An AIDS Quilt Songbook with Sing for Hope co-founders Monica Yunus and Camille Zamora

June 19, 2021, 4:30 pm

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Camille Zamora (in a snake print jumpsuit) and Monica Yunus (in a black and white pantsuit) portrait in urban setting.
Sing for Hope Co-Founders, Camille Zamora (l) and Monica Yunus (r). Photo: Fay Fox.

In the early 1990s, baritone William Parker conceived of a musical counterpart to the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt. The resulting album and concert of art songs that responded to the epidemic, The AIDS Quilt Songbook, featured many leading musicians of the time. The non-for-profit organization Sing for Hope continues Parker’s legacy with an album boasting more than 70 volunteer artists such as Joyce DiDonato, Jamie Barton, Matthew Polenzani, and Yo-Yo Ma. This week, sopranos Monica Yunus and Camille Zamora, co-founders of Sing for Hope, are Oliver’s guests.

Learn more about Sing for Hope HERE and learn more about the album An AIDS Quilt Songbook: Sing for Hope in the video below.

Playlist

Robert Chesley: “Autumn”
Text by Walter de la Mare
Noah Stewart, tenor
Kenneth Merrill, piano

Kevin Oldham: “Across the Sea”
Text by Kevin Oldham
Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano
Kenneth Merrill, piano

Glen Roven: “Retro”
Text by Gavin Geoffrey Dillard
Daniel Okutlich, bass-baritone
Glen Roven, piano

Eric Reda: “ATRIPLA!”
Text by Eric Reda
Jamie Barton, mezzo-soprano
Kenneth Merrill, piano

Fred Hersch: “Ordinary”
Text by Herschel Garfein
Michael Slattery, tenor
Fred Hersch, piano

John Musto: “Litany” from Shadow of the Blues
Text by Langston Hughes
Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano
John Musto, piano

Greg Kallor: “One Child”
Text by Sara Cooper
Melody Moore, soprano
Greg Kallor, piano

Robert Aldridge: “Away, but not far away”
Text by Herschel Garfein
Monica Yunus, soprano
Camille Zamora, soprano
Thomas Bagwell, piano 

This episode of Listening to Singers will be available for listening on-demand until July 2.