This seasonal showcase will bring to life the diverse sounds of Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood through a concert featuring original music, exciting choreography and multimedia presentations. It will also feature performances by one of our citywide ensembles, Dimension, for singers going through a vocal change.
Tickets are $10* per person, available for purchase at the concert. All seating is general admission.
*Uniting Voices Chicago has a pay-what-you-can policy, allowing guests to pay as much or as little as they like per ticket, including requesting free tickets if desired*
Uniting Voices Chicago strives to make music and performance accessible to anyone who wants it. Assistive listening devices are available at the ticketing desk. All public performance areas at Logan Center are equipped to accommodate wheelchair users. To request accommodations, please email info [at] unitingvoiceschicago [dot] org.
Use this text-only program to access translations using your web browser.
Rogers Park Neighborhood Choir Community Concert
Wednesday, May 3, 2023
Nicholas Senn High School
Conductor
Elisabeth Baker, Rogers Park Neighborhood Choir
Dewey Bolz, Associate Conductor, Dimension
Judy Hanson, Dimension
About Uniting Voices Chicago
Founded in 1956 at the dawn of the Civil Rights Movement, Uniting Voices Chicago (formerly Chicago Children’s Choir) empowers and unites youth from diverse backgrounds to find their voice and celebrate their common humanity through the power of music. As a leading non-profit organization, we serve thousands of youth ages 6-18 from every zip code of Chicago through transformative and accessible music education programs and performance opportunities.
After the Show
Paint The Town Red
May 25
11am | Pritzker Pavillion
Join us downtown for our largest and most-anticipated event of the year! Singers from all levels of our programs will come together in song alongside dazzling special guests to celebrate the power of music and everything they’ve learned in our programs over the past year.
Paint The Town Red Giving Day
Support this transformative day that brings together the next generation of global leaders in Chicago! Join in the spirit of togetherness as young people from every corner of Chicago harmonize in the heart of the city with a donation to keep these programs accessible to
all singers.
Concert Program
ROGERS PARK CHOIRS COMBINED
Salaam (od yavo shalom
aleinu)
Mosh Ben-Ari/Sheva; arr. Lisa
Arnold
Translation:
Peace will yet come upon us
Peace will yet come upon us, and upon everyone.
Salaam, upon us and upon the whole world,
salaam, salaam.
ALL CHOIRS COMBINED
Courage My Friend
Trad. South African anti- Apartheid song; arr. Lonnie Norwood, Jr.
ROGERS PARK CHOIRS WITH DIMENSION
We All Live Here
W. Mitchell Owens III; choreography by Judy Hanson
ROGERS PARK ALLEGRO
Homeward Bound
Marta Keen
Ay Jalisco, no te rajes
Manuel Esperón; arr. Danny Wallenberg & Lisa Arnold
Translation:
Oh Jalisco, Jalisco, Jalisco
You have your girlfriend who is Guadalajara
Pretty girl, the rarest pearl
Of all Jalisco is my Guadalajara
And I like to listen to the mariachis
Sing your beautiful songs with soul
Hear how those guitarrones sound
And have a tequila with the bravest men
Oh, Jalisco, don't back down!
It comes out of my soul to scream with heat
Open the whole chest to make this cry
How beautiful Jalisco is, word of honor!
Cielito Lindo
Quirino Mendoza y Cortés; arr. Danny Wallenberg & Lisa Arnold
Translation:
From the Sierra Morena,
pretty sky*, there come
a pair of black eyes,
pretty sky, sneaking by.
Ay, ay, ay, ay,
Sing and don’t cry,
Because when singing our hearts are happy,
pretty sky.
*Cielito Lindo: term of endearment, like dear one
ROGERS PARK VIVACE & PRESTO
Dirait-on
Morten Lauridsen
Translation:
Abandon surrounding abandon,
tenderness touching tendernesses…
It is your inward that incessantly
caresses itself, so they say.
Caresses itself
through its own reflection.
Thus you invent the theme
of Narcissus satisfied.
Como la flor
Abraham Quintanilla III & Pete Astudillo; arr. W. Mitchell Owens III
[Verse 1]
I know you have a new love
However I wish you the best
If you didn’t find happiness with me
Maybe, someone else will give it to you.
[Chorus]
Like the flower
With so much love
You gave me, it withered
I’m leaving today, I know how to lose
But, ay ay ay how it hurts me
Ay ay ay how it hurts me
[Verse 2]
If you see how it hurts to lose your love
With your goodbye, you are taking my heart
I don’t know if I will love again
Because I gave you all the love I could give.
ROGERS PARK VIVACE & PRESTO WITH DIMENSION
Modimo rea go boka
Trad. South African Sotho church chorus
Translation:
Lord we praise you
We rejoice you
Messiah, we hail you
Tu lu lu lu…
DIMENSION
Two Itallian Art Songs
Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi; arr. Matthew Michaels
I. Poi che’el mio foco e spento
Translation:
Since now my anger’s burned out I’ll live
with joy, contentment.
And with laughing and dreaming and
dancing I’ll sing joyfully.
Since chained I’ve gained new freedom
I have my heart, abounding.
I’ll embrace happiness, jubilation not boredom
only great bliss.
II. Sonatemi un balletto
Translation:
Play a dance for me,
I want to dance with my love!
As I have great pleasure
In dancing, I’m telling the truth,
Come on, what are you doing?
Start playing!
Pompeii
Dan Smith; arr. Jacob Narverud; choreography by Judy Hanson
Turning Red Medley
featuring Nobody Like You and
You Know What’s Up
Billie Eilish and Finneas
O’Connell; arr. W. Mitchell
Owens III
Kilometro
Thyro Alfaro & Yumi Lacsamana; arr. Joe Caigoy; soloists Matt Din & Elijah Williams (Voice of Chicago)
Translation:
Kilometers distance
Why do they keep expanding
The distance between us
But the more they try to hinder
Our love grows deeper
It seems we’re stars apart
And I can’t see you
But the farther you are the more I call out to you
I’ll fearlessly cross the ocean
Even if the waves reach the sky
I promise to go wherever
Just to be with you
I’ll do whatever it takes so we’ll end up together
Even if I have to go through
kilometers distance
The world is dissenting
And we can’t find each other
Oh, do we have to listen
And go with the waves
Drowned, doused and can’t almost see you
After being covered with bruises
I still call out to you
ROGERS PARK CHOIRS WITH DIMENSION
En mi Viejo San Juan
Noel Estrada; arr. Danny Wallenberg
Translation:
In my Viejo San Juan,
how many dreams I forge
in my childhood nights.
My first dream
and my troubles of love
are memories of the soul.
One afternoon I left
towards a foreign nation,
as fate would have it,
but my heart
remained facing the sea
in my Viejo San Juan.
Goodbye (goodbye, goodbye)
Dear Borinquen (land of my love).
Goodbye (goodbye, goodbye)
my sea goddess (palm queen),
I'm leaving (I'm leaving)
but one day I'll return
to find my love,
to dream again,
in my Viejo San Juan.
But time passed by
and destiny mocked
my terrible nostalgia,
and I couldn't return
to the San Juan that I loved,
a little piece of my land.
My hair whitened
and my life fades away
and death calls for me,
and don't want to die
away from you
Puerto Rico of the soul.
ALL CHOIRS COMBINED
Revelation 19
Jeffrey LaValley; arr. Lonnie Norwood, Jr. & Brandon Lampkin
United
Jeffrey LaValley; arr. Lonnie Norwood, Jr. & Brandon Lampkin
TONIGHT'S PERFORMERS
DIMENSION
Blaze Brown
Lincoln Burnell
Ravi Chandra
Jamion Cotten
Andrez Elliot
Henry Ellis
JaRonn Gamon
Edison Gong
Josiah Hill
Zion Hohenkirk
Vali Kizilbash
Rene Krall-Lanoue
Connor Lane
Jackson O’Brien
Exavier Pope, II
Alexander Rossi
Patrick Spera
Maxwell Stone
George Stoops
Vennes Tabiliran
Aris Velazquez
Eliot Warren
Owen Zeller
ROGERS PARK NEIGHBORHOOD
CHOIR ALLEGRO
Elizabeth Awa
David Cami
Elisa Durgheu
Sonya Evdokimov
Samantha Faris
Anabellah Gamon
Angela Heredia
Everell Hill
Kristina Jackson
Sofia Luna
Nayeli Mejia
Yahaira Mejia
Stella Milkovic
Grace Rene
Gwendolyn Smith
Autumn Taylor
Ahmiyah Wofford
ROGERS PARK NEIGHBORHOOD CHOIR VIVACE
Ramona Blanding
Ellis Curry
Natasha Dernis
Julia Durgheu
David Gamon
Esther Hague
Ellie Haro
Zola Kuzwayo
Zoe Nott
Charli Oldham
Grace Parisi
Ella Place
Jessica Rathod
Shreya Sharma
Emilia Schuele-Bermeo
Edith Scranton
Ruth Smith
ROGERS PARK NEIGHBORHOOD CHOIR PRESTO
Noah Andre
Spencer Bagley
Amalie Brennan
Guadalupe Cabanas
Elisabeth Cami
Bettita De Ramos
Abigail Dony
Caitlin Feeney
Bianca Fratila
Jaela Gamon
Onaiwa Gamon
Sofia Gutierrez
Isla Hague
Vienne Hensel
Amelia Holly
Maude Hovey-Bradshaw
Emily Kirkpatrick
Charlotte McAninch
Esme Siegelin
SCHOOL PROGRAMS
George B. Armstrong School of International Studies
New Field Elementary School
Stone Scholastic Academy
Jordan Community Elementary School
Edgar Campos(Trumpet)
John Goodwin (Piano)SPECIAL THANKS
This project is supported, in part, by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
This project is supported, in part, by a CityArts grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events
Support for Neighborhood Choir programs is provided by Peoples Gas.
George B. Armstrong School of International Studies
Otis L. Dunson, Principal
Donna Bedke, Assistant Principal
Jessica Baker, Liaison
Indian Boundary Park
Phil Martini, Park Supervisor
Jordan Community School
Jay Richard Thompson, Principal
Andrea Barrios, Liaison
New Field Elementary School
Conrey Callahan, Principal
Stone Scholastic Academy
Dr. Kathryn Nestler, Principal
Elizabeth Raduly, Liaison
Thank you to our Program Assistants Jackie Johnson and Karley Mayomi.