Tri-City singers launch West Coast premiere for politically charged performance

A local performing arts group is getting political with its latest show.

But “The Gonzales Cantata,” the piece at the heart of Mid-Columbia Mastersingers’ concert running Friday to Sunday, “is not about Republicans vs. Democrats,” said Justin Raffa, artistic director.

It’s about the fall of Alberto R. Gonzales, the U.S. attorney general under President George W. Bush who resigned in 2007 amid intense controversy.

“We’re telling the story of what happened,” Raffa said. “We’re reminding the audience that it’s important to hold our officials accountable, to pay attention and be alert.”

Gonzales long been “a lightning rod for critics of the administration’s harsh interrogation policies, its secret overseas prisons and its expanded domestic surveillance — all supported by legal analyses conducted under his supervision or with his concurrence,” The Washington Post wrote at the time.

But the last straw had to do with the firings of several U.S. attorneys across the country.

Gonzales approved the firings, yet denied knowing details about the reasons. Political retribution was suspected to be the motive.

One of the fired attorneys, John McKay, the former U.S. Attorney for Western Washington, lives in the Seattle area and plans to be on hand at Friday’s performance.

“The Gonzales Cantata” was penned by composer Melissa Dunphy, who became enthralled listening to testimony from a Senate hearing into wrongdoing by Gonzales.

She’s traveling to the Tri-Cities for the West Coast premiere of her cantata.

Dunphy used transcripts from the hearing, as well as Gonzales’ resignation speech, as the main text of the cantata.

In a comment on the male domination of politics, she has women singing all of the male parts.

That means members of the Mastersingers Women’s Choir are the stars of the local concert, including Molly Holleran as Gonzales.

Raffa also hired female musicians to make up the orchestra.

Scott Rodgers sings the part of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the lone female senator involved in the hearing.

The Mastersingers also will perform selections from “Sing Out, Mr. President,” based on the writings of former U.S. presidents, from Washington to Obama.

Raffa said the concert isn’t meant to explore political divisiveness, but instead inspire reflection on our power and responsibility as citizens.

“It would be great to never have to worry about what officials are doing. But we can’t. Democracy is difficult, it’s dirty and it’s complicated. It requires the public to be involved,” Raffa said. “We can’t just sit back and say, ‘That doesn’t affect me. That’s all the way in Washington, D.C.’ That’s when we have these issues.”

Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday at the Reach museum, 1943 Columbia Park Trail, Richland.

Dunphy will join Raffa in “Behind the Music” talks a half-hour before each show.

Tickets are $25 for general admission. K-12 students and all those attending their first Mastersingers show are admitted for free. A group rate is available.

For more information and tickets, go to mcmastersingers.org.

This story was originally published April 5, 2018 at 6:11 PM with the headline "Tri-City singers launch West Coast premiere for politically charged performance."