Reclaiming Radical with 21V

The San Francisco Bay Area's ​21V choral ensemble, under the direction of Dr. Martín Benvenuto, presents Reclaiming Radical on Friday April 5, 2024 at 8:00 p.m. at Old Mission Dolores in San Francisco and Saturday, April 6, 2024 at 4:00 p.m. at the Hillside Club in Berkeley.  This is 21V’s third season of presenting bold and unexpected programs, rethinking existing boundaries and assumptions.  In this case, reimagining with us the word “radical” at its roots: fundamental, foundational, indispensable. 

Benvenuto said, “The idea for this program stemmed from a desire to free “radical” from its pejorative, ideologically fortified shackles, to recapture its positive and, well, radical connotations. John Stuart Mill in the 1830s famously stated: ‘Every great movement must experience three stages: ridicule, discussion, adoption.’ Why are we inclined to see movements as extreme at first rather than as essentially foundational to our humanity?”.

21V’s unique treble sound of soprano and alto voices of all genders is showcased in an eclectic array of 21st century music of the 3 Americas, weaving a tapestry of 21st-century music featuring change makers past and present: civil rights luminary Martin Luther King, labor leaders Dolores Huerta and César Chavez, women’s rights pioneer Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and transgender rights activist Miss Major Griffin-Gracy. 

Two world premieres are featured in these programs. Chris Castro’s “Two Partsongs” honors the sweeping legacies of Chavez and Huerta in a bilingual work combining the nostalgic “De Otoño” by Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío with the powerful yearning of the Choir of Spirits in Goethe’s Faust. Stacy Garrop's poignant setting of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's last letter to her husband, adapted specially for the treble voices of 21V, will touch your heart. And, in the spirit of the essential, the program will be framed with the four traditionally indispensable elements of air, fire, water and earth. 

The Berkeley performance will feature a pre-concert discussion at 3:00 p.m. with a panel of inspirational and radical change makers. Panelists include Rowena Chui, #MeToo activist and advocate, Rev. Dr. Ambrose Carroll, Sr., Founder and CEO of “Green the Church” and a representative from the Dolores Huerta Foundation, an organization dedicated to cultivating empowered volunteer organizations actively pursuing social justice.