Postcard from Tomorrow's Memories collaborators: Matthew Welch and Sean San José
This week’s postcard comes from composer Matthew Welch's and Stage Director Sean San José, collaborators on Tomorrow's Memories: A Little Manila Diary, a new SFGC commissioned choral-opera that was previewed as part of our Island Holiday virtual performance last month and receives its world premiere next season.
Matthew Welch, composer
How did you become an artist? Tell us about what you've done and what you do now.
I always wanted to be a musician. Beginning with scraping strings on an old guitar in the attic, I knew that I had my own kind of music inside of me, however I also knew I had some serious homework to do in order to learn the languages of music that most people shared. Still interested in bringing my own “voice” along with my studies, I learned to play many instruments outside the norm, yet had strong traditions with them. Scottish Bagpipes and Gamelan music from Indonesia occupied much of my playing interests. However, I still had this personal music inside of me that would come out both in improvisation and through notating new sounds I heard in my head. I was also a big-time book reader and movie-buff. I think those really contributed to my “bigger” musical works these days: opera!
Can you tell us more about your vision for Tomorrow's Memories: A Little Manila Diary?
The opera that I composed for SFGC is a really unique one for me compared to the last decade of opera works I premiered. This piece really challenges certain notions as to what “opera” is, in that the chorus is the main feature of the work. This opera does have solo singers that play roles, and there is a band of instrumentalists, but the chorus has such an extended role far beyond the conventional one of providing commentary and interpretation on the solo roles and parts. It is also only one of a few operas for children. Being able to fundamentally shift the basic building blocks of opera, yet maintain focus on storytelling and drawing inspiration from the original diary by Angeles Monrayo upon which the opera is based.
SFGC Premier Ensemble previews Act I of Tomorrow's Memories: A Little Manila Diary (Online Performance, September 2020)
Can you tell us about your experiences working with SFGC choristers and other young artists?
I have been blessed with the opportunity to tell young students about the work, its background both specific to Monrayo and the Philippines in general, and introduce some of the guest artists involved, through SFGC's Artist-In-Schools program. We have all shared amazing stories about where many of our families came from, resonating with the migratory tales of Angeles’s diary. Students at Bessie Carmichael Elementary School and Lowell High School have found a connection with the opera’s narrative to their own, 100 years later. It was emotionally overwhelming and confirmed my deepest heartfelt motivations for this work: to touch, educate and empower people with both the history represented.
As I have been working on this piece, I have also been parenting a lot, so much of my world has been pulled out of the “adult life,” and has been thrown into a new psychology. What I can reach back and remember from my own youth is that I am no less or no more serious about having music in my life. Certainly life becomes more and more complicated, but I can still reach back and directly connect with the motivations that pulled me into music. This is one of the most exciting things about working with SFGC, to see and hear such talent, drive and dedication specifically in a serious and empowering environment where each singer can set the highest limits for themselves and their peers.
Composer Matthew Welch conducting (Credit: Matthew Welch Music)
For those who wish to become professional musicians - anything you’d like to share with them?
To the young women who aspire for the professional life in music, I couldn’t think of a better place to come from than SFGC! I couldn’t imagine perfectly how I would eventually go from being a serious young bagpiper to a broader professional musician myself. But looking back, I can encourage you singers to revel in your time with SFGC, as the skills for success in any professional domain, especially the tough music industry, are right there with you! Even more now during COVID, that music is a gift to us people. A gift you can give yourself, as well as others. I have practiced so much and been very creative during COVID, and haven’t worried too much that there is less happening in the public space of music. We live in a technological world, and a world where the future is unfolding at a rapid and unpredictable rate.
Anything you would like to add?
I’m inspired by everyone’s ability to keep on keepin’ on with music by pushing forward individually and making online spectacles where we can come together. Soon enough we will be back in person - we’ll have a new appreciation for that, and also be so much more self-guided. I can’t wait!!!
Sean San José, Stage Director
How did you become an artist? Tell us about what you've done and what you do now.
My name is Sean San José, I live and have been raised in San Francisco. I consider myself a person from the City and I'm proud of that.
I came into the world of performance and theatre by accident. I saw a play when I was 18 and I thought it was great to share questions and issues in a space not only for creation, but as a way to share feelings and build a greater sense of community.
Before that, I thought the performance world was far away from me, but I discovered that it is a simple and profound place for people to come together in communion. We live our lives so far from each other so it is good to get together and ask questions. You don’t necessarily solve anything but you express yourself and put a hand on the world we live in.
Can you tell us more about your vision for Tomorrow's Memories: A Little Manila Diary?
Tomorrow’s Memories is wonderful as it both explores history and opens up a way of looking at our lineage. Being Filipino means a lot to me. It is profound to move back in time and I have the feeling that I become more aware of the world we live in, stories that happen everyday, like immigration.
I was aware of the book before, and I wanted to work with many mediums to tell the story: visual, music and text. This is not only a choral project. I am excited to stage a story told by a woman’s point of view, and a story that involves women. I think it is a good project for the San Francisco Girls Chorus and a good pairing with my personal and esthetic values.
Tomorrow’s Memories is a diary, personal but very restrictive in the narrative. It is going to be exciting to see what is going to happen when the story of this pre-teenage girl will be told by the voices of 40 energetic young women. It is a reflection of the world we live in conveyed by young people.
A research trip outside of the Pu'unene Sugar Mill Plantation near one of the sugar plantation camps, similar to the ones from Tomorrow's Memories.
Can you share more about your experience working with the choristers of the San Francisco Girls Chorus?
I feel very happy about it as the younger generation rarely has the opportunity to be the center of a story other than in children's stories, or stories told from an adult’s perspective. This is different. I like to work with anyone new or younger because it advances narrative and is more exciting. It is also important to keep in mind that the choristers are young professionals. This shows in the way we approach new works.
This story is about immigration, it is a Filipino story and I am honored to be able to be a piece of this creation. Sharing this story with people who are Filipino or not, feels great.
I knew this piece because of Dawn Bohulano Mabalon, who was a hero of our Filipino community. She educated people, and now it’s noble and empowering to share this story and put it in the hands of the young ladies of SFGC.
What are you doing to continue bringing music performances to the community during this time?
With my company, Campo Santo, we have created writing labs, reading sessions and generate material to reach people as much as we can. As performance makers, we want to bring people together when this is not possible. We want to reach out and find new ways of doing this.
TOMORROW'S MEMORIES COMMUNITY OUTREACH
In partnership with Bessie Carmichael Elementary School and Lowell High School in SFUSD, our first-ever Artist-in-Schools Workshop Series provides a 10-month journey through the real-time development of Tomorrow's Memories: A Little Manila Opera by American composer Matthew Welch. Through a series of diverse workshops around the creation of a new work, participating students will explore the 1924-1928 diary writings of Filipina immigrant Angeles Monrayo, and explore numerous ways that this work relates artistically and personally to their own lives. SFGC will bring a total of eight prominent artists - from composers, music educators, directors, film-makers, musicians, conductors, and dancers - to bring to life ten interactive, online workshops for students in grades 3-5 and 9-12. Participating students will engage in experiences "behind-the-scenes" and get a glimpse at the creative process of the development of this new work, its historical influences, and the cultural relevance to our own community and current times.
This Fall, our workshops have set-up an introduction to this project and new work, while also exploring personal immigration stories of individual families and relating them to the journey of Angie. Participating students have also had the opportunity to learn first-hand from Filipina artists, including Sean San José (stage director), Fides Enriquez (writer, filmmaker, and dancer), Florante Aguilar (guitarist), Susie Ibarra (composer), and Tiffany Unarce Barry (music educator). Spring workshops will bring to life the exploration of Filipino music and movement, libretto writing and composition, while bringing all experiences together in the conclusion of understanding this story and new choral-commission for its historical, cultural, and musical significance. We at SFGC feel so proud of the creation of this project, and are so happy to be able to share the journey with SFUSD students at Bessie Carmichael Elementary School and Lowell High School!