Name: When We Plant Trees
Start: 2024-06-01T19:00:00-07:00
Location: 540 S Commonwealth Ave, Los Angeles, CA, United States, California 90020

When We Plant Trees celebrates the interconnectedness of humanity and plant life. The June 1st Golden Thread Concert Series event presented by Laude doubles as a fundraising concert for the Cathedral Gardens urban garden initiative. Laude, the resident professional ensemble at FCCLA, will sing the Gardens into being, and invite the broader public to participate. A party of revelry and dancing will round out the evening. Laude’s robust vocal capacity is matched by their well-grooved intimacy as a repertory ensemble and deep stack of solo headliners. Their music inspires, challenges, and invites the listener into contemplation while leading them into places of curiosity and wonder.
The concert features Laude’s composer core writing for this special event. Works by Molly Pease (“Vast Blue”), Fahad Siadat (“Hymn To Aethon”), and David Conley (“When We Plant Trees”) explore philosophical and emotional connections between humanity and our perceptions of nature. Premieres by Sharon Chohi Kim (“Na Nuh Oori”) and Joanna Wallfisch (“Little Bird”) delve into what connectedness feels like and the spiritual ramifications of opening ourselves to other beings. Director David Harris will premiere his “Symphony For Voices 1 (Hearing Trees),” a muti-movement symphonic fantasy exploring the voice’s profound timbral capacity. Through poets and philosophers like Sandra Cisneros, Edyka Chilomé, W.H. Auden, and Jiddu Krishnamurti, the piece asks questions of what it means to listen for the voices of plants. Other established choral works such as Bernstein’s “Make Our Garden Grow,” Vaughan Williams’ “Linden Lea,” Andrew Balfour’s “Ambe,” and Sherryl Sewepagama’s “Mother Earth” will fill out the program.
The Cathedral Gardens will see all of First Congregational’s KoreaTown campus turned into gardens whose food will be donated to its neighbors. As part of its “Food at First” initiative and working closely with other organizations, First Congregational is responding to fast-growing food insecurity in Los Angeles. Weekly gardening, cooking, and composting classes open to all people will mark their presence as well. The first phase of The Cathedral Gardens began in spring of 2024 with classes and the planting of a few small beds. The 2024-2025 season will welcome groves of trees, and the transformation of larger spaces into educational and crop-bearing centers.