‘HomeCare’ by Tonality concert at Caltech looks at climate crisis

Caltech presents the Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble Tonality with a program called “HomeCare” on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 8 p.m. at Beckman Auditorium. Part of Getty’s PST ART: Art & Science Collide, the performance is one of Caltech’s PST ART Opening Doors series.

Known for creating choral concerts that shine a light on issues rarely presented in choral music, Tonality strives to deliver authentic stories through voice and body to incite change, understanding, and dialogue. Under the direction of Tonality founder Alexander Blake, “HomeCare” will focus on the climate crisis through the words of young leaders who have spoken about the urgency of taking care of our home planet and conserving the resources available on earth.          

Blake disclosed that he conceived Tonality because he didn’t see himself represented in the field of classical music. “Growing up in North Carolina, I sang in gospel choirs and started taking classes in classical music,” Blake says. I realized that I was oftentimes the only person of color in those endeavors so I set out to change that. In 2016 we put out a very intentional call for musicians of color who are trained in classical music, saying we wanted to create a choir that reflected our community here in Los Angeles and globally.”

Tonality’s ensemble is comprised of 24 singers for its LA concerts and 16 on tour. But because availability changes, the ensemble has a wide roster of over 70 singers to provide opportunities for as many musicians as possible. They represent various cultures and ethnicities, including African American, Chinese/Korean, Filipino/Mix, Indian, Egyptian/Puerto Rican, Indigenous American, Mexican, Dutch/German, French/Armenian, Syrian/Native American/White, Japanese/Hispanic/White, etc. A majority of the singers are professional vocalists who sing in multiple ensembles with various artistic duties. Most of them are full-time musicians and a small number have full-time jobs outside of music

Under Blake’s leadership as conductor and artistic and executive director, Tonality had its first rehearsal in June of 2016. “We did one concert in 2016 and they asked us to do it again,” he states. “Then we started to produce our own concert — we found the rehearsal space and venue — until eventually we started getting calls.”

Within a year of its founding, Tonality’s mission evolved to use their collective voices to present concerts on themes of social justice with the hope of catalyzing empathy and community activism. Tonality received the 2020 Chorus America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, a prize given for commitment to singing and commissioning new works.

“It was an acknowledgment of the kind of music which is rarely performed at the level and consistency we’re doing it in a classical genre,” Blake explains. “Choirs sometimes do shows that have a focus on an issue but to continually create, support, and promote music about social justice issues and working with diverse composers with diverse styles to present these topics was what was recognized by the ASCAP award.”

“The award came with cash, half of which we donated to the Black Lives Matter movement,” continues Blake. “But to me what it symbolized was the opportunity for more choirs to lean in, to use art to speak about topics that matter. It really opened up conversations about how musicians can produce concerts around justice issues and also how the choral culture can be more diverse and equitable. I think for us the biggest change is being able to perform these pieces and creating more opportunities for composers to talk about issues through their art.”

Tonality has been touring since its inception, but the first big tour opportunity came about in 2022. Recalls Blake, “We received an email from Bjork, who was looking for choirs in LA who were involved in social issues. She got recommendations from people who’d seen our show. Our work aligned with what she was doing and she asked us to perform with her. So we did two concerts with her in Los Angeles and three in San Francisco.”

For the Caltech concert, Tonality will be performing a repeat of what they did in 2018.

“Most of the pieces that we did in the 2018 concert were premiered at that event,” Blake declares. “Joseph Trapanese’s ‘New Collective Consciousness’ was a piece that we premiered. ‘Earth Song,’ which was arranged by Nathan Heldman with words and music by Michael Jackson, premiered at our concert. There are a number of pieces that we were able to bring about.”

“While a lot of our music is a capella, for ‘HomeCare’ we’ll have a piano for a couple of songs then we have a guitar and percussion,” Blake clarifies. “There will also be solo as well as ensemble pieces — the music genres include classical, pop, R&B, Hindustani and various other styles.”

Blake adds, “The format of our concerts is storytelling and the music is there to help people connect emotionally to the issue. We also work with experts and organizations to make sure people know how to get involved. We’ll be joined by a number of guests, including Dr. Lucy Jones who focused her research on how climate change will be more disastrous for earthquakes.”

“HomeCare” will open with Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land” and close with Michael Jackson’s “Earth Song.” The concert also includes music by Gaayatri Kaundinya, Luke Wallace, Christopher O’Brien, Francisco F. Feliciano, Joseph Trapanese and Carlos Fernando Lopez composing to a text of Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Tickets are available at pst.caltech.edu/events/opening-doors.

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