Join the 200 singers of the Mystic Chorale singing songs of community, power and hope from the ongoing Civil Rights movements of South Africa and the US. We are thrilled to welcome returning guest, Dr. Ysaye Barnwell, who has spent three decades singing with Sweet Honey In The Rock and building communities of song throughout the world. Her central message – that together our voices matter – is sagely conveyed in  Step by Step: “Many stones can build an arch, singly none.” Step by Step is a United Mine Workers’ song adapted by Waldemar Hille based on a traditional Irish song. Ysaye Barnwell did the choral arrangement the Chorale will sing.

We also welcome back South African friends Nthabi Thakadu, Phakamani Pega, and Pumla Bhungane, as well as pianist extraordinaire Jonathan Singleton.

Audience and Chorale alike will enjoy Ysaye’s uplifting song-leading and a rich program that features several contemporary pieces, including one Ysaye wrote especially for Mystic that assures us, “We can rise higher than high, We can rise in love.”

All of the songs—past and present, South African and American—deliver powerful and relevant messages for today’s world!

Enjoy this video of the Mystic Chorale singing Usilethela Uxolo (Nelson Mandela, You Bring Us Peace) at a past concert.