March 20, 2025

March daily: not the enemy

following through, imperfectly

I’m catching up on this list. Again.

But you can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

I am but mortal - three recitals and two writing deadlines in the next three weeks means I should not have decided to post every day in March. Sigh.

But y’all, I’m so angry.

Racism and misogyny are part of the human story, and they’re part of my industry’s story. Telling that story makes it richer, better, and capable of new direction. Erasing parts of that story doesn’t make it untrue. But our memories are sketchy. Story telling, story preservation - it matters.

Knowing other people’s stories strengthens, deepens, and challenges my own.

It’s just true. For God’s sake.

(All of that plus - I am selfish and small, and struggling under my own deadlines).

To that end, here is some catch up. The days I missed, and a few days in advance.

Here’s the thing - it’s easy to make this list. There are so many works from Black, Indigenous, Asian, LGBTQIA+, non-Western, and pan-religious artists that have impacted me over my life that I can hardly begin to list them all. My failure to do a daily post is just poor management of my time, not a lack of inspiration.

I hope you follow every link in these posts. I hope you make your own. I hope we do everything we can to lift each other up.

Life and its music are not some manufactured story of triumph and uniformity. Our music is messy, loud, soft, ugly, gorgeous, aching, superficial, fun, discordant, impossible, transcendent. Real. It’s everything all at once. It’s us. Thank God.

March 14: Joshua Hopkins and Songs for Murdered Sisters.

Joshua is a fabulous baritone who lost a sister to domestic violence, created music about it, and donated his music-making and energy to raising awareness through White Ribbon, an organization that calls men and boys to reject violence against women and work for change.

March 15: Aural Compass Projects/Wear Yellow Proudly

This initiative

was started in 2020 as a response to the increased hate crimes against Asians, which were inspired by the fear and xenophobia that arose in response to cultural messaging about the pandemic. Asian-American artists and their allies came together for advocacy and performance, telling their stories and raising awareness of this huge, skilled, passionate community.

March 16: Take Two Knees

Superstar clarinetist Anthony McGill started this initiative in the wake of the hate crimes against George Floyd and other Black men - the hashtag #taketwoknees was a combined reference to Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling in the NFL and the shared stance of prayer across cultures. Head to the YouTube link to see how many artists took two knees.

March 17: Kamala Sankaram

I’m biased about this woman, because I’ve collaborated with her before and am currently doing so again, writing words for her music. I met her at a Sparks and Wiry Cries concert in 2019. The incredible directors of that organization, Martha Guth and Erika Switzer, put together a program in response to the #MeToo movement (I wrote some program notes!). I played for Karen Slack and Jennifer Holloway on that program, which is already like pinch me - and the we all heard Kamala sing while playing the accordion, her own music and Kurt Weill, and it was incredible. Kamala writes about everything including the trees trying to talk to us, and I just can’t with this brilliant person. Just follow the links.

March 18: The Blacknificent Seven

These composers: Jessie Montgomery, Damien Geter, Carlos Simon, Joel Thompson, Dave Ragland, Jasmine Barnes and Shawn Okpebholo. Ten years ago, I didn’t know any of them. Now I’ve played music by them all. Shawn Okpebholo’s Two Black Churches was my first exposure to this collective, and it rocked my world (thank you Joshua Conyers and the Sewanee Music Festival). Please go listen to all of these remarkable creators.

March 19: Rhiannon Giddons

This artist studied opera at Oberlin! But it turns out she can do all the things, from playing and singing as part of the Carolina Chocolate Drops to, idk, writing an opera for San Francisco? She just cancelled her KenCen appearances because YES MA’AM.

March 20: Caroline Shaw

The youngest music Pulitzer winner ever - did you know she’s related to the famous conjoined twins Chang and Eng Bunker? Her Partita for Eight Voices set the choral world on fire but she’s written so much more, often with flexibility of cohort in mind, and always with heart and soul and connection to others, the earth, the everything - and to lots of different worldwide vocal techniques, including yodeling. Big map energy!

March 21: Henselpushers

A site where, since 2020, you can access free PDFs of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel’s music. So that you’ll, like, play it. Yay woman composers, yay inclusion, yay awareness of this lady who should have stood shoulder to shoulder with her bro.

March 22: Messiah/Complex

This might be my single favorite artistic moment of the shutdown. From the brilliant Against the Grain Theater, this film that marries Handel’s Messiah with Canadian artists and the landscape of their gorgeous country from east to west, including stories of every gender and race with performances of amateurs and pros, told in all the languages of the nation - it is such an extraordinary, inclusive, loving work, and it continues to floor me.

March 23: Jamie Barton at the Proms

I mean what do you need to even write about this. Just watch!! I am so proud to know this woman who is such a fierce advocate for people and especially for all queer folk!

thanks for reading.