A Season Begins: A Note from Ash

“It is so good to be singing with others again”

Those were the first words I said at our kickoff Zoom rehearsal on September 14. I had only been introduced to the members of the choir less than a month prior, but seeing everyone signing on to Zoom, one by one, ready to sing with smiles and pencils, it felt like family. It felt like I wasn’t alone in my need to create music with others. And just as much as the choir needed me to be ready and prepared, I needed the singers — the community, the harmony, the love. There is love when choral music is created, and Pacific Edge Voices are the family of voices I had been longing for.

Singing during a global pandemic is hard, and the process is uncertain for now. For 41 years, this choir has done the uncommon, the bold, the uniquely beautiful music that has earned us a reputation for inventive and awesome choral music. In many ways our very nature as a choir has prepared us for this moment. Through all things, through all times, there is singing and there is love. 

When I announced our program, “The Great Event,” to the singers at one of our first meetings, there were a lot of questions. And rightfully so. How can one expect something “great” during these tumultuous times? Where is the hope? When Leonard Cohen wrote the piece “The Great Event,” for which our program is named, he was writing for the future. His idea — that the world has ended and the only way back to “normalcy” is to play Moonlight Sonata backwards — is strange, and people may have missed it. I mean, it appears only on his 1997 album More Best of Leonard Cohen as the very last song. An afterthought, perhaps? But then I saw the song portrayed as a drum corps show in 2015 by the Blue Knights of Denver, and it all made sense to me, and why it was, indeed, a statement people needed to hear, especially now.

As PEV’s Repertoire Committee and I worked to develop a program around this idea, we knew two things for certain: the music needed to be composed by people of color and women, and our singers and audience members would be able to connect to our program in a very individualistic and real way. “The Great Event” isn’t necessarily dark or morbid, it’s about anticipation of the unknown. It’s about patience and the power of music. It’s about hope.

I asked the choir members to think about what the “great event” means to them. It’s no secret we live in a world that is more unknown than ever, and that can be scary. What has to happen for restoration? Is that even possible? With so much news about COVID-19 and politics dominating our times, it can be hard to see a path toward love and justice. But it is coming. What does that mean to our members? What does that mean to you? I hope you will follow us this season on our musical journey of love, fear, hope, endurance, justice, and more. As we present works by Regina Spector, Vienna Teng, James Furman, Williametta Spencer and more, we hope to inspire others to discover more about themselves through our music and to want to be the change our world very much needs now.

“Oh what a lovely night that would be...”

Editor’s Note: You can get to know Ash at a Virtual Town Hall on November 11 at 7pm. The event is free, but advance registration is required.