The ZSR Singers “Up Your Game” Reading Session is a professional development experience for singers ages 15 and up. Singers will sharpen their musicianship skills while singing favorite choral works by some of LA’s most acclaimed composers. Meet and sing with the composers, make connections, and gain practical insight for advancing your career in choral music. Designed for choral students, teachers, composers, emerging professionals, and any choral music lover who wants to up their game in the choral field.
REGISTRATION FEE:
$60 Students
$100 General
DATE & TIME
Sunday, February 1 from 2pm-5pm
LOCATION
301 N. Orange Grove Bl. Pasadena, CA 91103 in the Sanctuary
Join us for a joyful Easter Sunday celebration at Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church in Pasadena, CA, featuring a special musical offering:
🎶 “Jubilant Song” by Norman Dello Joio 🎶
✨ When: Easter Sunday, 10:00 AM (during the service)
✨ Where: Neighborhood UU Church, Pasadena, CA
Lift your spirits with the powerful harmonies and radiant energy of this inspiring piece as we rejoice in renewal, hope, and community. All are welcome—come celebrate with us!
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
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:
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!
