Why We Cannot Walk Alone?
Music has a unique power to bring people together and dissolve barriers. And yet, for centuries, performing arts institutions have erected obstacles to prevent Black, Indigenous, and other musicians of color from sharing this most profoundly human form of expression.
As we reconcile the wounds of our past, we must create a new cultural future, a world in which everyone with a story to tell or a song to sing has an opportunity to do so in concert halls and opera houses.
Our cultural landscape has always been enriched by creative artists of color. For every Mozart, there was a Chevalier de Saint-Georges; for every Edward Elgar, a Samuel Coleridge-Taylor; for every Amy Beach, a Florence Price. And for every well-known composer of color, there were countless more who would have made the world more beautiful if given a chance without the barriers of racism.
With our We Cannot Walk Alone concert series and commissioning project, Anima Mundi Productions dedicated our 2021-22 season to the growing movement to open up long-barricaded spaces and inviting collaboration with performing artists and composers of color. We have missed so much by ignoring the tremendous contributions of our fellow artists. And while we can never reclaim all the beauty and bounty that have been lost over the centuries, we can restore a missing puzzle piece that never should have been excluded in the first place. This is why We Cannot Walk Alone.
Updates on our BIPOC composer projects
As part of our We Cannot Walk Alone initiative, Anima Mundi Productions has commissioned new works by composers Yuan-Chen Li, Miguel del Águila, Damien Geter, Regina Harris Baiocchi, Barbara Assiginaak, Carolina Calvache, and Jasmine Barnes. These works have been premiered at concerts featuring soprano Takesha Meshé Kizart-Thomas, pianist Artina McCain, and the Imani Winds on our own Heart of Humanity series and also in co-presentations with Seattle Opera, Chamber Music Northwest, Portland State University, and the Oregon Bach Festival.
As a continuation of our commitment to BIPOC creators, our 2023 season celebrates women of color with our Honoring My Sister’s Beauty (May ’23) and Uptown String Quartet (Nov. ’23) concerts.
In partnership with the Seattle Opera & Anima Mundi Productions, NAAM hosted students from UW at last Thursday’s show. The opera, “Maternità,” was a recital on the theme of Black motherhood led by Soprano Takesha Meshé Kizart-Thomas and pianist Artina McCain. pic.twitter.com/WC2T18eRnL
— NW African American Museum (@naamnw) March 15, 2022
Maternità
Takesha Meshé Kizart-Thomas, Dramatic Soprano
in recital with Artina McCain, Pianist
A unique new recital exploring the theme of motherhood through famous operatic heroines and world premieres by Black, First Nations/Indigenous, and Latina female composers.
Now Streaming Online
Honoring My Sister’s Beauty
A theatrical concert that combines art song with blues, spirituals, and poetry to explore African American and European traditions through the lens of sisterhood.
Now Streaming Online
Youth and Nonprofit Tickets
Anima Mundi Productions proudly offers complimentary and reduced-price tickets for community nonprofit and youth education program partners attending as a group. Please call (541) 833-3066 ext. 3 for more information.
In March 2022, Anima Mundi Productions partnered with BASE Southern Oregon and Santa Monica College professor Dr. Lesa Terry to present opera singer Takesha Meshé Kizart-Thomas and pianist Artina McCain to the AfroScoutz youth program.
