THERE WILL ALWAYS BE SINGING
Led by Guest Music Director, Mike Pfitzer
View the Concert Program HERE
About Mystic Chorale
The Mystic Chorale is a non-profit, volunteer-run, non-audition community chorus based in Arlington, Massachusetts. The Chorale seeks to explore through song the musically rich and diverse cultures of the world. Our mission is to promote singing as an act of compassion in the belief that when we create harmony, we make the world a more beautiful place and create a healing voice for our communities and ourselves.
The Chorale was founded in 1989 by Boston-based composer, conductor, author, and song leader Nick Page. More than 30 years later, the Mystic Chorale consistently provides a participatory musical experience for 150-200 singers and hundreds of audience members in three separate seasons each year. Fall and Spring season themes vary, ranging from folk to world music to spirituals and the blues; the winter season is dedicated to Gospel.
Mystic Chorale welcomes all who love to sing!
For more information, check our website at www.mysticchorale.org.
About Mike Pfitzer
Mystic Chorale is delighted to be performing tonight with guest director, Dr. Michael Pfitzer. Mike is widely known and respected as an innovative and engaging conductor, educator, and community music maker. His pioneering projects to safely make music together during Covid-19 (think drive-in choruses!) were profiled in the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and on television news broadcasts
Mike is currently the Choral Director at Deerfield Academy. He has conducted choirs at several universities, including Harvard and BU and has led international performances in Cuba, Romania, and Brazil. He has also conducted dozens of musical theatre and opera productions, led clinics and orchestral festivals, and has performed as an oratorio soloist.
Mike is an advocate for creating strong and diverse communities through concerts featuring music from a wide variety of places, cultures, and eras, with themes including mental health, social justice, music against gun violence, and songs of resistance. This concert builds upon his mission.
Lyrics – Sing with Us!
Akanamandla– Zulu Freedom/Church song.
A-ka-na-man-dla, ha-lle-lu-jah
A-ka-na-man-dla, U Sa-tha-ne
Sim-du-ma-zi-le, ha-lle-lu-jah
Sim-du-ma-zi-le, ha-lle-lu-jah
Sim-sa-bi-si-le, ha-lle-lu-jah
Sim-sa-bi-si-le, ha-lle-lu-jah’
Translation:
He has no power. Hallelujah.
Satan has no power.
He has been cheated. Hallelujah.
He flees far from us. Hallelujah.
Trilo
Trilo!
Här-är-han.
Nä-ra-land
Translation:
Trilo!
Here he is.
Nearland
Be Like the Bird by Abbie Betinis
Be like the bird that,
Pausing in her flight awhile on boughs too slight,
Feels them give way beneath her
And sings, and sings, and sings
Knowing she hath wings.
Bridge over Troubled Water by Paul Simon
I’ll be your bridge o’er troubled water
When you’re down, when you’re down
I will carry you like a bridge
O’er troubled water
I will lay me down.
When you’re weary, feelin’ small
When tears are in your eyes
I will dry them all.
I’m on your side
Oh, when times get rough
And friends just can’t be found
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
When you’re down and out
When you’re on the street, my Lord
When evening falls, I will comfort you
I’ll take your part. Oh, when darkness comes
And pain is all around
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
I’ll be your bridge o’er troubled water
When you’re down,
I will carry you like a bridge
O’er troubled water
I will lay me down.
Sail on silver girl
Sail on by
Your time has come to shine
All your dreams are on their way
See how they shine – Look around I’m sailing!
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
Like a bridge over troubled water
I will lay me down.
I’ll be your bridge o’er troubled water
When you’re down,
I will carry you like a bridge
O’er troubled water
I will lay, I will lay me down, lay me down.
How Can I Keep from Singing? by Robert W. Lowry 1862
My life flows on in endless song
Above earth’s lamentation.
I hear the real though distant song
That hails a new creation.
Through all the tumult and the strife I hear the music ringing.
It sounds an echo in my soul,
How can I keep from singing?
What though the tempest loudly roars,
I hear the truth, it’s living!
What though the darkness round me close,
Songs in the night it’s giving!
No storm can shake my inmost calm
While to that rock I’m clinging.
Since I believe that love abides,
How can I keep from singing?
When tyrants tremble when they hear
The bells of freedom ringing.
When friends rejoice both far and near,
How can I keep from singing?
In prison cell, in dungeon dark, our thoughts to them are winging.
When friends hold courage in their heart,
How can I keep from singing?
No storm can shake my inmost calm
While to that rock I’m clinging.
Since I believe that love abides,
How can I keep from singing?
One Voice by Ruth Moody
This is the sound of one voice
One spirit, one voice
The sound of one who makes a choice;
This is the sound of one voice.
This is the sound of one voice.
This is the sound of voices two
The sound of me singing with you,
Helping each other to make it through
This is the sound of voices two.
This is the sound of voices two.
This is the sound of voices three
Singing together in harmony
Surrendering to the mystery.
This is the sound of voices three.
This is the sound of voices three.
This is the sound of all of us
Singing with love and the will to trust
Leave the rest behind, it will turn to dust
This is the sound of all of us.
This is the sound of all of us.
This is the sound of one voice
One people, one voice
A song for every one of us
This is the sound of one voice.
This is the sound of one voice.
There Will Always Be Singing by Linda Hirschhorn
In these hard times
There will always be singing-
Always be singing in these hard times.
In these hard times
There will always be singing-
Always be singing in these hard times.
A Beautiful Noise by Alicia Keys et al.
I have a voice
Started out as a whisper, turned into a scream
Made a beautiful noise
Shoulder to shoulder, marching in the street
When you’re all alone, it’s a quiet breeze.
But when you band together, it’s a choir
Of thunder and rain, now we have a choice
‘Cause I have a voice.
I’m not living to die
Don’t stand in a wasteland.
Look at me in the eye
Stop living a lie
And stand up next to me.
You gotta put one foot in front of another
With a hand in a hand holding on to each other
Go on and rejoice
‘Cause you have a voice.
It is loud, it is clear
It’s stronger than your fear
It’s believing you belong
It’s for calling out the wrong
From the silence of my sister to the violence of my brother
We can, we can
Rage against the river, feel the pain of another.
I have a voice.
I have a voice
And I let it speak for the ones who aren’t yet really free.
It’s killing me
No one is saying what we need to hear
I will not let silence win
Not when I see all the pain our people are in
There’s no other choice
‘Cause I have a voice.
It is loud, it is clear
It’s stronger than your fear
It’s believing you belong
It’s for calling out the wrong
From the mouths of our mothers to the lips of our daughters
we can, we can
Dream like our brothers speaking loud like our fathers
We can, we can heal. Can you hear us? Can you hear us?
We can, we can heal. Can you hear us? Can you hear us now?
I have a voice
Started out as a whisper, turned into a scream
Made a beautiful noise
Shoulder to shoulder, marching in the street
When you’re all alone, it’s a quiet breeze
But when you stand together, it’s a choir
Of thunder and rain
Now we have a choice
‘Cause I have a voice.
Now we have a choice
‘Cause I have a voice.
Now we have a choice
‘Cause i have a voice.
River by Bill Staines
I was born in the path of the winter wind
And raised where the mountains are old
Their springtime waters came dancing down
And I remember the tales they told.
The whistling ways of my younger days
Too quickly have faded on by
But all of their memories linger on
Like the light in a fading sky.
River, take me along in your sunshine,
Sing me your song
Ever moving and winding and free
You rolling old river
You changing old river
Let’s you and me, river run down to the sea.
I’ve been to the city and back again
I’ve been moved by some things that I’ve learned
Met a lot of good people and I’ve called them friends
Felt the change when the seasons turned.
I’ve heard all the songs that the children sing
And listened to love’s melodies
I’ve felt my own music within me rise
Like the wind in the autumn trees.
River, take me along in your sunshine,
Sing me your song
Ever moving and winding and free
You rolling old river
You changing old river
Let’s you and me, river run down to the sea.
Someday when the flowers are blooming still
Someday when the grass is still green
My rolling waters will round the bend
And flow into the open sea.
So, here’s to the rainbow that’s followed me here
And here’s to the friends that I know
And here’s to the song that’s within me now
I will sing it where’er I go.
River, take me along in your sunshine,
Sing me your song
Ever moving and winding and free
You rolling old river
You changing old river
Let’s you and me, river run down to the sea.
River, take me along in your sunshine,
Sing me your song
Ever moving and winding and free
You rolling old river
You changing old river
Let’s you and me, river run down to the sea.
The Road Home by Michael Dennis Browne, Prospect from Southern Harmony 1835
Tell me, where is the road
I can call my own
That I left, that I lost
So long ago?
All these years I have wandered
Oh, when will I know?
There’s a way, there’s a road
That will lead me home.
After wind, after rain
When the dark is done
As I wake from a dream
In the gold of day
Through the air there’s a calling
From far away
There’s a voice I can hear
That will lead me home.
Rise up, follow me
Come away, is the call
With the love in your heart
As the only song
There is no such beauty
As where you belong
Rise up, follow me
I will lead you home.