April 7-8: Halalisa Singers celebrate 25 years of singing

The Halalisa Singers under the direction of Artistic Director Mary Cunningham reprise highlights from their extensive repertoire in Best of The Halalisa Singers: Favorites from 25 Years of Singing. The group’s 30 singers hail from Arlington, Ayer, Boston, Chelmsford, Lexington, Lincoln, Lowell, Maynard, Medford, Newton, Reading, Sudbury, Watertown, West Roxbury, Winchester, and Woburn. They will be accompanied by percussionist Bertram Lehmann and pianist Trevor Berens. Tickets are $20, $15 advance. For information call 781-648-5579, email info@halalisa.org, or visit www.halalisa.org.

• Saturday, April 7, 8 p.m. at Follen Church, 755 Massachusetts Ave., Lexington.
• Sunday, April 8, 3 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Reading, 239 Woburn St., Reading.

The group’s name, Halalisa, is taken from a Zulu word meaning celebration, and reflects the ensemble’s mission to deliver music that uplifts, energizes, comforts, and brings joy.
According to Artistic Director Cunningham, vocalizing is an international tool for human synergy. “In every culture of the world, singing together has served as a means to connect people spiritually and communally.” She adds that it can also help unite disparate groups and plays an important role in our increasingly diverse society. “Music brings us together through common experience of heart and mind, bridges what divides us, and unites us in common purpose. Through the support of community we can go out and build a better world.”

Among the pieces to be performed are Eric Whitacre’s luscious “Seal Lullaby,” Nick Page’s lively arrangement of “Hamishar Asar,” Joan Szymko’s African-influenced “It Takes a Village,” and Paul Halley’s monumental “Freedom Trilogy,” a piece that weaves Western classical music, popular South African songs, and “Amazing Grace” in a tour de force of choral power. “Abun D’bash’maiyo” presents a gorgeous setting of the Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic. The Macedonian “Sto Mi e Milo” offers the unparalleled rhythmic joy of Balkan music, while Morten Lauridsen’s choral classic “Sure on This Shining Night” overflows with lush, exquisite harmonies.

Spirituals have long been a Halalisa staple, and the group brings back some of its most crowd pleasing with “Home in d’Rock,” “Lord, I Know I Been Changed,” “This Little Light of Mine,” and Sweet Honey in the Rock’s poignant and powerful “Ella’s Song.”
Comic relief comes in the form of the Irish song “Rakes of Mallow,” about the cads and rascals from the town of Mallow in County Cork. The Japanese round “Hotaru Koi” invites smiles with its precise and delicate homage to the firefly. The group goes south of the border with a rousing rendition of the Cuban favorite “Guantanamera.”

The wide array of styles, moods, and emotional experiences is typical of Halalisa concerts. It’s a variety that helps convey the richness of human life around the globe. “Come for the experience of exciting music, filled with songs and dances from around the world. Superb soloists, too,” says Cunningham. “And, of course, extensive percussion!”

Providing the scintillating rhythms is Bertram Lehmann, an accomplished percussionist who’s performed internationally in venues including Lincoln Center and Symphony Hall. Pianist and composer Trevor Berens, the group’s crackerjack accompanist, brings his mad keyboard skills to challenging piano parts that enhance the singing.

Cunningham directs choral groups, plays flute, and teaches locally, but finds working with Halalisa to be a unique experience. “The Halalisa Singers are an ensemble of lively, open, talented, welcoming and enthusiastic singers who love to make music together,” she says.

The Halalisa Singers are a celebrated world music vocal ensemble of Greater Boston, dedicated to the performance of music across all cultures and nationalities. Halalisa is a Zulu word for “celebration,” and in that spirit, the Halalisa repertoire includes African, Latin, American Spiritual, Gospel, Jewish, Folk, and Jazz music. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Mary Cunningham, this Lexington- based group is now in its twenty-fifth year, offering performances throughout the Boston area. We are inspired by the belief that music is a universal language with the power to uplift and unite us all. The Halalisa Singers are members of the Greater Boston Choral Consortium, a cooperative association of choral groups in Boston and surrounding areas.

Mary Cunningham is in her fourteenth year as Artistic Director of the Halalisa Singers. She leads the ensemble in reaching out to wider audiences and performing an ever-widening repertoire. Following her vision to share their music across the Boston area, Halalisa has now performed for audiences in the communities of Acton, Arlington, Bedford, Boston, Cambridge, Concord, Hanover, Hingham, Harvard, Littleton, Melrose, Roxbury, Wellesley, & Winchester. With their special sound and mission, the Halalisa Singers have been sought after to perform at Multicultural and Diversity events, Benefit concerts and International festivals in the Northeast and Europe. Ms. Cunningham earned her Masters in Music at the Cleveland Institute of Music after degree training at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. She is well known in the Boston area as an active conductor, vocalist, and flute soloist. She is the Choir Director at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Reading, is a member of the American Choral Directors Association and the UU Musicians Network. A frequent performer with the Christmas Revels, Mary is on the faculty of the Powers Music School in Belmont, and has a private teaching studio in her Lexington home.

Pianist, composer, and accompanist Trevor Berens plays in many different styles, specializing in avant-garde classical music, traditional classical music, and free improvisation. Trevor holds degrees from Loyola Marymount University (BA: Music--Piano, Composition, and Psychology), California Institute of the Arts (MFA: Performer/Composer), and Lesley University (MA: Expressive Therapies with Music Therapy specialty). As a collaborator, he enjoys working with solo vocalists and instrumentalists, chamber groups, choruses, and with dancers and actors. Trevor is the founder, pianist, and resident composer of the newly formed nine-member new music ensemble, Sonic Liberation Players. He is a licensed music therapist who currently works with the elderly, young children, and as a supervisor with master's level interns. With his wife, Jessica, he runs the Berens Voice and Piano Studio out of Lincoln, MA.

With a supple and fluid style of drumming, percussionist Bertram Lehmann has become a sought-after player in the region and beyond, performing jazz, Latin, and world music. Bertram has performed at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, Columbia University, Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Jazz gallery in New York City, Boston's Symphony Hall, the Boston Globe Jazz Festival, Scullers Jazz Club, The Regattabar, MIT, and Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, and has appeared on over 65 public television stations nationwide. He is an Assistant Professor in the Percussion and Ear Training departments at Berklee College of Music, and teaches at Phillips Academy in Andover.