WE ARE HERE
American Voices for International Human Rights
Album Front Cover
CORO ALLEGRO: WE ARE HERE is a stirring choral album by Boston’s LGBTQ+ and allied classical chorus that amplifies voices of resistance, resilience, and remembrance. The album features Syrian American composer Kareem Roustom’s Rage Against the tyrant(s) on the Arab Spring, devastation of Aleppo, and danger of succumbing to tyranny, and Eric Banks’ Aluta Continua: The Passion of David Kato Kisule about the legacy of the slain Ugandan LGBTQ+ activist, with GRAMMY®-nominated countertenor Reginald Mobley in the title role. These works by American composers, premiered by and commissioned for Coro Allegro, weave together protest chants, poetry, sacred texts, and witness testimony to confront oppression and honor those who fight for justice, here and abroad,
With performances by Coro Allegro under the direction of David Hodgkins and a constellation of guest artists, CORO ALLEGRO: WE ARE HERE on Navona Records, is a call to action, an evocative tribute to the power of music to bear witness and inspire change.
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Album back cover.
Photo: ©David Degner
MORE TO COME!
A physical CD will be released September 19, 2025. Look for new of a release party in Boston to follow.
Letter from the Artistic Director:
©Sam Brewer
Dear Friends,
The heart of Coro Allegro’s mission is to build bridges between disparate communities as ambassadors of the LGBTQ+ population through compelling performances of extraordinary music by a diverse range of classical and contemporary composers.
Choral music provides a crucial vehicle for recounting stories germane to present-day affairs. Over the last century there are many such examples of works that bear witness to the plight of the forgotten: Poulenc’s Figure Humaine, Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw, MacMillan’s Cantos Sagrados, Still’s And They Lynched Him on a Tree are but a few examples of works which speak to the atrocities of war and racism that remain seemingly unshakeable in today’s world.
Rage Against the tyrant(s) by Syrian-American composer Kareem Roustom and Aluta Continua: The Passion of David Kato Kisule by Eric Banks are two additions to the cadre of works that deepen our understanding of the plight of marginalized populations. Roustom’s work documents the heartache and fallout from the Arab Spring protest and the deadly crackdown of the Assad regime in Syria and subsequent civil war that continues to cause devastation in that country. Eric Banks’ contemporary passion, Aluta Continua (The Struggle Continues), tells of the life and legacy of slain Ugandan LGBTQI+ activist David Kato, a leader in the resistance to the continued rise of homophobic hatred in Uganda, fueled by American neoconservative missionaries. The proposed homophobic legislation detailed in Aluta has sadly become law in Uganda, criminalizing people for being gay, and fomenting discriminatory violence and vitriol against the LGBTQI+ community there. These stories have disappeared from the mainstream media, supplanted in our consciousness by more recent tragedies, yet their experiences remain as vivid and terrifying as they were 10 years ago.
Coro Allegro’s vision for this release is to extend our existing bridges to an even wider audience by offering these compelling stories as told through these two powerful choral dramas by Kareem Roustom and Eric Banks. Our fervent hope is that they will both provide a sense of solidarity and calls to action.
Thank you for joining us in this journey.
— David Hodgkins, Artistic Director