Naomi LaViolette performs as the pianist for the Oregon Repertory Singers’ concert Homegrown: Think Choral, Shop Local, highlighting Portland composers Stacey Philipps, Joan Szymko, and Sydney Guillaume.
Composer Stacey Philipps has sung in ORS for over a decade and been composer-in-residence for the ORS Youth Choirs for the past three years. Her music brings the beauty of natural phenomena to life in vivid and beautiful sonic images. Joan Szymko sets her music to poignant and timely poetry; Joyce Kilmer’s poem Christmas Day contemplates how to find joy in the midst of World War I, while Mary Oliver’s Peace of Wild Things asks us to look to nature as a balm for our anxieties. Born in Haiti, Portland composer Sydney Guillaume’s music beautifully fuses Haitian folk and dance melodies with religious texts, many of which were written by his father.
Homegrown will also include a special appearance by ORS Youth Choir and will conclude with a joint encore performance of the magical Racing the Moon, first premiered in May for the 50th/30th Anniversaries of ORS and ORS Youth Choir. Racing the Moon is the latest composition by ORS accompanist Naomi LaViolette, setting words by her daughter Luci who sings in the ORS Youth Choirs.