We Say “Stop!” (2025)

for soprano solo + piano OR youth string orchestra accompaniment | 2:15

Commissioned by White Snake Projects as part of their Sing Out Strong: Environmental Voices project.

Notes

A climate call to action for soprano solo, with lyrics by high schooler Rose Wagnac.

Sing Out Strong (SOS) is White Snake Projects’ annual (or so) song series in which people in the community write texts on activist themes, with the lyrics set to music by composers from around the country. SOS 2025 explored the question “What does climate change mean to your generation?”

High school students at the Boston International Newcomers Academy were among the people who responded to that question, writing lyrics based on their knowledge of climate change informed by lyric-writing sessions I ran with WSP. Ultimately, two sets of student lyrics were included in the project, alongside other lyrics from writers in the USA and Nigeria.

I was thrilled to work with the lyrics written by Rose Wagnac, a 9th grader at the school. Her lyrics opened up an opportunity to write something that would be fun for the young people of Boston Music Project’s Vivaldi Orchestra to play, while still retaining the urgency of confronting and addressing climate change. BMP and soprano Hannah Shanefield premiered the youth orchestra version (grade 2.5) in March 2025, with the version for piano (rather higher than grade 2.5) premiered by Hannah and pianist Tim Steele two months later.

Text

Cutting trees, burning plastic,
we say, “Stop!”
Animals die, people get sick and die,
we say, “Stop!”

Us young people say,
“You need to stop cutting,
you need to stop destroying
the animals’ houses!”

We say,
“Stop throwing trash in the ocean
and killing fish!”
We say,
“Stop hurting the earth and the animals, stop!”

Performances

  • Mar 14, 2025: Josiah Quincy Elementary School, Boston, MA—Boston Music Project’s Vivaldi Orchestra (Sebastien Ridoré conducting) and Hannah Shanefield, soprano (via White Snake Projects)

  • May 5, 2025: Hunneman Hall, Brookline, MA—Hannah Shanefield, soprano and Timothy Steele, piano (via White Snake Projects)

  • Jun 8, 2025: New England Aquarium, Simons Theater, Boston, MA—Boston Music Project’s Vivaldi Orchestra (Sebastien Ridoré conducting) and Hannah Shanefield, soprano (via White Snake Projects)

  • Jun 28, 2025: The Strand Theater, Boston, MA—Hannah Shanefield, soprano and David McGrory, piano (via White Snake Projects)