WE ARE SEEDS

Choral Chameleon presents a deeply moving program that celebrates the profound truth embedded in the ancient proverb: "They tried to bury us. They didn't know we were seeds." Through works spanning nearly a century, this program illuminates how immigrants and refugees have not merely survived displacement and persecution, but have flourished as essential creators of America's cultural fabric—co-owners in our collective dream.

The program's heart lies in the compelling parallel between Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco's Romancero Gitano and the world premiere of Laura Jobin-Acosta's Sometimes I Wonder. Castelnuovo-Tedesco, the Italian-Jewish composer who fled fascist persecution in 1939, transformed his exile into artistic triumph, becoming one of America's most influential film composers and guitar music pioneers. His work, featuring guitarist Carlos Cuestas, demonstrates how displacement can spark innovation—his musical language, rooted in European tradition yet transformed by American experience, created something entirely new. Similarly, Sometimes I Wonder sets remarkable poetry by girls from an orphanage in Honduras, their words transformed into song as testimonies of resilience, hope, and the beauty that emerges from struggle.

Joan Szymko's Make Ready Your Beauty, drawing from Elsa Gidlow's pioneering 1924 poetry collection, adds another layer to this narrative of courage and artistic expression. Rich Campbell's Border directly confronts our contemporary moment with its opening line "Border, sanctuary, asylum, bridges not walls," while Moira Smiley's Refugee offers an unflinching meditation on displacement that asks us to recognize our shared vulnerability and common humanity.

Together, these works create a tapestry that honors both individual stories of survival and the larger truth they represent: that America's strength has always come from those who arrived carrying nothing but dreams, talents, and an unshakeable belief in tomorrow. They are not merely contributors to our society—they are its co-creators, its co-owners, its essential builders.

We Are Seeds invites audiences to witness how music itself becomes a form of cultural survival and renewal, each voice in the choir representing the countless voices that have shaped our nation's song.

We Are Seeds - Performance 1

Choral Chameleon Chorus