Alicia Jo Rabins & Camas High School Choir Will Join Forces For The World Premiere of 'I Was A Desert: Songs Of The Matriarchs'

Portland-based composer, musician, and author Alicia Jo Rabins joins sonic forces with 130 singers from the award-winning Camas High School Choir, string players from the vaunted Third Angle New Music, and a trio of top-tier rock musicians for the dynamic world premiere of I Was A Desert: Songs of the Matriarchs. 

Composed by Rabins, this richly textured multimedia song cycle explores ancient stories of women from the Torah (Hebrew Bible) in a contemporary musical language blending indie rock, folk, chamber music, and the thrilling sound of 130 youthful voices joined in song. This one-night-only performance takes place on April 11, 2024, at 7:30 p.m. at Revolution Hall and will feature a surprise guest opener. Tickets at $20 are on sale now at revolutionhall.com.

“Stories of women are often seen as peripheral when we read ancient sacred texts,” said Rabins of the project. “This project asks what would happen if we put these women at the center instead—using the combined power of choir, rock band, and strings to explore the bravery, resilience, and vulnerability at the heart of these ancient stories.”

"One thing that makes this project so unique, and I expect to really come through to audiences in a powerful way, is that the student singers in the choir have been genuine collaborators in shaping the composition and performance. Alicia has a very strong voice as a composer and deep knowledge of her subject, but she has also made space for the perspectives of the individual choir members to shine through. These young people have great insights about music, religion, pop culture, and gender that they have contributed to the piece," said award-winning Camas High School Choir Director Ethan Chessin.

This ambitious, large-scale collaboration is intergenerational, intercultural, interdisciplinary —and seeks to blend musical genres while opening dialogue across faiths, ethnicities, and perspectives. The Camas High School Choir has a rich history of choral collaborations with renowned artists, such as Portugal. The Man, Kingdom Sound, Stanley Jordan, and Luz Elena Mendoza of Y La Bamba. Chessin grounds these collaborations by providing students of this small town with in-depth explorations of diverse and varied traditions and cultures as a foundation for the music they generate. 

I Was A Desert: Songs of the Matriarchs builds upon Rabins’ long-running music project Girls in Trouble, which explores the complex and fascinating stories of Biblical women and how their lives overlap with contemporary experiences. Fans of Girls in Trouble will be delighted to hear some familiar songs resonate and breathe in fresh ways with the lush, expanded arrangements for choir, as well as take in brand new compositions. Newcomers to Rabins’ music will find it welcoming and thought-provoking in equal measure. Throughout the process, Rabins has worked closely with the Camas students, inviting them to anonymously contribute their own personal reflections on vulnerability, power, loss, and their hopes and dreams. These collective reflections will be woven throughout the piece, creating a tapestry of the young singers' personal stories alongside ancient source material.

I Was A Desert: Songs of the Matriarchs is a significant contribution to new choral repertoire for multiple reasons. First, it’s an ambitious new work by a woman composer, a group that remains dramatically underrepresented in the music world, and particularly in classical and New Music settings. Additionally, it’s a new contribution to the currently limited body of contemporary Jewish choral music. Moreover, it’s a Jewish work created in the Pacific Northwest, a region whose history of Jewish artistry is not yet widely appreciated. Animated projections and lighting by a team of theatre professionals will create the visual world of the show. 

Following the world premiere in Portland, I Was A Desert: Songs of the Matriarchs will make its New York City debut on May 23, 2024, at the Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. Prior to the Portland performance, a preview of I Was A Desert: Songs of the Matriarchs will be featured in Camas High School Choir’s spring performance, which begins at 7 p.m. on March 26, 2024. A full-length concert video, audio recording, published sheet music, and a mini-documentary about the composition, rehearsal, and performance process will ensure the project continues to find new audiences after this limited run of shows.

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