MISSA GAIA: A Mass in Celebration of Mother Earth
A Call to Action on Climate Change/Climate Justice
The World House Choir (100 singers from throughout the Miami Valley region:
Dayton, Cincinnati, Middletown, Urbana, Xenia, Springfield and Yellow Springs) will be
joined by guest dancers and instrumentalists in a production of MISSA GAIA: A Mass in
Celebration of Mother Earth by the Paul Winter Consort.
Performances will be on Friday and Saturday, September 11 and 12, at 7pm in the
Antioch College Amphitheatre in Yellow Springs (in case of rain, at the Antioch College
Foundry Theatre, 902 Corry St., Yellow Springs), and Sunday, September 13 at 3pm in
Grace United Methodist Church in Dayton (Salem Ave. and Harvard Blvd.).
The local performances are a “Call to Action on Climate Change and Climate
Justice.”
Paul Winter's MISSA GAIA is a contemporary work that uses a traditional religious
form, the Mass, to move listeners to reflect on the interconnectedness and sanctity of all
life on earth. It weaves the recorded calls of wolf, whale, and harp seal together with
choral voices and a nine-piece ensemble of instrumentalists. Textured throughout this
lyrical environmental liturgy are rhythms from Africa, Brazil and the American gospel
tradition. Dancers will accompany several of the movements.
A community wide Environmental Justice Fair will accompany each MISSA GAIA
concert. It will draw together and encourage community participation and support for
area groups working in the arenas of climate change and climate justice. Before each
performance, organizations will set up information tables and food trucks will be on site
to sustain attendees. Groups participating in the fair include the Greene Environmental
Coalition, Miami Group of the Sierra Club, Yellow Springs Resiliency Network, People for
Safe Water, Community Solutions, Tecumseh Land Trust and B-W Greenways.
Dr. Catherine Roma, founder and artistic director of the World House Choir,
Barbara Leeds, accompanist and assistant director, sound engineer Michael Casselli and
choreographer Melissa Heston will join forces with the World House Choir, dancers and
instrumentalists to bring this production to life.
Admission to the concert is free (donations accepted), childcare is provided free of
charge, venues are ADA accessible and the event will be interpreted for the hearing
impaired.
The Ohio Arts Council, the Puffin-West Foundation, the Dayton Foundation and
Xylem YSI are providing Grant support for this production. The World House Choir is
associated with the Coretta Scott King Center for Cultural and Intellectual Freedom at
Antioch College.
