Reimagining the Choir: Chorus America Virtual Conference 2020 / Emilie Amrein and André de Quadros Artwork

The Choral Commons

The Choral Commons is a media platform that provides a space for choirs and singing communities to realize the liberatory potential of the ensemble as a site of radical imagining. We promote equitable artistic and organizational practices that harness the positive social impacts of participatory music making for the common good and confront racism, poverty, ableism, LGBTQ+ discrimination, displacement, and much more. We produce podcasts and community events, offer educational resources on justice-centered praxis, and incubate creative, artistic, and compassionate projects that empower choirs and singing communities to work for a just and peaceful world.

All Episodes

The Choral Commons

Reimagining the Choir: Chorus America Virtual Conference 2020 / Emilie Amrein and André de Quadros

July 17, 2020 • Emilie Amrein & André de Quadros • Season 1 • Episode 5

Black activist and poet, Sonya Renee Taylor, writes, “We will not go back to normal. Normal never was. Our pre-corona existence was never normal other than we normalized greed, inequity, exhaustion, depletion, extraction, disconnection, confusion, rage, hoarding, hate and lack. We should not long to return, My friends. We are being given the opportunity to stitch a new garment. One that fits all of humanity and nature.”

This week, instead of a long form interview, we’re sharing a portion of the presentation Emilie and André gave to Chorus America this past June, three weeks after the brutal murder of George Floyd and the countless uprisings for Black Lives around the country. The conversation, titled Reimagining the Choir, explored some uncomfortable topics before considering a pathway forward based on mutuality, community, and reciprocal relationships.