Voices of Hartford offers ‘safe space’ for young men of color
Voices of Hartford, a vocal ensemble created to serve singers in north Hartford, has existed for just three months. It began as a series of classes in singing and acting but has become a premiere singing group, according to its founder and artistic director Miles Wilson-toliver.
More than that, the group is a “safe space” for the young men in the group to share problems and concerns, including about violence and crime in their neighborhoods. In a video posted last week showing the singers in rehearsal, Wilson-toliver explains that, “I want them to gain friends. I want them to gain some sort of brotherhood, be able to depend on each other, look out for each other, watch out for each other, and begin those music relationships that will last the rest of their lives.”
In the same video, Tom Cooke, the president of Voce Inc. and a key supporter of Voices of Hartford, says the group “came out of a dark time in COVID where wherever you looked there was crisis. Certainly there was crisis on our streets and certainly crisis for those of us who make music and couldn’t sing together.”
It is important for its founders that Voices of Hartford be a professional, high-quality singing group, but also “a safe, non-judgmental space where the young men can talk about issues that concern them. Eighteen to 22 is a really vulnerable age for young men.”
These goals are closely related, Wilson-toliver says.
“We hold these young people to such a high standard. Music can challenge and change the young people. They’re expected to be prepared, be a leader, know their singing part. We don’t have to say ‘outreach.’ We reach people through music,” he said.
“We’re not offering therapy, but we are offering a safe space. By the time you leave a rehearsal, you’re a better performer.”
The group’s members are all “BIPOC who identify as male,” Wilson-toliver says. Most are young adults in their late teens or early 20s.
“We create a safe space for young men of color to express themselves, judgement free, during our meal times. We also make it safe for musicians to fail loudly and openly, during rehearsals, because that’s the only way to become a better musician.”
Some of the inaugural members of Voices of Hartford have vocal training, others are amateurs, but all are considered advanced singers seeking more training and ensemble opportunities through the group. “We have football players, basketball players, a guy who works at the DMV...” Wilson-toliver says. “It’s a wide spectrum of people from the community.”
Voices of Hartford currently has six to eight voices, with a plan to expand to a dozen, but no larger than that. Wilson-toliver says the members are justly protective of their individual parts, and expanding too much would lessen that small ensemble power. They are is in the process of adding an artist in residence and is also continuing to work with Wayne Dixon, the choir director and organist at Faith Congregational Church.
The group’s repertoire reflects Wilson-toliver’s own diverse musical interests: classical music (from Gregorian chants to Wagner), Broadway showtunes, gospel ... “and we’re open to R&B.”
The group has commissioned an arrangement of the gospel standard “Steal Away” from Dixon.
Wilson-toliver, who is also an in-demand singer in operas and chorales, teaches at the Hartt School Community Division and has been a consultant to a number of arts organizations, including the Hartford Opera Theater. This week he was in Boston singing the “Ode to Joy” in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Handel & Haydn Society. In the north Hartford community he is the vice president of the Upper Albany Neighborhood Revitalization Zone.
“I’m involved with churches, I teach and I started a non-profit for young people,” Wilson-toliver explains. The non-profit is the Miles & Friends Mentorship Programmer, which, according to its Facebook page, “gives black artists the skills they need to create their own opportunities.”
There’s a difference, he says, between “doing outreach and actually being in the community.”
Voices of Hartford began back in March when Wilson-toliver met with Cooke. “He was interested in serving Hartford and north Hartford,” Wilson-toliver says. “North Hartford deserves to have a premier singing group. The first iteration of the group was the first week in June. We had maybe a month to plan. I used my connections to find people. Churches were the best place. Also the school system.”
Voices of Hartford pays its members and is looking to produce its own concerts. The group is funded through a partnership with the Hartford-based chamber choral ensemble Voce Inc. The group is looking for further donors and sponsors to fund specific concerts, which can cost $10,000
to $15,000 each to produce.
The group has sung in public just a few times, including a “National Night Out” anti-street crime gathering and some school and church events. On Sept. 22, they’ll sing at the Amistad ship when it is docked at Riverfront Recapture’s Mortensen Riverfront Plaza.
Voices of Hartford has also been introducing itself through videos and social media, though they still lack a website. The professionally made five-minute video on Wilson-toliver’s Facebook page that shows them rehearsing and discussing their goals was produced and directed by the local videography and digital design company RMC.
Voices of Hartford doesn’t meet on a regular basis but holds special rehearsals before any performance. Those rehearsals, held at Liberty Christian Center International at the corner of Albany Ave. and
Vine Street, last four hours. Every rehearsal opens with a rendition of “Total Praise” by gospel artist Richard Smallwood. “That’s the first song, always,” Wilson-toliver says. “Then we eat. We feed our members. Eating is a big part of every rehearsal. Then we talk. Then we have a special guest.”
Guests can range from Ronnie S. Bowman from the national tour of the musical “Anastasia” to local classical music singer/educator Sarah Armstrong.
Auditions will be held over the next few weeks, open to young men who worship, go to school or live in north Hartford. “We’re looking for people with the right spirit,” Wilson-toliver said.
Those interested in auditioning can contact Wilson-toliver at mileswilsontoliver@gmail.com.