Michael Fausto conducts the Neighborhood chorus with me singing “I Want Jesus to Walk With Me” arranged by Moses Hogan. I also get to sit in the soprano section while Michael conducts the “Kyrie” from Mozart’s Requiem.
Gonna be fun!!
Conducting
On Wednesday, October 16, I conducted the Harvard-Westlake Chamber Singers at the Riverside City College High School Choral Festival. Singing music by Williametta Spencer, Christopher Wong, and Ralph Vaughn Williams, these young singers were terrific!
For Fun
Woke up from a nap with cats all over me!
Me, starstruck with composer Frank Ticheli after conducting his “Earth Song” at Neighborhood Church last month.
There are so many institutions and organizations that are a blessing to my life. Some have been blessing my life for decades! Besides the pride and joy I feel to be employed at Neighborhood UU Church Pasadena and Harvard-Westlake School, I was happy to reconnect with friends in the George Robert Garner III branch of the National Association of Negro Musicians during a recent branch meeting via Zoom. Watching my freshman daughter perform as a soloist during the Beach Cafe at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at CSULB was thrilling not only because my kid was brilliant (!), but because of all the familiar faces and pathways and buildings I got to enjoy at my alma mater.
This fall, I’ll reconnect with friends from the Los Angeles Master Chorale and the California Choral Directors Association through various projects and performances. Organizations like Tonality, Street Symphony, USC Thornton School of Music, The Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, All Saints Church Pasadena, The San Gabriel Valley Choral Company, and more – these special organizations and institutions with which I’ve been affiliated are never far from my heart.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the ups and downs organizations and institutions must endure. No organization is perfect, and there are times when I feel let down by them. Still, I value the vision and purpose of these institutions. I recognize the ways in which I have benefitted from their existence, and I want to give back. I can’t participate in everything nor do I have a ton of volunteer hours or money. But I’ll try to show up when I can and give a little money here and there whenever possible.
This is how I can live out my gratitude.
Favorites
I recently realized that Dr. Adolphus Hailstork is my favorite Black composer! It feels really good to have fallen in love with this composer simply from just being exposed to his music more and more on the radio and on social media. Dr. Hailstork celebrated his 80th birthday this year! Here’s my current favorite piece of his, sung by one of my favorite ensembles:
Shout For Joy by Adolphus Hailstork:
The release of my first commercial single, “Ecstatic Expectancy”!!
On Monday September 23, my choral piece Ecstatic Expectancy was released on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Instagram/Facebook, TikTok & other ByteDance stores, YouTube Music, Amazon, Pandora, Deezer, Tidal, iHeartRadio, Claro Música, Saavn, Boomplay, Anghami, NetEase, Tencent, Qobuz, Joox, Kuack Media, Adaptr, Flo, and MediaNet.
Look for Ecstatic Expectancy wherever you listen to music, and let me know where you were able to find it! My first commercially released album is soon to follow, too, so stay tuned!
For Fun
Conducting the Neighborhood Chorus for Ingathering/Water Communion Sunday, September 8
My office at school (for which I am grateful!) sometimes feels like a sad closet with a lame window. So I created some sunshine to brighten it up.
Did you know you can swim, fish, and go kayaking in the Los Angeles River? Last month, I had the best time kayaking on the water in this very picture. Can you imagine me in a kayak, paddling down that sliver of water in this picture!?! I’m planning to go kayaking one more time before LA River Kayak Safari closes for the season on September 30.
Sexy Archie
Ollie looking down on us all
Originally published as part of Zanaida’s September 2024 newsletter
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!)
Just 42 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.
Chicago a cappella seeks submissions for HerVoice, a competition and mentorship program for women composers. A partnership with the Vancouver Youth Choir, this opportunity is open to composers of all ages who self-identify as female, from anywhere in the world. It is intended to promote the work of promising composers and provide hands-on training to further their skills in choral composition. We are seeking composers who are eager to improve their skill at choral composition. Women composers whose career is in its early stages and women composers of color are particularly encouraged to apply.
A cantata in 3 movements for SATB Choir, treble choir, harp, flute, strings, and percussion. Celebrating the life and wisdom of Dominican American poet Rhina P. Espaillat
I. Cycles II. Para Mi Trataranieto el Pionario III. Guidelines
Here’s a new demo I recorded of my cantata, Guidelines. Making demos like these is fun and helpful for my compositional process.
The Installation of Rev. Dr. Omega Burckhardt at Neighborhood UU Church in Pasadena was a blast! Four (4) musical Hallelujahs by Cohen, Thompson, Beethoven, and Handel were all performed for the occasion. What a celebration!
When I was a doctoral student at the USC Thornton School of Music, I was regularly faced with disappointments and challenges that felt too heavy to bear. I often felt like I had nothing intelligent to “say” with my weak gestural skills and my lack of practical knowledge. My classmates seemed so brilliant and knowledgeable already. I felt embarrassed and awkward. I wanted to scream, to give up, to run away.
One day, I felt so woefully ignorant in Choral Literature class that I thought to myself, “Since I don’t feel like I have anything intelligent to add, I wonder if I can come up with something intelligent to ASK. What’s missing from the conversation? Who’s missing from the table? What details might be missing from the story? What’s missing from what they’re trying to teach me?”
I realized that contributing good questions could be more valuable than knowing the answers. I didn’t want to ask questions just so I could get answers right on tests. I wanted to ask questions that made me care more about what I was studying. So, I got really good at asking questions, and this is probably the most important skill I learned from my time as a doctoral student.
From the lens of curiosity, things started to change. One of the simplest, most important questions I learned to ask in times of conflict is “What would it take?” This was a question I learned to get good at answering by myself – answering this question first prevented me from making mistakes and asking lame questions out loud. It prevented me from engaging in useless busy work and futile arguments. And it helped me realize that some tasks and assignments that SEEMED useless were actually the answer the question.
“What would it take for me to feel better?”
“What would it take to get there?”
“What would it take for them to give me what I want?”
Then, if necessary, I could ask these questions of friends, teachers, fellow stakeholders, and even opponents. Asking “what would it take” usually yielded immediate and astonishing results. This question leads to another great question:
“Do the benefits of pursuing and attaining this outweigh the drawbacks?”
The wonderful thing about the “benefits vs. drawbacks” questions is that there’s never a wrong answer – the answer must only be right for the person answering, and the response is almost always either “yes” or “no.” The truth is, that answer can also change depending on the circumstances. How freeing this feels to me! And answering this question can lead to making lists of benefits and drawbacks, which can provide enough clarity to get back on track after having drifted into a low-visibility or seemingly hopeless situation.
So what are we curious about? What’s missing from the story? Who’s missing from the table? What do we want/need most right now? What will it take? Do the benefits outweigh the drawbacks?
Are we curious?
Composing
You guys!! Having my carol “Now the Rejoicing” included in the historic Oxford “Carols for Choirs 6” collection is truly an honor and a dream come true for me! This anthology series is legendary in the choral world, and it’s such a thrill to have this piece selected by Bob Chilcott, David Hill and Oxford University Press. It’s available from J.W. Pepper if you’re looking to add some new rep to your Christmas programs…
Join us in August for our first Summer Choral Intensive with the newly-formed Zanaida Stewart Robles Singers! There will be beautiful music and a US premiere of my “Blühende Bäume”, and our venue at the Neighborhood Church in Pasadena is just gorgeous. It’s a chance to work on your choral chops, rediscover the joy of singing together, and perform with a live string ensemble.
We’re particularly in need of tenors and basses, but all are welcome. If the program fee is the only thing holding you back, please contact me, and let’s talk.
Details are in the flyer above, or click the button below to go straight to the registration page.
To keep an eye on what this amazing new ensemble is doing, you can also join our Facebook group for the ZSR Singers, and be sure to follow us on Instagram!
Here’s a little visual tour of what I’ve been up to this month — it’s been busy! Pictured:
High School Scholarship Competition of the Georgia Laster Association of Music, an affiliate of the National Association of Negro Musicians (NAMN). So proud of my daughter who won second place, singing “Del Cabello Mas Sutil” by Fernando Obradors.
Juneteenth dress I wore all weekend long!
Silly and sparkly before the choir concert at Neighborhood Church
Spending time talking shop with my composition buddy, the amazing Amy Gordon
Ollie’s Corner
Ollivander wears many hats: here he is as fashion model, guard kitty and office assistant!
