Denver Women’s Chorus is getting in on the cultural run-up to election day — which includes theHistory Colorado Center and other free, civic events — as ballots and political ads pile up in our mailboxes.
The chorus this week will present the Colorado online premiere of composer Joan Szymko’s“In Lifting as We Climb” to kick off its 2020-21 season. The piece is part of which begins online at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16,and marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, guaranteeing women the right to vote.
Streamed on YouTube (at), the free program will feature the 130-persontreble chorus performing Szymko’s piece, which “amplifies the voices of Black as well as white suffragists and calls us all to action in the fight to protect voting rights for all Americans,” said assistant artistic director Alison Dozier.
While free, the performance parallels Denver Women’s Chorus’ fall fundraiser; $10 dollars from the sale of each “March. Sing. Vote!” T-shirt will benefit the nonprofit chorus (order at). Denver Women’s Chorus also has partnered with the League of Women Voters to make voter information easier to find online, officials said.
“As the 2020 elections approach, Mark (Zwilling, artistic director) and I wanted to share this work again as the right to vote is fundamental to our democracy and must be protected,” Dozier said in a press statement.
Denver Women’s Chorus is atrans- and nonbinary-inclusive chorus made up of LGBTQ singers and allies, and part of the larger , an umbrella organization that also includes Denver Gay Men’s Chorus. The groups’ concerts have often served as calls for social change and shows of solidarity as much as chorale showcases.
Szymko’s centerpiece commission was created for treble chorus with piano, alto saxophone and drum set and features DWC principal accompanist Beth De Boer, according to a DWC statement. Seventeenco-commissioning treble choruses across the country were part of the original project.
While all the choruses planned to perform the work in 2020, only fourhad done so before the pandemic interfered, the DWC said.
