On December 10 and 11 at Belleville Congregational Church in Newburyport, MA., my 3-movement cantata “Guidelines” for SATB choir, treble choir, and chamber orchestra was premiered by the Newburyport Choral Society in their “In Terra Pax” concert, conducted by Ryan Turner. I couldn’t attend due to commitments at home. I heard it was fun to sing, which means the world to me.
Conducting
Ollie NOT watching his sister play Mary in the NUUC Holiday pageant
What a wonderful time I’ve had directing the upper school choirs at Harvard-Westlake and the pageant players at Neighborhood Church. Making music with these young people really put me in the holiday spirit!
Thank you so much to everyone who supported our Neighborhood Church Choir Fundraiser concert on December 16th. The concert was a big hit, and proceeds exceeded our expectations. Thanks to the generosity of concert supporters, we’ve raised about 2/3 of what we need in order to fully fund our Carnegie Hall trip in March. More to come soon!
Ollie’s Corner
Hope your holidays are warm, memorable, and full of joy!
My settings of Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis are now available from Oxford University Press:
I am honored to share that my Magnificat was also included in the new Oxford Book of Choral Music by Black Composers.If you need a Magnificat for your Advent service music this year, check out mine!
Upcoming events
SUNDAY, December 4 at 7pm
Olive Rehearsal Hall, Colburn School, Los Angeles
Tonality performs my composition Lady in Blue as part of their concert called “Right to Heal,” which takes a broad look at healthcare and its inequalities.
Rugby Auditorium Harvard-Westlake Upper School Campus, Studio City
Zanaida conducts the Harvard-Westlake Wolverine Chorus, Bel Canto, Chamber Singers, and Jazz Singers in their joint winter choral concert called “What Blooms in Darkness,” featuring works by Lili Boulanger, Shawn Kirchner, Herbert Howells, Williametta Spencer and more.
SATURDAY, December 10 at 7:30pm SUNDAY December 11 at 2pm
Belleville Congregational Church, Newburyport, MA
The Newburyport Choral Society presents the world premiere of my composition Guidelines as part of their winter concert called “In Terra Pax.” Guidelines is a commissioned setting of the poetry of Newburyport poet Rhina Espaillat.
(Revised flyer updated 11/29/22, with easier-to-scan QR code and additional instructions. Thanks, everyone!)
FRIDAY, December 16 at 7pm
Come hear music that will get you in the holiday spirit and support our church choir’s trip to sing Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast with Zanaida at Carnegie Hall! Featuring Christmas favorites such as Star in the East, The Christmas Song, Carol of the Bells, and sing-along favorites, plus a sample of the music to be performed at Carnegie Hall on our tour!
Soloists include Miriam Adhanom, Adrian Bañuelos, Michael Fausto, Carla Jaime Perez, Cesáreo Pérez and Zanaida Robles, with pianist Wells Lang. Suggested donation $20, Or use the QR code to support the trip even if you can’t attend the concert!
For Fun
I had so much fun as the clinician for the C4 Festival in Santa Clara, CA. We worked our butts off, and wow did it pay off!
I love roller coasters! Glad I got to celebrate Nat’s birthday with her at Knott’s Berry Farm this month.
I have a passion for help to grow communities of sacred music lovers and music makers. I love what I do, and it takes significant time and resources to sustain this work. Your support is what makes this work sustainable for me. I truly treasure the notes of thoughtfulness and encouragement I receive from newsletter readers on a regular basis – thank you!
As I work to find ways to be of greater service to this community, I wonder if you would consider supporting this enterprise financially. With the future launch of the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Singers as a non-profit organization, I’m beginning to seek sponsors and monthly supporters to help me bring you more concerts, music-making opportunities, news, and new music. I am expanding my work as music director, composer, and advocate for socio-cultural and spiritual connection through music. If you know someone who loves sacred music, please share my newsletter and website with them. I’m honored to partner with you in connecting our community of sacred music lovers. Thanks for helping me grow!
Composition
A trip to Orlando FL for a few days was just what I needed to visit with dear friends and spend some quality time composing. I made some good progress on commissions for Newburyport Choral Society, National Concerts, and Vox Femina. I’m excited to see how everything turns out next month.
Pictured: Tiffany exhibit at the Morse Museum, a Korean Corn Dog, and kayaking in a Florida swamp.
Conducting
Students from the University of San Francisco, Santa Clara University, Cal Berkeley, and St. Mary’s College will gather for the C4 Festival on Saturday, November 5 at Santa Clara University in San Jose. I’m so excited to fly up and be their guest clinician for the day. How exciting it will be to hear what they sound like on music by Coleridge-Taylor and by yours truly. Many thanks to directors Scot Hanna-Weir, Julie Ford, and Rebecca Seeman for the invitation!
Ollie, singing for his supper. How’s your summer going?
Conducting
I was elated over the first rehearsal for our upcoming concert of sacred choral music by Coleridge-Taylor and yours truly. These 16 singers are the best of the best, and I’m a lucky conductor to get to make music with them.
Come with us!
Wanna join me in singing at Carnegie Hall in New York next March 2023? Start by singing with me on August 14, 2022! Thank you to all who have already registered to sing Coleridge-Taylor’s masterwork Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast with me in Pasadena on that Sunday. I’d love to have more volunteers on all voice parts. For information and registration, click here:
All who sing Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast with us on the August 14 performance are automatically eligible to sing it with us again at Carnegie Hall next March.
Singing
It felt so good to sing on a recording session this month, surrounded with good friends and musical superheroes in an iconic studio.
Composition
I’m working on a really cool commission for a multi-movement work for choir and chamber orchestra – it’s my first time composing something for harp. Many thanks to master harpist Ellie Choate for giving me a tutorial!
Thanks!
I just want to say thank you. Thank you all for supporting my work as a composer. Thank you for listening to my Soundcloud recordings. Thank you for purchasing licenses for copies of my scores. Thank you for learning and performing my music. And thank you so much for your patience and understanding when orders were delayed. Part of my growth as a self-published composer is coming to the realization that I need to make some changes to my business practices. I’m still working on it, but with help from an amazing network of family, friends, and colleagues, I’m headed in the right direction.
A gift for you
As my gift, I’d like to send you a complimentary perusal PDF of one of my latest works: Ecstatic Expectancy, an advent anthem for SSATBB choir and percussion. Simply send me a message to request the score, and I’ll send it to you. This is one of my favorite works I’ve written, and I hope you like it, too!
Here’s the premiere performance on YouTube:
For Fun
Summer Vacation in Big Bear!
Ollie’s Corner
He was fascinated with Snow White, especially when all the birds and forest creatures come out.
I didn’t care much for Halloween when I was young. The candy was mostly disappointing. Halloween costumes and colors seemed trashy to me. I had no idea what was supposed to be fun or special or “holy” about a holiday that seemed to celebrate fear and deception.
But now, I understand Halloween as a celebration of the triumph of love over fear and life over death. I love the month of October because Halloween, All Saints’ Day, and Día de los Muertos have all developed a special place in my heart over the years.
The first time I fell in love with Halloween was at my friend Mandy’s house during my undergraduate days at CSU Long Beach. Mandy invited me to my first Halloween party and helped me carve my first pumpkin. Tons of friends were crammed in that small Long Beach apartment where we drank beer, watched and laughed at classic horror movies, and turned pumpkins into art.
All Saints’ Day (November 1)
I love being an Episcopalian. And though I haven’t gone to my home church in a long time (which is quite common for musicians), All Saints’ Sunday at All Saints Church in Pasadena (pictured) will always hold a special place in my heart. The Sunday after Halloween is one of two Sundays when incense is used during the service — the other is Pentecost, which happens in the summer. At my first All Saints’ Sunday service in 2002, I sang my very first Duruflé Requiem under the direction of my mentor, James Walker. There are no words to describe the overwhelmingly exquisite beauty and power of singing the Duruflé’s work with orchestra in the context of an All Saints’ Sunday service. I had never experienced such solemnity, reverence, and beauty, all at once. I could feel the presence of all the saints, our ancestors compassed around us in that space with all those worshippers, the holy smells, the beautiful garments, the hymns and the sublime music. I’ve never been the same since.
Our ofrenda, honoring and remembering family
Día de los Muertos (November 2)
I married into a family of Mexican heritage. The Robles family history is rich and beautiful, a lot like my own Stewart family history. That’s one of the many reasons I fell in love with and married a Robles man. Grandpa Mark Robles was a professional guitarist and singer who worked at La Golondrina on Olvera Street, and had several film appearances. Grandpa and his wife, Emily, were devout Catholics and parents of nine children, including my father-in-law, Christopher Edward Robles.
To my knowledge, the Robles family didn’t really celebrate Día de los Muertos. But when the movie Coco came out a few years ago, it resonated deeply with me because of my own family connection to a great musician of Mexican heritage. So although the Day of the Dead isn’t a holiday I grew up with, creating an ofrenda each year enables me to honor the legacy of Grandpa Robles and remember all the loved ones who have passed from this life to the next. Seeing their pictures on the ofrenda during the month of October connects me to my past and reminds me of the love and strength these people continue to give me, even though they’ve passed on.
Composition
My compositions “Can You See” and “Veni Sancte Spirius” have grown in popularity over the past few months, with planned performances by several choirs across the country. Click the button below to check out my colleague Dr. Marques Garrett teaching it to his students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
I’m back in the saddle! It’s been fun getting to conduct again, mostly for virtual choir projects where I have to “audiate” the choir (hear them in my head), because they aren’t actually singing with me synchronously.
But I was elated for the opportunity to conduct 3 songs with the group Tonality for the “Tune In Festival” produced by CAP UCLA. Check us out on Friday, October 30 at 9pm. I’m conducting my composition “Can You See,” along with “Sing About it” by Moira Smiley and “America the Beautiful” by Shawn Kirchner, with Shawn himself on piano.
I sing ALL THE TIME! on virtual choir videos, guide tracks, practice recordings, over Zoom calls, all over my house!… There’s so much singing to do, despite the fact we can’t do it together in person.
For Fun
Honestly, things have been really tough lately. COVID-19, the ongoing images of brutality against Black lives, and the upcoming election have caused my general anxiety to skyrocket.
And yet… the blessings continue. Gratitude returns. Hope is kindled again and again. So what’s giving me life right now?
Watching the World Series.
Listening to Billy Child’s new album, “Acceptance”.
Playing “Bioshock” on Xbox 1.
Chopping vegetables.
Bouncing on my trampoline.
Working on home improvement and seasonal decorating.
Completing French lessons every day on Duolingo.
Singing and editing virtual choir videos.
Playing “Just Dance” on Nintendo Switch with my daughters.
Watching Star Trek: Deep Space 9 on Netflix with my husband.
Connecting with friends and family on Facebook and Instagram.
