Tag: Walt Disney Concert Hall

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

For Fun

Performing at Gloucester Cathedral in England with the Harvard-Westlake choirs

Ollivander in glory
Ollie and Archie with a new favorite box
Ollie’s tooth 
“What?”

Happy spring, everyone!

This post was originally released as one of Zanaida’s monthly newsletters, April 25 2024

April 25, 2024 Zanaida 0

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

March 25, 2024 Zanaida 0

How’s it going?

I hope you are all doing well and staying healthy. To be perfectly honest, I’ve had a rough time this month. The COVID surge and subsequent cancellation of music events, choir festivals, projects, and rehearsals was emotionally hard to bear. Being Director of Music at Neighborhood Church and conducting the Neighborhood Chorus is an important artistic outlet for me. So having to go virtual and choirless for services and canceling choir rehearsals for the first few weeks of the year left me feeling pretty low. But the love and support of family, friends, and colleagues have helped me to weather this storm. And I’m happy to say that things seem to be looking up.

Resignation from Tonality

After three terrific years, it was time for me to step down from serving on the Tonality Board of Directors. Tonality has many incredible projects on the horizon. And while my journey with the organization is at an end, I wish Tonality all the best in the months and years ahead.

Composition

My work “Veni Sancte Spiritus” will be performed by the Los Angeles Master Chorale in Walt Disney Concert Hall on Sunday, January 30. Get tickets at lamasterchorale.org. Hope to see you there!

Here’s a recent home recording of my Kwanzaa song: “Nia,” with vocals and percussion performed by Natalie, Vincent, and Zanaida Robles. It features the new tongue drum that Vincent got me for Christmas:

Listen to “Nia” by Zanaida Robles on #SoundCloud:

Listen here

Ollie’s Corner

Here’s Ollie being a vicious predator toward a toy snake.

January 25, 2022 Zanaida 0