Category: Music Conferences

Celebrating the ZSR Singers 2026 Summer Choral Intensive

It was new, unique, and affirming. With 30+ singers from Southern California and beyond, ages ranging over 7 decades, a week’s worth of work culminating in a serviced-based performance of 5 songs sung with spirit and purpose, it was truly wonderful! Our deepest thanks goes to Kirk Averitt and the Church of the Good Shepherd in Arcadia for hosting our program so generously and allowing us to ground our work on Sunday morning, singing for a purpose greater than ourselves.

Zanaida Robles at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis

Memories from St. Louis

The premiere of my O Magnum Mysterium for soprano and organ for the American Guild of Organists convention in St. Louis earlier this month was wonderful. My deepest appreciation goes to soprano Christine Brewer and organist Christopher Houlihan for bringing my piece to life. Here’s a video from AGO’s Facebook page:

There have been several requests for the score from organists curious to try it out at their own churches. I’m grateful to the American Guild of Organists for commissioning me and making it possible for me to travel and be present for the premiere.
By the way, the famous St. Louis Arch is so much more inspirational in person than I ever imagined it would be.

I also ate some of the best barbecue of my life at Sugarfire Smokehouse in downtown St. Louis.

Upcoming events

The Road to Carnegie Hall

Choirs can sign up now to join us in song at one of the greatest performance spaces in the world.  Zanaida returns to Carnegie Hall in NYC to perform Shawn Kirchner’s Songs of Ascent and more, in March 2027.  Individual singers can join the fun as part of the ZSR Singers, as we travel to New York and experience this journey together.  Learn more and find application links on the website:

Get details

Composition

Lessons about time

With a commission due this fall, and two more in the works for next year, I’m at maximum capacity as a composer. Ongoing efforts include continuing to study orchestration, trying to use notation software more efficiently, self-promotion, and marketing — all things that are essential to building a composing life and a body of work as a creator.

But it’s an ongoing challenge, and taking much longer to reach my summer publishing goals than I hoped it would. I’m still trying to release four new titles on the MusicSpoke marketplace this summer. The editing process continues to vex me (not to mention ASCAP cataloguing and US copyright fees).

As long as I feel inspired to keep composing, I guess I have to accept that I still have a lot to learn. And patience is paramount, because it’s gonna take as long as it needs to take. Somehow, I suspect I’m not the only one grappling with some of this…  

For Fun

Thing 1 (Archie)
Thing 2 (Ollie)
Hope your summer is inspiring, restful and not TOO hot!

Originally published as the July 2026 e-newsletter from Stewart Robles Music. View the online version here

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MY MANTRA

Singers are athletes. Athletes are artists.

Say it again.
And again.
And again.

Actually, I think all performing artists are athletes. Think about the implications – the importance of health and fitness, the hours of practice and rehearsal, the training, the coaching, the performances, the injuries and ailments, the competitions, the tears of failure, the tears of triumph. What other parallells do you see? When I think about the parallells between arts and athletics, I feel more open to the possiblity of connection beyond my music circle. The possibility of deeper, broader connections in the greater community excites me and gives me hope for the future.

Singing

On Sunday, March 28 at 10am, I’m singing “Precious Lord” for a special Truth and Reconciliation service at Neighborhood Church. Being able to sing this special song from the bottom of my heart while in the context of my church work is a blessing I never take for granted.

Composition

While I’m working on 3 new commissions at the moment, orchestration and composition studies are occupying much of my time. Taking lessons, reading Piston and Adler, studying works by various orchestral composers, and working on foundational assignments to help improve my compositional process – it’s humbling but rewarding.

Conducting

We’re on tour in Costa Rica, where I’m conducting the Harvard-Westlake choirs in 3 concerts over 6 days. Pura vida! 

For Fun

Memories from the Western ACDA Regional Conference in San Jose:

With conductors Kevin Tyson, Jeffrey Benson, and Scot Hanna-Weir
With singer/composer/activist Melanie DeMore
Promoting my compositions
Promoting my compositions
I’m on an advertising poster!

At the river’s edge – such beauty and energy just a 5 minute walk from home.

Cat meld

More adventures to come,

Originally published as Zanaida’s March 2026 email newsletter – You can join the list here.

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Do-over!

I wrote a reflection a couple weeks ago for the ACDA Western Region Conference session on worship in music. Sadly, ten minutes before I was supposed to offer this reflection, I dropped and broke the phone I was using. When it came time for me to speak, I just invited the audience into a moment of silent reflection on unity through choral music. Everything worked out fine, and my phone has since been replaced. But here’s some of what I would have said to the audience had my phone not been broken:
 

“20th century Black American operatic bass and civil rights activist Paul Robeson once said: 

‘I shall take my voice wherever there are those who want to hear the melody of freedom or the words that might inspire hope and courage in the face of despair and fear. My weapons are peaceful, for it is only by peace that peace can be attained. The song of freedom must prevail.’

Songs of freedom and joy, songs of hope and courage, songs of wisdom, songs of rage, love, loss, and sacrifice – these are songs we all sing. Singing by oneself – whether in the shower or as a soloist in a studio or on a stage – can be healthy and powerful. But singing in a choral ensemble takes a special kind of vulnerability, courage, and selflessness. That’s why choral music is so powerful; our choral work together is sacred. Whether in houses of worship, in classrooms, on concert stages, in studios, in train stations, on street corners, or in parking garages, we amplify our power to inspire positive change when we sing music TOGETHER, thereby bringing meaning to our lives, and fostering the unity we long for.”

Conducting

UK, here we come…

The Harvard-Westlake Choirs embark on an 8-day performance and heritage tour of England! With stops in London, Cambridge, Gloucester, and Bath, this spring break trip is sure to be memorable! Here’s a link to our Brandenburg Festival concert:

Brandenburg’s concert announcement

Composition

World premiere coming in April

Just 12 days until the world premiere of my piece “The Song of Significance” at Walt Disney Concert Hall, performed by the Grammy Award-winning Los Angeles Master Chorale. 

I Believe:
The music of Bach, Bonds and Robles

Grant Gershon, conductor
Lara Downes, piano
Chloé Vaught, soprano
Jamal Moore, bass

Get tickets and full details

Singing

Easter is almost here!

Arvis Strickling-Jones, entrepreneur

Easter Sunday, March 31, is Gospel Sunday at Neighborhood UU Church in Pasadena, CA. Come hear my solo on “Gonna Have a Good Time” by Arvis Strickling-Jones! 

Directions to the church

Soundcloud Song of the Month

By The Waters of Babylon

by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

sung by the California Coleridge-Taylor Singers
Dr. Zanaida Stewart Robles, conductor
James Walker, organist

This haunting response to Psalm 137 is described by one music blog in evocative terms:  “Coleridge-Taylor’s writing for choir is superb; he excels at creating rich, thick textures and also thinner textures that don’t sound weak or unsupported. The general tone of this work is yearning, which is just what the Psalm is about — the yearning of the Jewish people while they were in Babylonian exile, yearning for Jerusalem. It’s a beautiful, poignant work.”

Listen on Soundcloud

For Fun

A sweet parent gave me flowers after our lunchtime choir tour preview concert at Harvard-Westlake! 🥹
Can’t wait to go to England!

Here are some escalator selfies at Walt Disney Concert Hall just before my promotional interview with Artistic Director Grant Gershon. The world premiere is coming up on April 6 & 7!

Archie… being Archie

Happy spring, everyone!

View the original March 2024 newsletter here

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Summer wrap-up

Summer CCDA conference at ECCO

The gorgeous environment at Yosemite’s ECCO Retreat Center made this conference even more special. Meeting friends, hearing music and sharing these beautiful surroundings together made it far more than just work!

Not my picture, but isn’t Yosemite gorgeous?

Conducting

On August 12, we performed The Sacred Choral Music of Coleridge-Taylor and Robles. I discovered that conducting my own compositions can be thrilling (not just scary!). I couldn’t have been more pleased with the evening. (Photo by Adon Alonzo)

Conducting “Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast” on Sunday August 14 with my Neighborhood Church summer choir and with Katie Eames at the piano was definitely a summer highlight for me. I loved having 3 teenagers in the group!; my own daughter and two Harvard-Westlake students sang with us. It was transformative to perform this work in the context of a church service intended to confront cultural appropriation and center the voices of Native American culture bearers. We look forward to bringing this kind of depth to our performance at Carnegie Hall in March 2023.  (Photo by Yolanda Mitchell West)

Composition

Now that this year’s Coleridge-Taylor Celebration has ended, I turn my attention to the four composition commissions I’ve been neglecting over the past two weeks! Thank goodness the deadlines are spread apart over the next six months. Of the four projects, the two multi-movement pieces on which I’m working right now are particularly challenging.

Y’all need to pray for me.

For Fun

A visit the the Broad Museum for the Murakami exhibit was well worth the time spent sitting in traffic on a Thursday night. Plus, I got to go to the sound bath performance that was part of the exhibit on the 2nd floor of the museum – so refreshing, so resonant, so cool! 

Ollie’s corner

Ollie’s official headshot for August, and Ollie diving into his new job, guarding the clean laundry:

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New tricks

I learned something new this month:

Playing tetherball with your legs and feet rather than your arms and fists is a really good workout.

Hope you’re doing well. Happy Spring!

Conducting

April 6-10, I’m conducting the Treble Honor Choir for the New Hampshire Music Educators Association in New Hampshire

Read more about NHMEA

Composition

My five-movement “Mass in E Minor” is being world premiered by the Southern Tier Singers’ Collective conducted by William Culverhouse on Sunday, April 24 in Binghamton, New York.  

Get details here

For Fun

Here are some pics from ACDA Western Division Conference in Long Beach, March 2-5:

Backstage before I sang “Lift Every Voice” for the All-Conference Sing
Dinner with composer friends, including Saunder Choi, Juan Carlos Acosta, and Amy Gordon.
With Dale Trumbore after our successful co-presentation on “Building Meaningful and Lasting Relationships Between Composers and Conductors”

Ollie’s Corner

Best cat ever!

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