Madison's Big Sing

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Derek Pashupa Goodwin

A close-up of Onome.

Onome

media release: Bring your whole family to the Starlight Theater at MYArts on Saturday, November 18, at 10AM, and join your friends and neighbors for a FREE community-wide singing experience hosted by Madison Youth Choirs and featuring Onome (ah-nuh-MAY), MYC’s Teaching-Artist-in-Residence whose circlesinging workshops embody joy, enchantment, and infinite possibility.

Madison’s Big Sing is a unique opportunity for all ages and all voices to come together and be reminded of the common humanity we share when we sing, learn from guest artists, and listen to the voices around us. Connect your voice to others in the community and join the Big Sing, Madison!

Seating is limited. Thank you for helping us plan for attendance by completing the RSVP form below. The lobby will open at 9:30am and the theater will open at 9:45am. [Seating will be first-come, first-served, regardless of your RSVP.]

Madison’s Big Sing is made possible by support from Madison Community Foundation, DaneArts, and Park Hotel.

More on Onome's residency:

Beginning in October, Madison Youth Choirs (MYC), will have the great honor of welcoming Onome, a renowned music educator at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, as MYC’s Teaching Artist-in-Residence for the 2023-2024 season.  Onome (ah-nuh-MAY), a Nigerian-American artist who specializes in musical improvisation, multi-phonic, and microtonal singing, possesses a stunning ability to inspire students and audience members to embrace musical spontaneity, trust the impulses of their imagination, and revitalize their creativity.

 Onome's hallmark practice is circlesinging, a spontaneously composed choral form that guides singers into the flow of improvisation. Through this practice, participants learn how to build and join parts, use active listening skills, and discover the infinite possibilities of sound in this liberating setting.  In addition to over 400 young MYC singers who will work with Onome in rehearsals and performances, hundreds of families, arts educators, and community members throughout the state of Wisconsin will have the opportunity to engage in MYC’s free public programs and teaching workshops with Onome at the Madison Youth Arts Center (MYArts).

In October, Onome will lead the first of several free professional development workshops for over 130 arts educators from the Madison Metropolitan School District and a cohort of 40 teachers from across the state. This work will focus on expanding teachers’ collective toolkit of culturally responsive strategies, fostering classroom environments filled with joyful creativity, improvisation, and deep listening, where all students feel empowered to participate.

On Saturday, November 18, 2023, and Saturday, April 13, 2024, the entire community is invited to work with Onome at “Madison’s Big Sing,” MYC’s free event series designed for whole families to learn songs from a wide variety of cultures. More information on Madison’s Big Sing will be available soon at madisonyouthchoirs.org.

MYC will also present two public concert series featuring nine youth choirs performing with Onome, on January 20-21, 2024 at the Middleton Performing Arts Center and May 18-19, 2024 at the Verona Area High School Performing Arts Center.

Onome’s residency at MYC is made possible by robust community support from sponsors including Madison Community Foundation, Dane Arts, Madison Arts Commission, Madison Top Company, Park Bank, Park Hotel, and the Wisconsin Arts Board.