by Katie Heilman, special to the Sybaritic singer<\/em><\/p>\n

In a time where live music is nearly impossible to make happen safely, Grammy award-winning new music choir The Crossing<\/strong> gifts us with <\/span>Rising<\/span><\/i>, their first live album and a collection of recordings from concerts in the \u201cbefore\u201d times. This album came out of a series of morning emails sent by artistic director Donald Nally<\/strong> as the pandemic began to shut everything down. Rising with The Crossing each morning, members could stay connected and reflect on music they performed in the past. Now, more than ever, this connection is crucial, and this collection of works shows the power of musical connection.<\/span><\/p>\n

The names are humanized in this contrast, reflecting how those who have died were human beings<\/span><\/h3>\n

The album opens with the unfortunately timely Protect Yourself From Infection<\/em>, by David Lang<\/strong>, the work that inspired the album. The text comes from official government instructions on avoiding the 1918 flu, interspersed with the names of victims of the flu from Philadelphia. Many of these instructions sound familiar over a century later. The most striking aspect of this work is the contrast between the mechanical-sounding choral instructions with the soloists singing the names of the dead. The names are humanized in this contrast, reflecting how those who have died were human beings. It is a sentiment that is needed today, as those suffering from COVID-19 are human beings often lost in statistics displayed on a screen.<\/span><\/p>\n