Growing Up Maine
200 young Maine voices from 29 languages teach us what it means to be home
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BELONG?
In today’s cultural climate, immigration is often debated in abstract terms — with people and communities flattened into headlines and statistics. But beneath the noise, we are still a nation of neighborhoods, full of families who arrived at different times, from different places, carrying different histories.
And yet we are all bound together by shared hopes and dreams. Adults sometimes struggle to see this. Kids don’t.
That’s why conductor Emily Isaacson and composer Judd Greenstein turned to Reiche Community School in Portland, Maine — a school shaped by global migration, where families come from more than 22 nations and 29 languages are spoken. Together, they created Growing Up Maine — a powerful new musical work exploring what it means to belong.
WHAT: In recent decades, Maine’s communities and cultures have changed substantially. Growing Up Maine is a musical portrait of our state, told by the children who are transforming it. Part concert, part community convocation, this is a celebration of who we are and where we are headed.
A collaborative project between Classical Uprising, composer Judd Greenstein, and Reiche Community School, this project explores place, identity, and the future of Maine through:
A concert-length musical work with performances in May and June
An album for public distribution
An art exhibit
A digital gallery of student work
A coffee table book with student writings, illustrations, and photos
A curriculum for future community music collaborations
HOW: Beginning in Fall 2023, Dr. Emily Isaacson and Judd Greenstein collaborated with 4th and 5th grade students to explore questions of place and belonging. These students wrote, edited, and curated stories of their own life experiences, turning them into a libretto that creates a layered and nuanced portrait of Greater Portland. They also captured this process through photographs, videos, interviews, artist statements, and production materials.
In June 2024, progress on this project was shared at one of Portland Bach Experience’s festivals, the Carnival Concert, at Reiche Elementary. The performance was a huge success, gathering a crowd of over 100 people.
The Oratorio Chorale will premiere the work May 17 and 18, 2025 in an interactive, multidimensional showing including a concert-length performance, art exhibit, and gallery of student work. A recording will be released in Summer 2025. Stay tuned for more!
PRESS:
Reporter Heather McDougall from Maine Public Radio interviewed the artistic team of Growing Up Maine for State of the Art, a weekly dive into the Maine arts scene, and asked why they turned to Reiche Elementary School in Portland, Maine for this project, what they learned, and why everyone, everywhere loves pizza.
Find out more about the process of creating Growing Up Maine.
WHY: 50 years ago, Maine was rural, sparsely populated, and 98% white. Since then, Maine’s population has nearly doubled, increasing in both size and diversity. Reiche Community School is a microcosm of today’s state: families come from more than 22 nations and speak 29 languages. In this project, Classical Uprising reflects the current and future face of Maine, while providing audiences with engaging arts experiences rooted in values of diversity, transparency, and creativity.
WHO:
Emily Isaacson – Artistic Director + Producer
Judd Greenstein – Composer
Reiche Community School - Librettists
Artists
Suzanne, Sarah, Nancy, Mike, Mark, Kyle, Julia, John, Heather, Carrie, Bill, Bobby Penny Cheese Milk Oompa Loompa Spaghetti, BB, Nike Junior, South Mem, Wasabi, Kaka is the Goat, SS, Angelo Jr, Beezy, Cecilia, Lil Dogs, Two XXX in Smile, This Pseudonym, J Money, Mc Minela Ana Castela, MM Jawline, Paris, Sunrise, Lil JK, Moonlight, Haily, Eclips, Lil JC, Green Fn, Bannana Muncher, Daisy Me Rolling, Uoraia Johnson, Green Copper, Michael, Yoo Girl, Harambe. K., Nadia Queen, Kitty, Vivian New York, New York Mimi, Issa Loobbbbb, Brooke, Moonlight Star, Ice Lulu Spice, Spuc3k1d, Lavender Rumi, Juerdito, Winter Blue, UltraAbdiMastered, Nickyana Joy, + 144 Anonymous
ABOUT THE COMPOSER
Judd Greenstein is a composer and advocate for the independent new music community in the US and around the world. His works for standout groups such as Roomful of Teeth, NOW Ensemble, and yMusic have reached global audiences and received widespread critical acclaim. As a founder of New Amsterdam Records and the Ecstatic Music Festival, Judd has been a leading voice in developing a genre-fluid musical infrastructure that endeavors to open new channels of participation and representation in contemporary music. Judd’s music teaches its language as it tells a story, with clear musical ideas coalescing into rich structures and tapestries of sound. Much of Judd’s work is built on the contrasts and juxtapositions between the jittery, competing pulses of the New York City streets where he grew up, and the placid landscapes of the rural farmland he now calls home.
SEE THE WORK FOR YOURSELF!
Thank you to our project partners and funders:
Heather Rankin | Christopher Lang | Susan Purcell | Richard van Bergen | Christina Watka | Charlotte Bailey Gayle McGuire | Wendy Drexler | Ella Belt Webster | Nora Kate Krevans | A Jan Berlin MD
Jeffrey Price | Patricia Dodd | Jane Abernethy | Elizabeth M Gifford | Stephen Dobay | Sarah Speare
Katie Rocker | Rayer David Mc Donnell | John and Cathie Todd | Emily Walker | Rebecca Boulos
Carl Schroeder | Elisabeth Webster | Alex Silvers | Sue Elsaesser | Allison Styer | Mary Atkinson
Johann Sabbath | Sarah Picard | Amy Winkle | Nicole Theriault | Judith Parkhill | Jamie Isaacson
Lydia Pillsbury | Abigail Sanborn | Mary Allen Lindemann | Nicole Weber | Dana | Suzanne Martin
Heidi Duncanson | Cheryl Nunes | Nathan Isaacson | Ernst Valery | Jerry Nelson | Mike | J R Krevans
Ryan J. O'Neil | Michelle Morel | Anneliese Guzman-Bass | Patricia Harrington | Sarah Krevans
Mort Milder N Krevans | Gina Ranzoni Tapp | Carrie and Frank Strasburger
Mark Stodder and Muna Sill | Sarah Nelson | Harry Caston
