Three-time GRAMMY-nominated singer, composer, choral conductor, music director, and vocal activist Melanie DeMore serves as Visiting Artist-in-Residence at the University of Chicago Department of Music this spring. The residency features two public events: a workshop presentation titled Songs of Hope & Consolation on Saturday, May 11 at 4 p.m., and a performance with the University Chorus on Monday, May 13 at 7:30 p.m.
Melanie DeMore believes in the power of voices raised together. She facilitates vocal and stick-pounding workshops for professional choirs and community groups and directs numerous choral organizations across the U.S., Canada, and beyond. She is a featured presenter of SpeakOut!—The Institute for Social and Cultural Change and was a founding member of the GRAMMY-nominated ensemble Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir. She became Music Director for Obeah Opera by Nicole Brooks as part of the Luminato Festival in 2019. DeMore is a charter member of Kate Munger’s Threshold Choirs and conducts song circles with an emphasis on the voice as a vessel for healing. In her words, “A song can hold you up when there seems to be no ground beneath you.”
DeMore leads Songs of Hope & Consolation on Saturday, May 11 at 4 p.m. in Fulton Recital Hall. The workshop and presentation are centered on the music of hospice and threshold choirs. On Monday, May 13, DeMore joins singers from the University Chorus for the performance of Freedom Land, a Gullah stick-pounding choral collaboration. The concert program will also include classical repertoire from different periods and songs from around the world presented by UChorus.
In addition to the public events, DeMore will be visiting Department of Music classes, hosting workshops for community organizations in Hyde Park, leading a healing song circle for the mothers of Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation on Mothers Day’s, and more.
The May 11 and May 13 events are free and open to the public.