77TH SEASON OF

CONCERTS

national gallery of art | may 12, 2019
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The Canales Project 

Carla Dirlikov Canales, vocalist 

Elizabeth Stanley, vocalist 

Celisse Henderson, vocalist 

Anja Wood, cello 

Paula Green, percussion 

Kurt Crowley, pianist and conductor

Hear Her Voice, Part II: A Mother’s Day Celebration

May 12, 2019 | 3:30

West Building, West Garden Court

The program is subject to change.

Song List with Honorees (not in program order):

“Happiest Girl in the World”— for Malala

Music and lyrics by Sheila Atim

“The Gardener”— for Sakena Yakoobi

Music and lyrics by Sara Colman

“Just a Little”— for Janet Salazar

Music by Bella Barlow, lyrics by A. C. Smith

“Colette, You Need to Motor”— for Dame Colette Bowe

Music and lyrics by Susannah Pearse

“Grateful”— for Shivika Sinha

Music by Rosabella Gregory, lyrics by Dina Soraya Gregory and Rosabella Gregory

“Legend of the Phoenix”— for Ruth Davis

Music and lyrics by Sheila Atim

“Santa Rosa Sunset”— for Elissa Fisher Harris

Music and lyrics by Zara Nunn

PROGRAM “Kakenya’s Dream”— for Kakenya Ntaiya

Music by Sarah Llewellyn, lyrics by Gaynor Winstanley

“The Choice That I Made”— for Queen Mother Blakely

Music and lyrics by Kate Marlais

“Yours Is Ours”— for Gloria Steinem

Music and lyrics by Gywneth Herbert

“Freedom”— for Moriku

Music and lyrics by AL Riordan

“Aget”— for Aget

Music and lyrics by Sophia Lanuza

“Perfect Recipe”— for Mary

Music and lyrics by Jenni Rudolph

“For Our Daughters”— for Shanas

Music and lyrics by Maria Landi

“Hear My Song”— for Rebecca

Music and lyrics by Dom Jones
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THE MUSICIANS

The Canales Project 

The Canales Project (TCP) is a not-for-profit organization created to activate the arts 

as a tool for social change and impact. Founded by the internationally acclaimed 

mezzo-soprano Carla Dirlikov Canales, TCP seeks new solutions to the challenges 

facing society by recruiting an “army of compassion,” a collection of artists, each 

having his or her own story about living “between two worlds” and of dealing with the 

tensions of different cultural environments. Many of TCP’s programming initiatives are 

enacted through collaborations with partner organizations, including Carnegie Hall’s 

Weill Music Institute, TEDxMidAtlantic, and YoungArts. In addition, the organization has 

spearheaded several arts educational initiatives, including “Finding Your Voice” with 

the Boys & Girls Clubs of Tucson and V-Pals, an educational initiative of TCP.

Carla Dirlikov Canales

Carla Dirlikov Canales is an internationally known opera singer who is emerging as a 

leader in the area of using the arts to advance important social issues. She is a member 

of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities Turnaround Arts Program, 

was selected by Foreign Policy Magazine as one of its 100 Leading Global Thinkers of 

2015, and won the Medal of Excellence from the Sphinx Organization, an honor bestowed 

upon her by Justice Sotomayor at the United States Supreme Court. In each case, she 

was the first opera singer to receive these honors. This year she was named one of 

Musical America’s 30 Top Movers and Shapers. As a singer, she has received worldwide 

acclaim and is best known for her portrayals of Bizet’s Carmen, which she has performed more than eighty times in a dozen countries. She has performed as a soloist 

at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and top international venues in 

Europe, Asia, and Latin America. She is the founder and CEO of The Canales Project, 

aimed at giving voice to issues of identity and culture through music and conversation.

Elizabeth Stanley

Elizabeth Stanley is happy to be back in New York City after a year leading the national 

tour as Francesca in The Bridges of Madison County. On Broadway, she was last seen 

as the man-crazed anthropologist, Claire De Loone, in the revival of On the Town

(Drama Desk Award nomination). She made her Broadway debut as April, the flight 

attendant, in the 2007 Tony Award – winning revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Company. 

Her other roles that originated on Broadway include: Allison in John Water’s Cry-Baby

and Dyanne in Million Dollar Quartet. In addition to a national and Japanese tour in 

Xanadu as Kira, Stanley has performed Off-Broadway as Gussie Carnegie in Merrily 

We Roll Along (Encores!) and the Nurse in Hello, Again (Transport Theatre Group); on 

television in The Get Down, The Affair, Black Box, Made in Jersey, Fringe, The Chappelle 

Show, All My Children, The Today Show, Jimmy Fallon, the TONY Awards, and PBS Great 

Performances; and in numerous leading roles with Sundance Theatre Lab, Sacramento 

Music Circus, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Pittsburgh CLO, Repertory Theatre of 

St. Louis, La Jolla Playhouse, and more. She has been a concert soloist with symphonies throughout the United States and loves performing her cabaret compositions. A 

Midwestern native, she is a graduate of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

Celisse Henderson 

Celisse Henderson is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist performer, and spokenword artist. Her deep and varied career has seen her onstage, from the recent revival 

of Godspell at Circle in the Square Theater, to Bridget Everett’s Rock Bottom at Joe’s 

Pub at The Public; on television, in PBS’s The Electric Company, 30 Rock, Rescue Me, 

and more; and in concert, at venues ranging from the Beacon Theater, supporting 

Mariah Carey, to MGM Grand Garden Arena, with PHISH, to singing with Melissa Etheridge 

at the Apollo Theater. But it is her prodigious talents as a singer-songwriter and 

musician that have defined Henderson as an artist. Her original music, powered by her 

soulful voice, is hard-rocking and blues-tinged with infectious hooks that stay with you.

Anja Wood

Cellist Anja Wood is a versatile musician, performing and recording with icons David 

Bowie, Michael Jackson, Dave Matthews, Barbara Streisand, Chris Cornell, and Harry 

Connick, Jr. She has played with countless other artists, including Pearl Jam, Rufus 

Wainwright, and Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, and performed in Hamilton, both on 

Broadway and on the recording. Wood resides in New York City with her two daughters 

and is also the founder and president of the Lelt Foundation, a nonprofit organization 

that provides assistance to acutely malnourished children in Ethiopia.

Paula Green

Chicago native, Paula Green, is a lively percussionist who performs with an assortment 

of band collectives in New York City. Her training encompasses classical concert 

percussion, jazz drum set, and Brazilian, Afro-Cuban, West African, and Middle Eastern 

percussion. She attended Berklee College of Music and earned her bachelor’s degree 

in music performance. She has had the honor to record and tour with international 

artists, including Pauline Jean, Chaka Khan, Dawn Drake, Tamar-Kali, Amel Larrieux, 

The Underground Horns, Black Rock Coalition, and many others in her career.
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Hear Her Song, a musical celebration of extraordinary women, is the debut initiative of 

The Canales Project. It honors distinguished women leaders and their words through 

new songs written by leading female songwriters and composers.

Since its inception in 2017, Hear Her Song has commissioned forty songs, honored 

thirty-eight leaders, employed sixty-five artists, and collaborated with ten partner 

organizations, all with eleven countries involved.

Created to celebrate stories of remarkable women leaders, Hear Her Song brings 

together an exceptional array of musical artists, offering powerful insights into women’s 

leadership worldwide. The honorees’ insights and stories form the foundation for the 

creation of the new songs.

PROGRAM NOTES

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Kurt Crowley

Currently the music director and conductor of Hamilton on Broadway, Kurt Crowley’s 

previous work in theater includes Hamilton (Public Theater), Bring It On (Broadway), 

Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 (Off-Broadway), In the Heights (National 

Tour), Carmen La Cubana (Théâtre du Châtelet), FLY (Dallas Theater Center), and 

Somewhere (Hartford Stage). He has written arrangements and played for numerous 

cabaret venues in New York City and also composed a song for the “Cookie Thief” 

episode of Sesame Street. After studying music and comparative religion at Harvard 

University, he received a fellowship to study classical and devotional music in North 

India. Crowley was also part of the creative team of Carmen: El Amor Cubano, one of 

the first professional productions of musical theater in Cuba in decades. Originally 

from Montana, Crowley has also interned and served as the education policy adviser 

in the office of the Governor of Montana. 
Upcoming Events of the SeventySeventh Season of The William Nelson 

Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin Concerts

Unless otherwise noted, concerts 

are held in the West Building, West 

Garden Court.

Joshua Cerdenia, composer and pianist

Enrico Lagasca, bass-baritone

In honor of Asian Pacific American 

Heritage Month

May 14, 12:00

East Building Auditorium

Hanna Bachmann, piano

Isabel Pfefferkorn, mezzo-soprano

In collaboration with the Embassy 

of Austria and the Austrian Cultural 

Forum Washington, and celebrating 

the European Month of Culture 

May 15, 12:10

Rob Curto’s Forró for All 

Jazz in the Garden

Brazilian Folk Jazz

May 17, 5:00

Sculpture Garden

Yumi Kurosawa, koto

With special guests Anubrata Chatterjee, 

tabla, and Virgil Gadson, dancer

Celebrating The Life of Animals in 

Japanese Art

May 19, 3:30

General Information

Admission to the National Gallery of Art 

and all of its programs is free of charge, 

except as noted.

The use of cameras or recording 

equipment during the performance 

is not allowed.

Please be sure that all portable electronic 

devices are turned off.

—

Concerts are made possible in part 

through the generosity of donors to the 

National Gallery of Art through The Circle. 

Reserved seating is available in recognition 

of their support. Please contact the 

development office at (202) 842-6450 or 

circle@nga.gov for more information.

—

The department of music produced 

these program notes. Copyright © 2019 

Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, 

Washington

cover Mary Cassatt, The Banjo Lesson 

(detail), c. 1893, National Gallery of Art, 

Washington, Gift of Mrs. Jane C. Carey 

as an addition to the Addie Burr Clark 

Memorial Collection 

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NGA.GOV/MUSIC