INVOCATION

“Invocation” was first developed by Kim D. Sherman as part of a project sponsored by the UN Global Women’s Peace Initiative in 2006. She chose the 15 languages she decided to set to music by walking around her diverse Washington Heights neighborhood and simply asking her neighbors how to say “Make peace on all your lands” in their language of origin. She recorded each person speaking the text so she understood the cadences required to set each one musically. The piece has gone through many iterations, including a version for solo soprano, cello and orchestra that was debuted live in war-torn Ukraine in April 2024 with the internationally-acclaimed Lviv National Philharmonic Orchestra, featuring soprano Allison Charney, cellist Peter Seidenberg and conductor Benjamin Loeb – the first western guest artists to appear with the Lviv National Philharmonic since the onset of the war.

The newly-reimagined single, “BRIDGE TO PEACE: INVOCATION” – recorded in Lviv, Ukraine, Los Angeles, California and Brooklyn, NY with the PREformances-Lviv Chamber Ensemble conducted by Benjamin Loeb,  with soprano Allison Charney and baritone Will Liverman, featuring violinist Kelly Hall-Tompkins, cellist Peter Seidenberg and members of the Lviv National Philharmonic – was released on Lexicon Classics on August 16th, 2024. The single was produced by Allison Charney and Jonathan Estabrooks along with co-producers Jeff Keswin and Peter Seidenberg.