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On a recent weekday, the Boston Children’s Chorus rehearsed for its new season. Gathered in a carpeted church room, more than two dozen young people — basses, tenors, altos and sopranos — sang together harmoniously, accompanied by the piano, rotating through several musical pieces, all linked by the season’s theme: “People, Get Ready.”
The theme for the 2024-2025 season, influenced by this year’s election, revolves around civic engagement and collective action, said Kenneth Griffith, music director at BCC.
“We want to emphasize advocacy for our singers that we know are very passionate about issues within their community, and to do it in a way that … is full of empathy and good-hearted,” he said, “especially during what could be … a difficult time to remember that during an election season.”
“People, Get Ready” emerged as BCC leadership considered how best to engage with the political process given the imminent election and prepare the singers for “the current moment” by encouraging them to partake in compassionate discussions amid the tense sociopolitical environment.
The repertoire for the season includes music that represents protest, harking back to the chorus’ beginnings in 2003 as the brainchild of longtime activist Hubie Jones. The phrase “People, Get Ready” also serves as an “unofficial anthem” from the movement for social change, Griffith said, brought to life by “songs that if you were marching in the streets in the ’50s and ’60s …you might have heard.” Mixed in throughout the season will also be contemporary and popular works that the choir will recontextualize to tell a story.
Five concerts are planned for the 2024-2025 period so far, with a Nov. 9 concert titled “Bound Together” to take place at the Isabella Stewart Gardner.
“What we are wanting to do is to inspire the questions and to make room for [singers] to ask what is happening in their community or in their society, and to make room for the conversations that they may not be able to have, at least in our out of school program [or] that they may not be able to ask in their schools,” Griffith said.
Among the questions the theme was meant to evoke are ones about the implications of this election season for communities of color and for people with a personal stake in the outcome.
Distilled, “People, Get Ready” is about giving the youth the language to talk about what’s going on around them and to remind them that whether they’re 16 years old or 6 years old, they have a voice.
“There’s a lot to be ready for, especially in this day and age,” said Tiana Claire Sandefur, a 16-year-old student at Milton Academy, regarding the theme. “There’s so much change going on. …I think about history books and how this time might be inserted into a history book for the next generation and those after that, especially when it comes to the election coming up, as well as other prominent issues, national and international.”
Sandefur, who has been singing with BCC for 10 years, said every day “feels like my first time walking through,” eliciting the same excitement it did a decade ago. Beyond being a place to connect with like-minded peers, Sandefur said being a part of the chorus has enabled her to deal with events in the world.
“For me, singing has always been a kind of a buffer, just for me to express myself, but also to find a different way to interpret what’s going on around me,” she said. “So I wouldn’t necessarily consider it an escape from what’s going on, but more of a space where I can process what’s going on in a vocal context.”
