Quodlibet Ensemble & Reginald Mobley Perform COMING TOGETHER, Digital Concert Raising Awareness for Voters Rights

Quodlibet Ensemble and countertenor Reginald Mobley are featured in Coming Together, a digital world premiere film available to watch now through Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, 2020 at 5pm ET, that traces a journey from struggle to hope amidst challenging times. Co-presented by Five Boroughs Music Festival, Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC), Tippet Rise Art Center, and Bay Chamber Concerts, the 60-minute film begins with Frederic Rzewski's Coming Together for narrator and ensemble with text by Samuel Melville, one of the leaders of the revolt against police brutality at Attica Prison in 1971; followed by a set of four songs and spirituals by Florence Price, starting with uncertainty and looking to God for strength; and J.S. Bach's Cantata No. 54, Widerstehe doch der Sünde, which urges the listener to stay true to the righteous path, despite temptation.

The musical collaboration was curated by Quodlibet Ensemble's Artistic Director Katie Hyun and created for film in collaboration with Mobley, both passionate advocates for social and political justice. Coming Together was recorded at remote locations and at BAC in September 2020, one of the very first ensemble recordings made in New York City after shutdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Rzewski was recorded and filmed by each performer individually and edited by Paul Wiancko and Katie Hyun and the Price and Bach were recorded and engineered by Noriko Okabe. Lighting design is by Joe Levasseur.

The film was conceived by Hyun, violinist and founder of Quodlibet, and filmed by Pastor Isaac Scott, an award-winning social impact multimedia artist and human rights activist and a Fellow at the Center for Institutional and Social Change at Columbia Law School, whose passion for human rights comes as a result of being directly affected by the criminal justice system and its disenfranchising nature. For this project, Pastor Scott was assisted by Pastor Kairi Chapman.

The project is in partnership with VOTESart, a non-partisan organization founded by two members of Quodlibet, Rebecca Anderson and Alex Fortes, which uses music to promote voter registration and creative civic engagement. The film features information about voting and connects viewers with voter registration and voter information resources.

Program Information

Coming Together (Digital World Premiere)
Co-Presented by Five Boroughs Music Festival, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Tippet Rise Art Center, and Bay Chamber Concerts
Thursday, October 1, 2020 at 5pm ET - Tuesday, November 3, 2020 at 5pm ET
Tickets: Free
How to Watch:
www.bacnyc.org
www.5bmf.org
www.tippetrise.org

Featuring:
Frederic Rzewski - Coming Together (1972) based on a text by Samuel Melville
Reginald Mobley, narrator
Quodlibet Ensemble (Rebecca Anderson, violin; Alex Fortes, violin; Katie Hyun, violin; George Meyer, violin; Ben Russell, violin; Beth Wenstrom, violin; Ayane Kozasa, viola; Kyle Miller, viola; Hannah Collins, cello; Paul Wiancko, cello; Joe Magar, electric bass)
Edited and produced by Paul Wiancko and Katie Hyun
Florence Price - Bewilderment (Langston Hughes, arr. Alex Fortes)
Florence Price - My Soul's Been Anchored In De Lord (spiritual, arr. George Meyer)
Florence Price - Rise Mourner (spiritual, arr. George Meyer)
Florence Price - I'm Going To Lay Down My Heavy Load (spiritual, arr. Alex Fortes)
J. S. Bach - Cantata BWV 54, Widerstehe doch der Sunde (Just Resist Sin)
Reginald Mobley, countertenor
Quodlibet Ensemble (Alex Fortes, violin; Katie Hyun, violin; George Meyer, violin; Dorothy Kim, viola; George Meyer, viola; Michael Unterman, cello; Max Zeugner, bass; Jeffrey Grossman, organ)
Noriko Okabe, audio engineer
Edited and produced by Katie Hyun and Pastor Isaac Scott

Katie Hyun, video concept
Pastor Isaac Scott, videographer
Pastor Kairi Chapman, videographer
Joe Levasseur, lighting designer

Reginald Mobley is one of the most sought after countertenors on both sides of the Atlantic, noted for his "crystalline diction and pure, evenly produced tone" (Miami Herald). Highlights include extensive tours around Europe singing a repertoire encompassing Bach's St. Matthew and St. John Passions with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists led by Sir John Eliot Gardiner. He has also recently been invited to perform with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Academy of Ancient Music, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Internationale BackAkademie Stuttgart, Balthasar-Neuman Choir, Wiener Akademy, Freiburger Barockorchester and Orkiestra Historyczna in Poland.

The remainder of the 2019/20 season would have seen Mobley embark on his first Australian tour to perform with Bach Akademie Australia and Canberra International Music Festival, now postponed to 2022. A recording of Spirituals with piano will be released on the French label, ALPHA CLASSICS. In the United States, Mobley has recently been engaged in recorded concerts with the Washington Bach Consort, Quodlibet Ensemble for the Five Boroughs Music Festival in New York, Pacific MusicWorks in Seattle, Cantata Collective in Berkeley, Bach Collegium San Diego and Agave Baroque. Mobley has been appointed as the first Programming Consultant with the Haendel and Haydn Society in Boston, MA.