suffrage – Reena Esmail

Trust the Ballot

Program Notes We say the word “suffrage” when discussing voting rights, but do we know what it means? The word has roots in late Middle English and Latin, meaning “intercessory prayer,” the kind of prayer one offers on behalf of another. Trust the Ballot explores this connection, understanding that when we vote we don’t just voice our … Read more

Say Your Name

Program Notes ‘Say Your Name,’ a voting-rights cantata composed by Reena Esmail and written by Rebecca Gayle Howell. Here is the resilient story of a woman named Democracy, a woman battered by gaslighting and confusion. As she finds the courage to remember who she is, she learns what we all must: that to guard our … Read more