The Way Home
music of refuge
The Way Home honors America’s multicultural heritage with music that seeks to foster respect for all persons and groups, especially immigrants and refugees. Through these performances, we hope to enrich audiences with a greater understanding of and compassion for those who seek shelter from harm.
Music from trailblazing young composers Saunder Choi, Caroline Shaw, Derrick Skye, and Chris
Hutchings explore the peril and helplessness faced by many refugees. Songs from the 14th and 15th
centuries remind us that the refugee experience resonates across human history. Works by Melissa
Dunphy, Reginald Unterseher, and Stephen Paulus express the hope that our hearts will open to
welcome those in need of refuge.
Thank you to all who attended our in-person performances; it was a pleasure to sing for you. Online streaming event tickets are still available!
Friday, June 3 - 7:30pm
Streaming Concert Event
On-Demand Broadcast available through July 4
“Even singing with special masks, the chorus — performing in its various subgroups and in the larger, full-strength ensemble — filled the space with Seattle Pro Musica’s signature clarity, fullness of color, and meaningful expression. ”
Listen to select excerpts from the program:
Her beacon hand beckons
by Caroline Shaw
Based on Emma Lazarus’ sonnet The New Colossus, famous for its engraving at the base of the Statue of Liberty.
The poem’s lines “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” and its reference to the statue’s “beacon-hand” present the image of a hand that is open, beckoning, and strong.
Welcome Table
by Saunder Choi
SPM co-commissioned Welcome Table through the Consortio platform. Here are Saunder's thoughts on the piece:
“As a BIPOC, gay immigrant, I often wonder if I will ever be truly welcome in this country. Tensions surrounding immigration are at an all time high, with mothers being separated with their kids, children in detention cells, visa bans.... It seems that people are confusing nationalism and love for country with xenophobia and hatred.”
#UnitedWeDream
by Melissa Dunphy & Claudia D. Hernández
The composition raises up a life story involving immigration and the DREAM Act. The work is a collaboration between two artists—composer Melissa Dunphy and writer and photographer Claudia D. Hernández—with personal stories of immigration and refugeeism.
Accessibility at our venues:
St. James Cathedral: Wheelchair access is available in the Northeast (Marion St.) and Southern (Columbia St.) vestibules of the Cathedral. Additionally, many chairs can be removed to accommodate wheelchairs.