“Cancionero de luto (Mourning Songbook)"

Date: June 14, 2025

Time: 4:00PM

Venue: United Congregational Church of Holyoke

300 Appleton St, Holyoke, MA

Tickets: General Admission $25.00 and Donation $30+

www.mifafestival.org

MIFA Victory Theatre presents

the world premiere of composer Armando Bayolo’s “Cancionero de luto” (Mourning Songbook), co-commissioned by SOLI Chamber Ensemble and the Yale Choral Artists, alongside a reprise of Johanny Navaro’s “Belén: Un canto sagrado a mis ancestros” (A sacred chant to my ancestors), commissioned by MIFA Victory Theatre.

The Victory Players will join the Yale Choral Artists, led by Dr. Jeffrey Douma, in a performance that explores the emotional depth and beauty of “Cancionero de Luto” within the stunning acoustics of Holyoke’s United Congregational Church.

Under the Musical Direction of Tianhui Ng, “Belén: Un canto sagrado a mis ancestros” draws on the rich musical heritage of Afro-Puerto Rican music to honor the legacy and heritage of her ancestors. The sonorities and resources of the bomba are interwoven with African melodies and the sounds of sacred chant to produce a complex tapestry of dance and meditation.

 The program was repeated on June 15th 4PM at Yale’s Sprague Hall. Tickets available at  https://www.artidea.org/event/2025/5636

About Yale Choral Artists:

The Yale Choral Artists is a professional choir founded in 2012 by the Yale School of Music and the Yale Glee Club to enhance and enrich Yale’s strong commitment to the choral arts. The choir is a project-based ensemble comprised of leading singers from around the country and is directed by School of Music faculty member Jeffrey Douma. Current members of the Choral Artists also perform in the ranks of such acclaimed ensembles as the Trinity Wall Street Choir, Chanticleer, the Handel and Haydn Society Chorus, Seraphic Fire, Conspirare, and many others, and are also leading concert soloists, particularly in the area of early music.

Jeffrey Douma, choral director, has appeared as a guest conductor with choruses and orchestras on six continents, presented at state, divisional, and national conventions of the American Choral Directors Association and National Collegiate Choral Association, frequently serves as a clinician at festivals and master classes, and has been an ensemble member and tenor soloist with many of the nation’s leading professional choirs. Douma serves in many roles at the Yale School of Music. As The Marshall Bartholomew Professor in the Practice of Choral Music, he heads the graduate choral program and teaches a studio of graduate-level conductors. He is also director of the Yale Glee Club, which under his direction was hailed by The New York Times as “one of the best collegiate singing ensembles, and one of the most adventurous.” Douma is the founding director of the Yale Choral Artists, the artistic director of the Yale International Choral Festival, and the music director of the Yale Alumni Chorus, which he has led on many international tours.

About MIFA Victory Players:

Founded in 2017 by MIFA and Music Director Tianhui Ng, the Victory Players have achieved fame and world renown through their annual residencies in Holyoke. Its creation of music inspired by galvanizing themes, beginning with "El Puerto Rico, The Rich Port " in 2018, sponsored by NEPM and broadcast by GBH, with engagements at San Juan's Casals Hall, The Fine Arts Center at UMass Amherst, and education workshops in local schools. Victory Players is a project of MIFA and a key feature of the festival’s 2014 conception for the restoration and reopening of the historic Victory Theatre in Holyoke, MA.

Tianhui Ng, music director, Hailed by the Boston Globe for elevating the experience of new music from “great to unforgettable,” conductor Tianhui Ng is fast becoming one of the most sought-after interpreters of new music in the United States. As Music Director of the Victory Players, an ensemble of the Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts, he has led numerous performances on New England Public Media and WGBH on National Public Radio, with tours to Puerto Rico and Illinois. As Music Director of White Snake Projects, he has led more than 50 premieres, including Jacobs and Sosa’s Alice in the Pandemic,  chosen by the Library of Congress for their special collection recognizing the production as one of the most significant works of art during the pandemic. This season, Ng will debut with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic in the premiere of Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate’s Shell Shaker and feature at Opera America’s New Works Forum and premiere Eric Nathan’s Flute Concerto with Alejandro Escuer.