Music Worcester Will Present I RISE: WOMEN IN SONG in May

Music Worcester will present The Worcester Chorus Women's Ensemble and Cantilena, a Greater Boston-based women's chorus, in a concert featuring Reena Esmail's acclaimed work I Rise: Women in Song among other works by women composers on Friday, May 8 at 8pm at Worcester's Trinity Lutheran Church. Tickets and information can be found at musicworcester.org. Cantilena will also present the full program at their concert on May 9 in Arlington, MA. 

Artistic Director of Cantilena Elinor A. Armsby will lead will lead the combined choirs in the five-movement I Rise, which is a nod to different public figures who have inspired Reena Esmail:  Emily Dickinson, Eleanor Roosevelt, Maya Angelou, and Arlene Geller. 

“Each of the movements is inspired by the words of a female author who has shaped our world with her thoughts and actions. Some of the movements are sweet, subtle, and nostalgic,” said Esmail. “Others are fiery and bold. Some coalesce into their shape as they move along, and others unravel towards their ends. Each movement is a reflection on a single facet of the multifaceted experience of being a woman in this world.”   

In addition to "I Rise,” the concert will include the combined choirs singing “Why I Pity the Woman Who Never Spills” by Elizabeth Alexander, led by The Worcester Choir Women's Ensemble Music Director Mark Mummert. 

Separately, The Women's Ensemble will sing works by Gwenyth Walker, and Cantilena will perform “Standing Tall” by Ellen Gilson Voth; “Ave Maria” by Eleanor Daley; and “Warrior Song” by Kym Baryluk.  

The Women's Ensemble (dir. Mark Mummert) is part of The Worcester Chorus of Music Worcester, which has been an important part of Central Massachusetts' musical tradition since its founding in 1858. Today, the full Chorus numbers approximately 100 professional and amateur singers from Worcester County and southern New England. Their repertoire also includes other classical choral pieces, opera, musical theater, American folk songs, and more. 

Led by Artistic Director Elinor A. Armsby, Cantilena is dedicated to encouraging and promoting the composition, study, and performance of choral music with an emphasis on music composed specifically for women's voices. Cantilena strives to introduce both its members and an increasingly wider audience to unique works by composers they are unlikely to encounter elsewhere. Founded in 1968 as the Cambridge Chorale, the ensemble of mixed (SATB) voices began performing as a chorus of women's voices in 1980 and renamed itself Cantilena in 2000. 2025 marked 45 years singing as a treble ensemble and 25th as “Cantilena.”

Indian American composer Reena Esmail works between the worlds of Indian and Western classical music and brings communities together through the creation of equitable musical spaces.  Esmail divides her attention evenly between orchestral, chamber and choral work. She has written commissions for ensembles including the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Seattle Symphony, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Kronos Quartet.  Esmail is no stranger to Music Worcester audiences, who experienced her music in three different concerts in 2023.

Mark Mummert is the Assistant Director & Accompanist for The Worcester Chorus of Music Worcester, Inc., and the director of The Worcester Chorus Women's Ensemble. Mark is also Cantor at Trinity Lutheran Church (ELCA), Worcester, MA where he leads the music in all worship services, conducts the exceptional Trinity Choir, and is artistic director of the Music at Trinity fine arts series. Mark also serves on the voice faculty at Hanover Theater Conservatory in Worcester. Mark served as the Director of Worship at Houston's Christ the King Lutheran Church (2008-2015) and as Seminary Musician at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (1990-2008).

Elinor A. Armsby (“Ellie”) has been active as a choral conductor and clinician in Massachusetts and the Philadelphia area for over twenty-five years. In addition to her appointment as Artistic Director of Cantilena, she currently serves as Senior Choir Director at Acton Congregational Church. She received her undergraduate training in voice at Indiana University and her master's degree in Choral Conducting and Music History from Temple University. In addition to her conducting activities, Ellie is an active composer and the owner and president of Hildegard Publishing Company, a publisher of concert music by women composers.

Music Worcester has brought internationally acclaimed musicians and ensembles to Central Massachusetts since its founding in 1858. Today, the organization presents leading orchestras, soloists, and ensembles spanning classical, jazz, folk, global traditions, and dance, engaging audiences of all ages and backgrounds.