From Joyful Abundance to Philadelphia’s Black Opera Past by Octavia McBride-Ahebee

 

I’m pleased to share that my reflection on the experience of being part of the Mendelssohn Chorus’s Joyful Abundance initiative this past summer was published this week in The Christian Science Monitor. I’m grateful for the opportunity to reflect on this meaningful collaboration and on bringing poetry, music, and community together.

Here is the link to the piece: https://www.csmonitor.com/.../octavia-mcbride-ahebee...

And if you haven’t already, I invite you to subscribe to my Substack. This week, I’ll be turning my attention to Philadelphia’s dynamic Black opera history as a companion to my most recent short story, Arias in the Devil's Pocket.

Since sharing the story last week, I’ve heard from many readers with personal memories and stories connected to this rich musical history. Their responses have opened up even more avenues to explore, and I can’t wait to share some of what I’m discovering.

https://octaviamcbride.substack.com/.../arias-in-the...

New Audio Story: Arias in the Devil’s Pocket by Octavia McBride-Ahebee

 

An imagined gathering from Arias in the Devil's Pocket where Black, Italian, Palestinian, and other neighbors come together after long workdays to create music that transcends the world outside.

 

Usually, this time of year, my dear friend Danni and I would be settling into our seats at the Kimmel Center, waiting for another Philadelphia Orchestra concert to begin. We’ve shared music for fifty-seven years from playing together in school orchestras as children to attending concerts as senior ladies

This season is different. Illness has kept Danni from the concert hall, but not from the music. We have grand plans to bring the music to her.

Thinking about our friendship reminded me of another community bound together by music, one that inspired my newest flash fiction story, “Arias in the Devil’s Pocket.”

Set in post-World War II South Philadelphia, the story follows an unlikely community of Black, Italian, newly arrived Palestinians, and other neighbors who gather after long workdays to make music together. Though they earn their living in factories, offices, and shops, they refuse to let their occupations define them. They were musicians. They were creatives. In one another, they found friendship and purpose that transcended the racial, economic, and cultural boundaries of the world outside.

I grew up believing that music belonged in homes. My grandmother played bass, my mother played violin, my dad many instruments and our living room and others were often filled with musicians, teachers, neighbors, and friends. Looking back, I realize I was raised by an extended family of creatives who refused to let their occupations define the boundaries of their imaginations.

Music was a family inheritance. Gathered in my grandmother Mary Green's living room are my grandmother on bass, my mother, Sallie, on violin in front of her, and William Hill, my mother's violin teacher and, years later, mine surrounded by other musician friends.

The story also quietly explores, in a small way, mental illness within a community

held together by music.

I hope you’ll take a few moments to listen, share and tell me your favorite piece of music.

Listen here: https://octaviamcbride.substack.com/.../arias-in-the...

When My Adopted Homeland Came to Visit ; Watching Côte d'Ivoire Take the FIFA World Cup Stage in Philadelphia by Octavia McBride-Ahebee

   Today my heart is full. As an American from Philadelphia who was married to a man from Côte d’Ivoire, I was blessed to spend many wonderful years living there, where our children were born. Although we’ve been away for many years, Côte d’Ivoire will always hold a special place in our hearts.

Sojo and friends at the Lincoln Financial Field to watch the match between Côte d'Ivoire and Curacao.

Today, seeing the Elephants of Côte d’Ivoire playing Curaçao at the Lincoln Financial Field , *see Sojourner and crew, as part of the FIFA qualifying matches, in my hometown of Philadelphia feels like two worlds I love coming together. * Oh my gosh- we won!!

   Côte d’Ivoire 2, Curaçao 0 (June 25, 2026) at the Lincoln Financial Field this past Thursday.

My parents would be thrilled over these games. They absolutely loved coming to visit us, in Côte d’Ivoire.

On top of the world at the FIFA games! 

I believe they are smiling today to see our hometown welcoming the people and team of a country that became such an important part of our family’s story.

From Philadelphia to Côte d’Ivoire, with love, gratitude, and memories that will always live in our hearts.

Our dear family friend Haj and Sojo. 

What 150 Voices Can Hold: Reflections on Joyful Abundance with the Mendelssohn Chorus of Philadelphia by Octavia McBride-Ahebee

I’m a wordsmith, but words alone can’t fully capture the beauty, shared vision, creativity, and collaboration that came together in Saturday’s extraordinary concert by the Mendelssohn Chorus of Philadelphia.

The performance marked the debut of the Joyful Abundance initiative, in which five local poets were paired with five composers to create original works exploring the question, “What Now?”, a particularly timely theme as we approach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

I had the honor and pleasure of collaborating with Grammy-nominated composer Ted Babcock and the phenomenal poet Kirwyn Sutherland, who served as my mentor, to create my piece, *Electric Bloom*. Hearing it performed by the Mendelssohn Chorus, a 150-voice ensemble celebrating its 152nd season, was truly unforgettable.

I wish I could share the full performance here, but the video is simply too long. If you’d like to hear the Mendelssohn Chorus of Philadelphia bring my commissioned poem Electric Bloom to life, I invite you to visit my Substack, where I’ve shared this extraordinary moment. Here is the link:
 https://open.substack.com/pub/octaviamcbride/p/what-150-voices-can-hold-reflections?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

My deepest thanks to Dominick DiOrio, Artistic Director and Conductor of the Chorus, and to the entire staff whose dedication and hard work made this remarkable experience possible.

With Dominick DiOrio, far left , and Ted Babcock

I feel especially blessed to have shared this milestone with family and friends who came to celebrate with me: Sojourner and Sami; Laura and Osama; Phyllis; my young writing colleague Conor; my dear Aunt Mabel, who has been attending my events since I was a little girl; my favorite cousin Carol, my dearest Mona; Danni; Gideon; Mr. Norm; Renee; and my beloved Powel School family-Ms. Bunyon, Coach Spivey, Brandy, and Lynnette.

My heart is full of gratitude for this experience and for everyone who helped bring *Electric Bloom* to life.

As the Nation Turns 250, We Gather to Ask: What Now?- An extraordinary afternoon of Joyful Abundance with the Mendelssohn Chorus of Philadelphia.

 

Painter, sculptor, filmmaker, and installation artist Titus Kaphar confronts history by unsettling the classical forms and visual traditions of Western art, often dismantling them to reveal what has been obscured, omitted, or erased. Writing for Gagosian Quarterly, Bridget R. Cooks observes: “Through a kind of tender violence, Kaphar emphasizes what is unknown in representations of the past and forcefully argues that our understanding of the past still matters.” 

Mendelssohn Chorus of Philadelphia

After attending the rehearsal, this past Wednesday, for Joyful Abundance, I can honestly say: this project is absolutely beautiful.

There are moments in Philadelphia when art reminds you who we are or perhaps asks us who we might yet become.

On Saturday, June 6th,  the 152-year-old Mendelssohn Chorus of Philadelphia, more than 150 voices strong, will premiere Joyful Abundance, an extraordinary afternoon of new choral works created through collaborations between Philadelphia poets and composers as part of the ArtPhilly Festival’s question: “What Now?”

The concert will include world premieres, poets reading their work, composers speaking about their creative process, and Randall Thompson’s stirring Testament of Freedom, not performed by the Chorus since 1976 , an especially moving offering as our nation approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

I am deeply honored to be one of the five commissioned poets. My poem, Electric Bloom, brought to life musically by Grammy-nominated percussionist-composer Ted Babcock, asks difficult but necessary questions through the imagined voices of those excluded from the nation’s earliest promises.

Yet the poem is not only about exclusion. It also speaks to how, generation after generation, those once denied liberty and belonging , Indigenous peoples, the enslaved, immigrants, women, workers, and others , used the very language and ideals of our founding documents to lay claim to dignity, citizenship, humanity, and a fuller vision of democracy.

An excerpt:

“Here we are, here we are and who are we?

We are an odd pair,

one body, indigenous and transplanted,

indivisible from your plunder,

swathed in earth’s unending memory…”

Hearing these words sung by more than 150 voices during rehearsal genuinely moved me.

If you can, come. Truly. This feels like one of those rare Philadelphia afternoons where history, music, poetry, and possibility gather in one room.

Saturday, June 6 | 4 PM

Rodeph Shalom

615 N. Broad Street, Philadelphia, 19123 (use the 1339 Green Street entrance)

Discount code for tickets: 50% off discount code: GUEST50. This code can be utilized online (here)

Learn more about Joyful Abundance through the official ArtPhilly Festival site:Art Philly

Come Share This Moment: Joyful Abundance, June 6, Philadelphia-Five poets, five composers, and the extraordinary voices of the Mendelssohn Chorus by Octavia McBride-Ahebee

 For the better part of a year, I’ve been quietly working on a project that has meant a great deal to me, and I’m pleased to finally share it with you.

I was honored to be one of five poets commissioned by the Mendelssohn Chorus as part of its Joyful Abundance initiative, a major artistic work commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Each of us was paired with a composer and a poet mentor to create an original piece that will be performed by the Mendelssohn Chorus, which consists of 150 voices and this year celebrates its 152nd anniversary.

My poem invites us to acknowledge that while the nation’s founding carried both promise and contradiction, many descendants of those excluded from its earliest vision have helped bring its ideals closer to reality.

As we reflect on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, “America’s Civilized “by Harmonia Rosales reminds us that the nation’s story has always been shaped by Indigenous and African peoples, even when history sought to place them at its margins.

The collaborative process has been deeply affirming. To write in conversation with composers and poet mentors, thinking together about this country’s ideals, contradictions, exclusions, and possibilities, has felt like a rare gift.

And yet, there is also a particular vulnerability in this process. One turns over not only words, but intentions and emotional truths to another artistic body to bring to life in its own way. In my case, I will not hear how the chorus has interpreted and rendered my piece until just two days before the public performance.

Rosales’ “Perseverance on Turbulent Waters” is an homage to survival: to those who endured displacement, violence, and rupture and still carried memory, and hope forward.

There is trust in that and anticipation too and perhaps even a little trembling.

I look forward to sharing more with you soon.

In addition to sharing information about the project and how you can attend the public performance, I’m also sharing artwork by Harmonia Rosales, an artist who should absolutely be on everyone’s radar. Her work powerfully evokes the histories, beauty, resilience, and presence of Indigenous and African peoples whose labor, lives, and cultures were foundational to the making of this country, even as they were so often erased from its official narratives.

Please join me and many others for the public performance of this extraordinary project, Joyful Abundance, on Saturday, June 6, 2026, at 4:00 p.m., here in Philadelphia. I would love to share this moment with you. Below is a link where you can learn more about the project and find information about attending the performance. Mendelssohn Chorus

If you’re interested in attending and would like a 50% discount code for tickets, feel free leave a comment below, and I’ll gladly send one along.

Here is a link to learn more about her work: Harmonia Rosales

*Take a moment too to explore my content on Substack:

https://octaviamcbride.substack.com/p/the-last-king-of-rwanda-a-story-of