts over time. It’s about taking active steps towards growth and improvement rather than passively hoping for change. This phrase emphasizes the importance of personal responsibility and commitment in achieving meaningful progress in various aspects of life.”
Welp…there you have it.
Soundcloud Song of the Month
Veni Sancte Spiritus
by Zanaida Stewart Robles
I guess you could call it my best seller! Listen to Veni Sancte Spiritus by on #SoundCloud
My piece “Once I filled My Hand With Mist” in the Out From the Shadows Series with Gentry Publications, edited by Marques L. A. Garrett and James Green, is here!
Are you a singer aged 15+? Take part in an intergenerational summer choir experience that will: ✨ Sharpen your choral skills ✨ Serve your community ✨ Rediscover your love for choral music ✨ Engage spiritually and culturally through music
FEATURING: Musical Selections from “Songs of Ascent” by Shawn Kirchner
Program Fee: $100 (Suggested Donation) Proceeds benefit Neighborhood Church Music Programs
📅 Dates:
Aug 5, 6, 7, & 8: 7:15 – 9:15 PM Piano Rehearsals Aug 10: 10 AM – 12:30 PM Dress Rehearsal Aug 11: 9 AM CALL, 10 AM Church Service 📍 Performance Location: Neighborhood UU Church 301 N. Orange Grove Blvd. Pasadena, CA 91103
Thursday, June 13 7:30pm at Neighborhood Church Neighborhood Church Spring Choir Concert
Suggested donation $25 to support the NUUC music program
Congratulations, Felicity!
A glorious prom dress, a dynamite senior recital, now all that’s left is Felicity’s graduation from California School of the Arts San Gabriel Valley on Friday May 31. She’ll be attending CSULB for vocal performance this fall, and we’re so proud of her!
Soundcloud Song of the Month
Gloria
by Zanaida Stewart Robles
In honor of my birthday, here’s the joyous “Gloria” from my Mass in E minor.
Listen to this recording by the Southern Tier Singers conducted by William Culverhouse
What an extraordinary gift it was to conduct and record my music with the CSULB Bob Cole Chamber Choir this April.
They sang their faces off!
I couldn’t be more proud of my alma mater nor more grateful for Dr. Jonathan Talberg, my teacher, mentor, and lifelong friend.
Composition
Composer’s bliss
This is me in ecstasy, standing up to congratulate the Los Angeles Master Chorale after they world premiered my Song of Significance. This work and this program were very personal to me, and I’m so privileged to be commissioned for this work and included on a concert with J.S. Bach and the terribly neglected Margaret Bonds. It was all curated by artistic director Grant Gershon and pianist/radio host/champion for Black composers Lara Downes, and the whole concert was very inspiring. The San Francisco Classical Voice seems to agree, with many good things to say about the program with a focus on the Bonds works, and a nice shout-out to Song of Significance for “masterful choral orchestration, romantic and lush“. (I’ll take it!)
The Harvard-Westlake choirs have returned from England wreathed in glory, and they’ll wrap up that victory with their annual spring concert this Saturday at the campus’ Rugby Auditorium. I’ll be conducting my composition, “Can You See”, plus music from the musical “The Secret Garden”, and lots more. Admission is free!
Singing
Soundcloud Song of the Month
From the Stone Age
Written and performed by Zanaida Stewart Robles
I had a chance to sit down at home this month and record a demo of my piece “From the Stone Age” for SSAA choir, piano, cello, and flute. Text is by Alice Corbin Henderson (pictured). More about Alice below.
Poet Alice Corbin Henderson (1881-1949) was known for her activism related to Indigenous rights and environmental conservation. This 8-minute musical setting of Henderson’s poetry tells the story of a stone once carved in the semblance of a god. Over time, its surfaces are smoothed by the elements to reveal a beautiful resilience. Gradually, it becomes more beautiful and less rigid until its original form is unrecognizable and irrelevant. With a soaring soprano solo and moderately challenging harmonies and counterpoint, this work for treble choir, piano, cello, and flute offers singers a chance to explore time, the cosmos, and transformation through the embodiment of a stone.
