Stand The Storm Digital Program Book
FY25 Stand The Storm Digital Program Book by Boston Children's Chorus
Program Order
We Walk in Love - Deanna Witkowski
All Choirs, audience joins verse 3
How Can I Keep From Singing? - Taylor Davis
Premier Choir
Hush - African-American Spiritual, arr. Jason Shelton
All Choirs, Audience joins after verse 1
Silver Rain - B.E. Boykin
Premier Choir - Upper Voices
We Shall Walk Through the Valley in Peace - Undine Smith Moore
Premier Choir
I Am Willing - Holly Nears
Recital Choir, Concert Choir, & Premier Choir
Soloists: Sid Ward, Camilla Costa, and Adam Balbale
Sorida - Rosephayne Powell
The Spirituals Ensemble
Soloists: Will Dendy, Baritone; Isaiah Riffe, Tenor; Max Innis, Soprano; Chanel Castillo, Soprano; Yasmeen Sultan, Alto
A Prayer - Ken Burton
The Spirituals Ensemble
Soloist: Kayla Denton, Soprano
Kujichagulia - Zanaida Robles
Concert Choir & Premier Choir - Upper Voices
Crowded Table - The Highwomen, arr. Whitney Simmonds
Concert Choir
We've Got the Right - Barb Tilsen
All Choirs with Audience Participation
Weather* - Rollo Dilworth
All Choirs
There Will Come Soft Rains - arr. Matt Pod
All Choirs
Soloists: Olivia Pappas and Yana Tsibere
*Massachusetts Premiere
A Message from BCC's Music Director, Kenneth Griffith:
Tonight’s performance of Rollo Dilworth’s Weather: Stand the Storm, setting Claudia Rankine’s searing poem “Weather”, invites us to reckon with the storms that batter our communities — storms that are far from natural disasters, though they wreak just as much havoc. Rankine’s words lay bare the truth: when hardship rains down, it pours heaviest on those in the global majority — Black and brown communities who face not only the winds of crisis but the weight of systemic inequities that make each raindrop hit harder. Yet, amidst the deluge, Dilworth’s music reminds us that standing the storm isn’t a solitary act. It’s a collective effort, where our voices rise together, like a chorus of thunder, not to destroy but to demand a better tomorrow.
Weather, as Rankine reframes it, isn’t just the air around us — it’s the condition of our shared society, unpredictable yet utterly human-made. And what’s an umbrella, if not a symbol of the safety net we all deserve when the skies darken? The truth is, some of us are left exposed while others find shelter, but the work of civic engagement is to make sure no one is forgotten in the rain. An umbrella shared is an act of love — a refusal to let our neighbors, near or far, weather the storm alone.
So let this music be both a balm and a battle cry. Let it remind us that empathy and action are not luxuries, but lifelines. The storm is here, and it matters who gets drenched. But what also matters — perhaps more than anything — is how we hold the umbrella. Together, let’s disorder the disorder, repair the future, and build a world where no one is left behind in the downpour. After all, the weather may be inevitable, but the way we face it is up to us.