Jason Cannon

Quiet No More is an eight-movement choral piece commissioned by NYCGMC and GMCLA, featuring music from Mike Shaieb, Our Lady J, Julian Hornik, Michael McElroy, Ann Hampton Callaway, and Jane Ramseyer Miller.

The piece was performed by 20 choruses across America, culminating in a joint concert with more than 560 singers to a sold-out audience at Carnegie Hall on June 27, 2019, the night before the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising.

As co-creator, I compiled research and worked with the Artistic Directors to devise the structure for the overall piece and assigned movements to each composer. We wanted to give the composers freedom to flex their creative muscles and produce work in their own style while, at the same time, leading the audience through a cohesive journey. I supplied the composers with a creative brief outlining the basic themes and structure and showing how their movement would fit into the whole piece. I then worked with them individually to maintain the overall journey as they worked in parallel with each other to create the stops along the way.

FInally, I wrote the spoken words that provided connective tissue in and between movements.

Photos by Gregory Zabilski

On the first night of the Stonewall uprising, the Tactical Police Force tried to disperse the crowd by forming a human wall on Christopher Street and pushing the crowd west towards 7th Avenue. Instead of dispersing, the crowd ran around through the Greenwich Village side streets and regathered on Christopher Street, behind the police.

The police turned around and marched the newly formed crowd east, only to have the crowd circle around again and regather on Christopher Street, behind the police. This happened several times.

This will always happen. We will always regather. We will always find a way to be together.