Organizations and Institutions

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

September 25, 2024 Zanaida 0

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

August 25, 2024 Zanaida 0

After the end

This one’s a little heavy.

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.

Will you be there?

Conducting

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.

Get tickets

Soundcloud Song of the Month

Pie Jesu

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.

Listen to Duruflé Pie Jesu by Zanaida Stewart Robles on #SoundCloud

For Fun

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!)

Originally published via Mailchimp — view the newsletter here

July 25, 2024 Zanaida 0

The work

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

Listen on Soundcloud

Composition

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!

Check out the video below, or…

Get info and order here

Conducting

🎶 Join the ZSR Choir Intensive! 🎶

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

🎤 Limited to 50 singers! 🎤

🗓️ REGISTRATION DEADLINE: July 22, 2024

Register now and be part of something special! 🌟

Sign up here

For Fun

*Memories from The Lion King in Concert at the Hollywood Bowl – still unpacking this transformative experience.*

*Favorite Summer Cocktail: Spicy Mango Whiskey Sour*

*Felicity, singing and SLAYING IT with the Zaire King Band at the Laguna Beach Music Festival*

Check them out on Spotify

*Summer trampoline workout thwarted by cats*

Welcome to summer!

June 25, 2024 Zanaida 0

Coming home

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!)

Read the full review

Conducting

Coming this weekend

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.

Listen and view the perusal score