Songs of Hope, the concert tour resulting from a six-week camp for children from around the world performing the music of their countries, stops in Zumbrota for the sixth year in a row. The free concert is at the State Theatre. Crossings and the Zumbrota Area Arts Council are sponsoring the performance.
The event showcases music from countries large and small mixed with U.S. songs chosen because they offer perfect entertainment for a warm summer’s night: folk, jazz, blues, rock ’n roll, and much more. Music originating from participating children’s homelands will be part of the show. In the past, children have come from Vietnam, China, India, Serbia, Albania, Italy, Greece, Russia, Turkey, Iraq, Israel, Jamaica, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Mexico, and many other countries.
The annual Songs of Hope concert tour has a well-deserved reputation for lively, upbeat shows for all ages, and this year’s show promises to be better than ever. Children from many countries, ages 9 to young adults, participate in Songs of Hope, a six-week performing arts summer camp in St. Paul.
More than just a performing arts camp, the nonprofit Songs of Hope™ offers participants a unique opportunity to live in community with kids from other cultures while learning and performing music from many countries. Campers learn to look past prejudices, misconceptions and newspaper headlines as they live, sing and dance together. They practice six hours a day, six days a week for six weeks. Then, they take these songs of peace, love, and respect into neighboring communities in a joyous celebration of cultural unity, delighting their audiences along the way.
The whole company performs on every song, which means the performers from more than a dozen countries will be singing in several languages that may be entirely new to them. An additional pleasure is the chance to see rich and beautiful traditional costumes of many cultures.
These activities are made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund and by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.