Concert 1: Maternità

Takesha Meshé Kizart-Thomas, Dramatic Soprano
in recital with Artina McCain, Pianist

This unique new recital explored the theme of motherhood through famous operatic heroines and world premieres by Black, First Nations/Indigenous, and Latina female composers.

Anima Mundi Productions commissioned 5 new works for this recital and broadcast their premiere with a high-tech, multi-camera livestream from our home base on the campus of Southern Oregon University.

This program went on to subsequent performances at Resonance Works in Pittsburgh, PA, and Opera in the Rock in Little Rock, AR. 

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.

Concert 2: The Imani Winds

Commissioned Works for Grammy-winning Quintet 

Anima Mundi Productions, in collaboration with Chamber Music Northwest and the Oregon Bach Festival, co-commissioned 3 new works, which the Imani Winds premiered in Portland, Eugene, and finally on our Heart of Humanity concert series in Ashland. 

These new works went on to be performed around the world, including at The Kennedy Center, recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London, and featured on Performance Today on national radio.

Youth Outreach

In addition to the enormous impact we had through the concerts that we and our collaborators produced, we produced youth outreach events featuring our We Cannot Walk Alone artists, including:

• School visits with over 500 middle and high school students around the greater Portland area.
• Virtual classroom visits with the Armadillo Community Charter School in Phoenix, OR.
• Two special events for the BASE Youth in Ashland, OR.
• A lecture from Dr. Lesa Terry, professor of African American musical heritage at Santa Monica College.

Press Coverage

JPR RADIO: JEFFERSON EXCHANGE
November 3, 2022: “Anima Mundi brings Imani Winds musicians to Ashland” — CLICK HERE

ASHLAND.NEWS
October 19, 2022: “Premiere of new works include tribute to Chinese railroad workers” — CLICK HERE

OREGON ARTSWATCH
May 9, 2022: “Imani Winds premieres northwest composers at Alberta Rose Theatre” — CLICK HERE

JPR RADIO: JEFFERSON EXCHANGE
March 16, 2022: “Anima Mundi presents new works by composers of color” — CLICK HERE

MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE
March 3, 2022: “Different voices, different cultures” — CLICK HERE

OPERAWIRE
Feb. 17, 2022: Takesha Meshé Kizart-Thomas to Perform Motherhood-themed Recital ‘Maternità’ — CLICK HERE

Statement of Intent

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.