Category: ZSR Singers

Choir performance in a church sanctuary: conductor on podium as audience applauds; singers in red stoles under a pipe organ.

August 2025 Newsletter

ZSR Singers

August 10, 2025 marked the 3rd annual Zanaida Stewart Robles Singers Choral Intensive culminating performance during the 10am service at Neighborhood UU Church. Our performance of selection from Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana was one of my favorite church performances of all time! Here’s a link to the video – it’ll make you smile! Also, Felicity’s solo on “Dulcissime” toward the end of the service is just beautiful! 

Composition

Photo: Marielle Hayes Photography

Photo:  Marielle Hayes Photography

I’m so happy to have finished arranging Veni Sancte Spiritus for SSAA voices. Many thanks to Eric Tuan and the Piedmont East Bay Childrens Chorus commisdioning this work. They will premiere it on their “Making History” Concert on Saturday, March 21, 2026 in Berkeley, CA. The SSAA version of Veni Sancte Spiritus will be published in summer 2026.

Learn More About PEBCC

Conducting

My teacher and mentor Dr. Cristian Grases (pictured above left), chair of the Department of Choral and Sacred Music at USC, will play the cuatro with me as I conduct a performance of “Gloria” and “Sanctus” from Misa Criolla by Ariel Ramirez (above right) in celebration of Ingathering at Neighborhood UU Church on Sunday, September 7 at 10am. I am thrilled for our community to be blessed by Dr. Grases’s expertise in the field of Latin American choral music.

Not familiar with the cuatro?  A lovely example of this guitar-like Venezuelan instrument is pictured above, as held by Smithsonian Music.

For Fun

Summer Vibes
LA Master Chorale Artistic Director Grant Gershon imparting Carmina Burana wisdom to the ZSR Singers
Being able to cue up my own music on Spotify in my car is a dream come true!
Cats = love

Hope your summer is wrapping up beautifully!

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News from Zanaida: July 2025 Newsletter

Moonlight, Live

As you know, I serve as Director of Music at Neighborhood UU Church in Pasadena, CA. Before church service began on July 13, my friend, church keyboardist and Associate Music Director Wells Leng (pictured) was playing the piano as usual. Since Debussy’s Clair de Lune (“Moonlight”) was scheduled as the prelude, Wells casually played through a few spots in the Debussy as they were preparing for the service to start. My mind was in a million other places, and I was having a tough morning due to concerns about, you know, the usual or whatever. The service began with announcements as usual. The welcome words cue the keyboardist to start the prelude.

On cue, Wells startled me with the way their posture transformed. As if they were summoning some sort of ancient, otherworldly power, they straightened their back with what seemed like intense reverence and slowly lifted their hands to play.

You know that scene from the movie Ratatouille, when the food critic is dramatically transported to his childhood with the first bite of that scrumptious meal? That was how dramatically moving the first three notes of this performance of Clair de Lune were for me.

Also, I realized something extraordinary:  I had never heard the piece played live.

In Wells’s hands, it was like hearing it in 3D – one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard in my life. I’m sure the combination of pressures at home and worry for the world and childhood nostalgia and peri-menopausal hormones were all at work. But something in me broke while I listened to Wells play Clair de Lune. I have never wept in church like I wept when they played that piece that morning.

It was the best part of my whole day.

Conducting

What was that, Carl?

The Zanaida Stewart Robles Singers Summer Choir Intensive starts in less than 2 weeks! I can’t wait to dive into Carmina Burana with our singers, anticipating how powerful it will be to perform it during the 10am Sunday morning service at Neighborhood UU Church Pasadena on August 10. In the meantime, I offer you a link to my favorite “misheard lyrics” version of the famous “O Fortuna” chorus. 

Here’s “Oh Four Tuna”:

Singing

During church on July 20, I dusted off my French art song chops and sang Villanelle by Eva Dell’Acqua and Chanson Triste by Henry Duparc. I made some mistakes, but I had fun and it felt good to explore those melodies again. Also, making music with pianist Dr. Katie Eames is always a special treat! Here’s a link to a video of the service. My songs happen around 18:30 and 25:30.

Composition

My piece, Veni Sancte Spiritus, continues to strike a chord with choirs all over the country. Many thanks to Kaleb Hilton and the choir of Kentucky Governor School for the Arts for learning this piece and inviting me to Zoom with them in preparation for their performance. Check out this piece and more on my album of sacred choral works titled Ecstatic Expectancy.

Listen on Spotify
Purchase on Amazon

For Fun

Playing instrumental music with my friend and fellow singer Dabney Ross Jones was a blast!

Anyone else want to play music with me just for fun? Let me know.

First Cherry Cobbler

My first cherry cobbler turned out perfectly.

Kayaking

Yay, kayaking time!

Archie: “Can’t you find another way down?”

Ollie the Angel

Ollie – the angel of tripping hazzards.

Keep in touch!

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Zanaida Stewart Robles Singers logo under dramatic stage lights with text announcing the group is officially not-for-profit

ZANAIDA STEWART ROBLES SINGERS

We’re now an official not-for-profit organization!!

Zanaida Stewart Robles Singers creates intergenerational artistic experiences by inspiring and cultivating cultural, intellectual, and spiritual engagement through choral music. 

The ZSR Singers Summer Choir Intensive
is happening August 4-10 at
Neighborhood UU Church, Pasadena.
Cost is $100 per person.
Ages 16+
Visit www.zanaidarobles.com to register or for more info.
Zanaida Stewart Robles conducts a diverse choir and string ensemble in performance at Neighborhood UU Church, with colorful stoles and a pipe organ in the background.

Compositions

Exterior view of the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis in Missouri, featuring Romanesque architecture, green-tiled domes, and twin towers against a cloudy sky.

New work headed for St. Louis

I just submitted the manuscript for my new setting of O Magnum Mysterium for soprano and organ. The work was commissioned the American Guild of Organists and will be premiered next year at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis during the 2026 AGO National Convention.

Singing

Vocal soloist performs with choir, conductor, and chamber ensemble on stage during a concert, with projected text above honoring Ahmaud Arbery.

Photo by Mercy Luna

Saturday, May 24 was a night of powerful choral singing at the Wallis Theater in Beverly Hills. I was honored to be a soloist with the GRAMMY Award-winning group Tonality in the premiere performance of Alexander Lloyd Blake’s new work entitled Running From, Running To: A Musical Reflection on Ahmaud Arbery.

Read more about this powerful work in these news features in the LA Times and the LA Sentinel

Travel

My HW choral students performed Haydn’s Paukenmesse at Carnegie Hall earlier this month. Though I didn’t conduct the performance myself, it was incredibly rewarding to hear the singers rave about their experience and to see them dance together with joy and pride over their accomplishments. Dr. Julie Yu-Oppenheim was efficient, expressive, and hilarious in rehearsal. And she was masterful on the podium in performance. My students loved her! When we weren’t in rehearsal, we got to enjoy the sights and sounds of the Big Apple.

For Fun

Group of colleagues enjoying an outdoor dinner at a long marble table at a restaurant, smiling and relaxed in the evening sunlight with pizza and drinks.

We had a fun summer-time meet-up with members of the Southern California Vocal Association (SCVA) and composers from the California Choral Directors Association (CCDA)

Passengers smiling and interacting with a calm tabby cat sitting on someone’s lap during a flight, capturing a joyful moment aboard a commercial airplane.

I sat next to a kitten on the plane to New York!

Happy summer travels

(or staycays), everyone!

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TODAY, MAY 25, IS MY 46th BIRTHDAY!!

While I’m celebrating my own journey today, I want to send a little encouragement your way, too. May this season of your life bring unexpected kindness, meaningful change, and reasons to smile. We’re all in this together, and I’m so grateful for the connection.

Zanaida in red and gold graduation gown smiling with two children at a university commencement ceremony, surrounded by a crowd of graduates and family.

Celebrating 10 years as a DMA

I wanted to be a “doctor of music” ever since I was 8 years old. In December 2014, after more than 4 long years, I graduated with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California. I walked in the Thornton graduation ceremony in May 2015. Here’s a memory of me with my daughters on that special day. I think 8-year-old me would be amazed!

Conducting

Registration starts in just a few days!

Sign up to be part of our Summer Intensive with the ZSR Singers — we’re singing Carmina Burana this year!

Flyer for the Zanaida Stewart Robles Singers summer choir intensive featuring ‘Carmina Burana.’ Program begins August 2025 in Pasadena. Registration opens June 1, 2025.
Check us out on Facebook

For Fun

Woman playfully posing at a Roland keyboard during a rehearsal with sheet music, surrounded by fellow musicians preparing for a performance in a room with red stage curtains.

Come see the Frostig School community production of “Bye Bye Birdie” on May 29, 30, 31 at 7pm and June 1 at 2pm at the Frostig School in Pasadena. I’m playing in the band!

Close-up of feet wearing beaded, multicolored sandals with double buckle straps and coral pink toenail polish on a wooden floor with white fringe rug visible in corner.

Spring pedicure with Mother’s Day shoes

Smiling woman holding the book ‘Choral Repertoire by Women Composers’ in a cozy study space, highlighting contributions of female composers in choral music history.

Check out this new textbook. I’m on page 592!

Close-up of a woman leaning in affectionately toward a relaxed tabby cat on a bed with soft blankets, capturing a tender moment of connection and comfort.

In love with my cat

What’s on your mind?

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Ready for a spicy season

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:

Listen on Soundcloud

For Fun

ZSR Summer Choir Intensive performance on 8/11/24 

Mario in awe of Ollie

A rare photo of Archie looking majestic and sexy

One can never get enough kitty love

Stay cool out there!

Originally published via the August 2024 monthly newsletter

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