This seasonal showcase will bring to life the sounds of Chicago's West Town neighborhood through a concert featuring original music, exciting choreography and multimedia presentations.
Learn more about the West Town Neighborhood Choir.
Tickets are $10* per person, available for purchase at the concert. All seating is general admission. Doors open 30 minutes prior to showtime.
*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*
Parking is available for $10 with validation from the museum, located one block north of the Museum at Clark and LaSalle streets; enter on Stockton Drive. The museum is also accessible via the 22, 36, 72, 73, 151 and 156 bus lines, as well as Purple & Brown Line trains at Sedgwick. For more details, visit their website.
Uniting Voices Chicago strives to make music and performance accessible to anyone who wants it. Assistive listening devices are available at the ticketing desk. Chicago History Museum has an accessible stage and seating locations with adjacent companion seating in the McCormick Theater. To request accommodations, please email info [at] unitingvoiceschicago [dot] org.
Use this text-only program to access translations using your web browser.
West Town Neighborhood Choir Community Concert
December 17, 2024
Chicago History Museum
Conductors
Dewey Bolz, West Town Neighborhood Choir
Elisabeth Baker, Intercultural Montessori Language School
Alex Bravos, A.N. Pritzker School
Heather Stewart, Rowe Upper School
Amanda Wolff, Mark T. Skinner West Elementary School
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 nonprofit 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.
For a full list of our supporters, visit: unitingvoiceschicago.org/support/donor-leaders-and-philanthropic-partners
After the Show
Get Amp’d
Give Your Child the Power of Song
Join our Neighborhood Choir Program, registration is now open for students in grades 1 and up to start in our programs in January! Learn more about Uniting Voices Chicago and our sliding scale tuition at unitingvoiceschicago.org/join
Black Futures Concert Series:
Afrofuturism: The Freedom Metropolis
February 7, 10 & 11 | Chicago Symphony Center
Our annual concert series honoring and celebrating Africana music and its indelible impact on Chicago and the world returns on the Symphony Center stage, as Black Futures Concert Series: Afrofuturism: The Freedom Metropolis. Learn more about this and other exciting events at unitingvoiceschicago.org/upcoming-events
Concert Program
Allegro
Oi Koledo
Traditional Bulgarian Wassail Song
Translation:
Oh, Christmas, my Christmas!
The son of God was born!
Kolade, lade [a well-known wassailing song refrain]
The Christmas Bread [kravai] is jumping off the table;
A sausage is boiling in the pot
Tell us, grandmother, how it was in the old days,
when everyone was so happy!
Sapo Cururu
Heitor Villa-Lobos; arr. Abelita Mateus
Translation:
Cururu frog
At the riverside
When the frog sings, hey sister,
It’s because it’s cold
The frog woman
It must be inside
Making lace, oh sister
For your wedding
Oye
Jim Papoulis
Translation:
All alone, in the darkness
They are crying out for your help
They are hoping, they are dreaming
They are asking for a chance to be heard
Are you listening, can you hear their cries
They are watching, they are listening
They are searching to find their way
Can you see them, can you hear them calling
What their voices are trying to say
Vivace
El Sancocho
Danny Wallenberg and Elizabeth Wallenberg
Translation:
Oh how exciting
I love the little sancocho,
with lots of meat, lots of chicken,
and a little red pepper (powder).
Not to mention a good ajiaco,
ready to eat with avocado,
potatoes and corn.
I invite you to enjoy it,
to have a good meal and conversation.
Everybody should come to celebrate,
there are empanadas de Pipián.
I invite you.
Sancocho made out of chicken,
what a fine meal that is.
The dessert is arequipe,
and an espresso to top it off.
Pata Pata
Miriam Makeba/Somi; arr. Wes Dziedzic
Translation:
So we grooved and said “check it out”
(This is the Pata Pata…)
That’s it, lady
Il Lampo
Ryan Main
Translation:
And sky and earth showed what they were like:
the earth panting, livid, in a jolt;
the sky burdened, tragic, exhausted:
white-white in the silent tumult
a house appeared, disappeared in the blink of an eye;
like an eyeball, that enlarged, horrified,
opened and closed itself, in the pitch-black night.
Vivace & Presto
Rise
Arianne Abela
Presto
On The Mountain
Traditional Ukrainian Song; arr. Donald Patriquin
Translation:
Oh, on the mountain, on the mountain
Alma Llanera
Pedro Gutiérrez; arr. Angel Sauce
Translation:
I was born in this bank
Of the vibrating Arauca River,
I am sister of its foam,
Of the herons, of the roses,
I am sister of its foam,
Of the herons, of the roses
And the sun, and the sun.
I was lulled by the vivid reveille
of the breeze in the palm grove,
and so I have the soul
like the exquisite soul,
and so I have the soul
like the exquisite soul
of the crystal, of the crystal.
I love, I weep, I sing, I dream
with carnations of passion,
with carnations of passion.
I love, I weep, I sing, I dream
to adorn the blonde mane
of my lover’s colt.
I was born in this bank
of the vibrating Arauca River,
I am sister of its foam,
of the herons, of the roses
and the sun.
Ad Astra
Jacob Narverud
Translation:
To the stars through difficulties.
Look upward, move forward.
Leave all cares behind.
All West Town
La Mariposa
Proyecto Ayni; arr. W. Mitchell Owens III
Translation:
Come sing the brunette
That starts to sound
Like the flight of a butterfly
Let’s all dance
With the hands
With the feet
The morenada, The morenada
Still Here
W. Mitchell Owens III
Today's Performers
ALLEGRO
Ada Hembrey
Evelyn Braun Gawronski
Haskins LeFevre-Snee
Kira Patel
Linus Hoffman
Luke Wallace
Olivia Park
Sloane McCutcheon
Zoë Fabal
Roshan Lingelbach
VIVACE
Angie Arriaza
Arasi Arivarasu
Aubrey Owens
Evie Vold
Isis Krause
Isla Hijaz
Leo Smith
Lou Roberts
Maude Gorczowski
Maya Manglavil
Meera Revuluri
Neela Lingelbach
Nella Maheshwary
Raina Desai
Sofie Sharma
Scott
Sonia Sanders
Zoe Dean
PRESTO
Anne Zweidinger
Avery Levitt
Elhery Peterson
Elsa Bove
Frances Mulcahey
Gianna Chumil
Jane Wiltrout
Marina Suarez-Espinosa
Olivia Rivera
Sahana Malkani
Victoria Muñoz
Viktoriia Sirko
Yanna Tsikhun
MUSICIANS
Wes Dziedzic - Piano
Tim Seisser - Bass
Dave Hiltebrand - Guitar
Pete Tashjian - Drums
Dane Crozier - Percussion
The West Town Neighborhood Choir Program is supported, in part, by the following:
Crown Family Philanthropies
Green Bay Packers
Illinois Arts Council Agency
Llloyd A. Fry Foundation
National Endowment for the Arts
Peoples Gas Community Fund at the Chicago Community Foundation
Charles and M.R. Shapiro Foundation
SPECIAL THANKS
Intercultural Montessori Language School
Roderick Shaw, Principal; Daisy Loeza, Liaison
A.N. Pritzker School
Dr. Joenile Albert-Reese, Principal; Tracy Otwell, Liaison
Rowe Upper School
Diana Smith, Assistant Principal; Bill Riddle, Liaison
Mark T. Skinner West Elementary School
Dr. Rhea Bush, Principal; Bercola Winsley, Liaison
Thank you to our Program Assistant, Daniela Lakosilova.