Ithaca College Wind Ensemble

Concert Title:“Giving Voice” Repertoire: La Chancla – Dennis Llinás (2024) Spiritual Suite for Wind Ensemble – Margaret Bonds, arr. Ehrlich (1930s/2024)I. The Valley of the Bones (Based on the spiritual “Dry Bones”)II. The Bells (Based on the spiritual “Peter, Go Ring Dem Bells”)III. Troubled Water (Based on the spiritual “Wade in the Water”) In This Breath – Shuying Li (2025) Symphony No. 2 “Voices” – Jim Stephenson (2016) Lisa Williamson, sopranoI. Of PassionII. Shouts and MurmursIII. Of One Program Theme: This program is unified by the idea of voice and empowering voices (identity, culturally, living/passed). Each work insists on the right to be heard, whether through cultural expression, personal testimony. From the playful authority and cultural specificity of La Chancla, which celebrates Latin identity through humor and rhythm, to Margaret Bonds’s Spiritual Suite, which elevates African American spirituals as acts of artistic pride and resistance, the music affirms that cultural voices are essential. These works draw directly from lived experience, asserting presence in spaces where such voices have historically been marginalized or overlooked. Shuying Li’s tribute, inspired by Thích Nhất Hạnh’s meditation on life, death, and interbeing, reframes grief as responsibility. Adsit’s passing gives way to his memory that remains, carried forward through breath, memory, and community. Stephenson’s Symphony No. 2 “Voices” similarly transforms personal loss into a communal act, culminating in unity without text, where the human voice becomes both individual and collective. Heard on World Day of Social Justice, this program invites audience members to recognize listening itself as an ethical act: to honor inherited voices, to amplify those still fighting to be heard, and to understand music as a living expression of dignity, resilience, and shared humanity.