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.