Kalamazoo Choral Arts opens its 80th anniversary season this Wednesday, October 21, with "All Rise: Songs of Resistance and Resilience" at Kalamazoo Central High School. Music director Chris Ludwa, who also teaches at Kalamazoo College, tells Cara Lieurance on that the title honors Ruth Bader Ginsburg and looks back at the protest movements that came before this moment.
"I think as long as there have been inequities, deep inequities, then there have been a need to rise up and to raise one's voice," Ludwa says.
The program ranges across the globe. "Mamli Mukhasa," a Georgian folk song, compares the Georgian people to an oak that stands firm against swarming midges. A native Georgian student at Kalamazoo College sings the solo and coached the choir on the language. Two pieces by Vermont composer Moira Smiley are on the program, including "Keep On Going," which will receive its Michigan premiere at the concert. Smiley coached both the Kalamazoo College Singers and the KCA choir during a residency in September.
The Kalamazoo College Singers join as guests, along with soloist Jerome Collins, a founding member of Straight No Chaser and Ludwa's classmate at Indiana University. Collins sings "A Change Is Gonna Come," a new arrangement of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" and Motown-era favorites such as "Proud Mary." Collins is also working with Kalamazoo Central students during the day.
"I would put Jerome up against Sam Cooke's arrangement any day," Ludwa says.
As the audience arrives, block prints on themes of resistance by Kalamazoo College art students appear on screen.
"My goal is for people to walk away with a greater sense of resolve that they leave feeling uplifted, not beaten down," Ludwa says.
The season continues with:
- A holiday concert December 6 at Stetson Chapel
- An '80s-themed community cabaret January 29 at Bell's
- A semi-staged performance of Mendelssohn's Elijah in February at First Presbyterian Church
- "Wicked Good Women," a program of Broadway music, in April
- Mahler's Second Symphony with the Kalamazoo Philharmonia in Dalton Theater
Doors open at 7 p.m. Wednesday, and the concert begins at 7:30 and runs about 75 minutes. Admission is free for youth and anyone with a student ID, and pay-what-you-can tickets are available at kalamazoochoralarts.org.
The interview was summarized by Claude AI and edited by the author.
