Bend Don't Break

June 7, 2025
A full-length Pride Choir concert of determination, inspiration, and hope.

FROM OUR MUSIC DIRECTOR JOHN DAVID WHITENER:

“The title of our concert was inspired by our opening number “Bend, Don’t Break”, written by Kyle Pederson. Truthfully, this is not the concert we intended to give this evening. Over the last few years, the subtle winds of change moving us forward have turned to gales of social regression. As I’ve watched our country over the last year, I’ve felt heartbroken, enraged, and frankly, unsure of what to do next. Then I stumbled across Kyle Pederson’s Bend, which tells the story of a tree being whipped by the wind but growing stronger in the face of that adversity.

The mighty redwood tree towers 300 feet tall, yet its roots run shallow, just a few feet into the ground. What keeps the redwood trees standing is not the depth of their roots; it’s their connection. Redwoods extend their roots outward over 100 feet, intertwining with the roots of neighboring trees. This mutual support allows them to withstand high winds, floods, and even earthquakes. The quite literally hold each other up and, in so doing, live to be over 2000 years old.

And so it is with us. This concert is a meditation on that truth: that we urvive not by standing alone, but by bending together. That in our moments of weakness, there is a strength that comes not from solitude, but from solidarity. That even in our loewst moments, there is hope.

And when the wind subsides, we shall rise.”