To Repair: A Musical Call and Pilgrimage for Our Time
Session Abstract: What does it mean to seek to repair in our communities? How can we do it? We must begin internally, with a willingness to look in the mirror and consider what needs to be done to repair within. As we repair within, we can look to those around us--our families, neighbors, colleagues and friends--turning to the work of repair in those immediate relationships in our lives. As we repair within our inner circles, we can then look to the broader community and society in which we live, work, and play. To repair requires the humility to acknowledge something is broken in the first place. To discover the healing needed in our communities, particularly between our Black communities and White communities, we must confess that our past and present are not as they should be. To repair is to work for a future where all will thrive and flourish, just as it should be.
In the summer of 2020, a phone call between two friends began a journey that could have never been anticipated. On the heels of the murder of George Floyd, Mark Stover (University of Michigan) and Tesfa Wondemagegnehu (St. Olaf College) began a conversation that started with a desire to mutually care for one another. The United States was embroiled in the necessary confrontation with systemic racism and racial inequality. Mark asked Tesfa if the University of Michigan Men's Glee Club could commission him to write a new work as a way to respond to the critical moment. Tesfa embraced the opportunity and thus began the unfolding of a journey that bloomed far beyond a composition.
As Mark and Tesfa's conversations evolved, other mentors in Tesfa's life were challenging him to listen to the stories which were embedded within communities throughout the United States to truly learn what was needed to repair. Tesfa listened to those mentors and responded, ultimately taking a pilgrimage around the Midwest, Eastern Seaboard, and Deep South over the course of 60 days. He visited over 40 cities during June and July of 2021. This pilgrimage became the foundation for the multi-movement work Tesfa created. Every note, every phrase, every harmony, rhythm and melody is connected to a story, a person, an experience encountered, and a learning objecting over the course of Tesfa's pilgrimage. The music tells the truth, calls us to invest, inspires us to rise up with resilience and spurs us on to the hope of renewal.
This 2023 ACDA Insight Choir session will feature the University of Michigan Men's Glee Club, music director Mark Stover, and composer Tesfa Wondemagegnehu in an interactive and illuminating conversation and encounter with the full work that will challenge, provoke and inspire those in attendance. Tesfa, Mark and students from the Men's Glee Club will share experiences from the residency and world premiere, showing how the journey to repair has embedded itself within our collective lives as a result.
University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club
University of Michigan
Mark Stover
University of Michigan
Mark Stover is the associate director of choirs at the University of Michigan where he conducts the Men's Glee Club, the University Choir and teaches conducting. He previously served on the faculty at St. Olaf College conducting the St. Olaf Chapel Choir and Viking Chorus while teaching conducting and Music and Social Justice. Mark has served as artistic director of the Together In Hope Project as well as Magnum Chorum, both based in the Twin Cities. Stover holds degrees from St. Olaf College and Luther Seminary and will soon complete the Doctorate of Musical Arts degree at Michigan State University.
