This article originally appeared in Issue 49:3 (Jan/Feb 2026) of Fanfare Magazine.

It’s too bad (to say the least) that we are at a point in American history at which this CD needed to be made as a reminder of what we could lose and what we already are losing. On the CD itself, coloratura soprano Chelsea Hollow is pictured with the words “This Machine Kills Fascists” written on her throat, the same words that Woody Guthrie painted on his guitars in the 1940s. The point is this: our government is trying to limit the rights of human beings because of their origin, their beliefs, their religion, their gender and sexual identities, and their attitudes about what is right and what is wrong. Cycles of Resistance is a collection of nine songs or song cycles that sing out against such oppression, and that celebrate the heroes and the survivors alike.

It is refreshing to hear classical music (or close enough) that also could be described as protest music, as that genre usually is associated with folk music. (Again, see Woody Guthrie.) Protest music doesn’t have a particular sound, though—at least not here. The music on this CD falls into a number of different styles, from homey lyricism (several of the works) and operatic drama (ditto) to pitched declamation over popular dance beats (AOC Takes the Floor) and music aligned with Glassian minimalism (The Beauty of Disability). I’m not prepared to say that all of it is good—some of it is a little self-important, and some of it is like sitting through a college classroom talk-in—but, as I suggested at the beginning, its being good seems less important than getting the word out in every way one can about how something is rotten in our American state of Denmark. I guess time will tell whether a work is good or not. For now, one could say that each work has a job to do, and each work gets that job done.

To give you an example of what is on this CD, take the opening cycle, with music by Niloufar Nourbakhsh and texts by Valarie Kaur. The first movement of The Darkness of the Womb is a sung narration of how Kaur’s Sikh grandfather was imprisoned for months upon his arrival in the United States because of his foreign appearance. Upon his release, he became a farmer and looked after the farms of his Japanese-American neighbors during their own detention in World War II. In the second movement, Kaur describes how she became a lawyer after 9/11 in response to the murder of her uncle and to the sentiment that blazed up against those perceived as “other.” “And then my son was born” are the words that open the third movement, in which Kaur muses on how her son, “a brown boy,” is being given a world more dangerous to live in than the one she was given. In the fourth movement, she speaks out against the rise of white nationalism and the rage that it has engendered. The cycle ends with hope, however, as Kaur asks herself if this darkness is the darkness of the womb, not of the tomb—is a new America waiting to be born? It closes with the words, “Tomorrow we will labor in love through love and your revolutionary love is the magic we will show our children.” Nourbakhsh’s music is an effective setting for Kaur’s words, simple and songlike when referring to her family, anguished when describing oppression and violence. Hollow is taken to the upper limits of her vocal range, leaving no doubts about the intensity of Kaur’s words and feelings. Several other works on this CD challenge how far Hollow’s voice can go, but her instrument is powerful and unconstrained.

All of the music on this CD, by the way, was commissioned by Hollow, so her commitment to this project is by no means casual or situational. Many of the works are accompanied by pianist Taylor Chan, an excellent musician who is active in the new-music scene. Others are accompanied by (or Hollow’s voice is modified by) electronics such as vocoder, looper pedal, modular synthesizer, and fixed media.

Cycles of Resistance is not easy listening, in the sense that it forces the listener to confront unpleasant truths about the state of our state. The music and the texts do not seek to entertain, but to educate, raise awareness, and inspire. As I mentioned at the beginning, one wishes that it were no longer necessary, such as in the America that Valarie Kaur dreams of, to write and perform such music, but as long as it is, it is good to have artists as strong and full of integrity as Chelsea Hollow, and also the composers and writers represented on this CD, who are able to do it. Raymond Tuttle