VocalEssence Chorus & Ensemble Singers; Marimba Nandayapa; featured marimba soloists; Macalester African Music Ensemble; University of Minnesota Marimba Ensemble

Cantata for Soloists, Four Chiapaneca Marimbas, and Four Mixed Choirs

This cantata was commissioned by Philip Brunelle, Artistic Director of VocalEssence, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Mexican Independence and the 100th anniversary of the start of the Mexican Revolution.

One of the most important ideas I want to share with those who perform or hear this cantata is all that is contained at emotional and experiential levels in the series of events Mexico lived through during these two tremendous events. I want to do this not in a literal way—all of the experiences of the participants in these transitions—which can seem familiar whether you were there or not. In reassessing the past, we can look to reassessing the present anew, and we can look to a future full of expectations for peace and progress in Mexico and worldwide.

I also want to emphasize that we should not forget that all who participated in the past events were our compatriots. Among them were women and men, children, farmers, and teachers — innumerable numbers of people who gave their lives in pursuit of a common ideal: Liberty. It is because of this that I chose the excellent poem, “Here Time Was Born” by the well-known Mexican poet, Roberto López Moreno, with phrases such as:
Here a smile was given to the
firm fist...
And the sons and fathers will make bread and songs...
Now all together in the dream...
These words have the sense I was looking for in my cantata and what I personally continue to seek in the development of humanity, our humanity.
—Jorge Córdoba Valencia