In the wake of Thursday night’s shootings, Dallas-Fort Worth will react to violence with songs. Next Thursday, local community choir Credo and the Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs will co-host what’s being called “Dallas Sing/Dallas Strong” at the Meyerson Symphony Center, which is just a few blocks from where a gunman killed five police officers and wounded nine other people.

“We have invited members of every church, synagogue, and community choir in the Metroplex to join us not only in singing out against violence, but also to sing out for peace, love and unity,” Jonathan Palant, founder and director of Credo, said in a statement.

Palant tells Art&Seek the concert is also intended to help folks coping with the police shootings of black men this past week in Minnesota and Louisiana, as well as the “anxiety and fear that seem to have pervaded our society as of late.” He hopes the concert will comfort the singers and the audience; he also sees it as a chance to empower participants.

“We’re not going to solve all these issues in a concert,” he says, “but we will bring the community together as one, with a call to action, to stand up and say that this violence and intolerance is not acceptable.”

The lineup so far includes Ava Pine, Denise Lee, Paul Mason and Liz Mikel. The public is invited to sing in the choir — just get to the Meyerson by 5:30 p.m. for a rehearsal. The concert starts at 7:30 p.m.

Here’s the full press release from July 9:

DALLAS SING / DALLAS STRONG

MUSIC AND MESSAGE IN RESPONSE TO TRAGEDY

Dallas – The community is invited to join together at a free concert of uplifting and healing music on Thursday, July 14^th at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, 2301 Flora Street in Dallas. The event will begin at 7:30 p.m. and last approximately 90 minutes.

The Dallas performance community hopes to aid the healing process by offering a place for our city to unite in song. Led by Credo, a Dallas-based community choir, and in partnership with the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs, DALLAS SING / DALLAS STRONG is a musical response to the tragedy that occurred on July 7^th. Why hold such a concert? Leonard Bernstein said, “This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.”

Singers from all over the Dallas-Fort Worth area will participate in a massed choir performance. “We have invited members of every church, synagogue, and community choir in the Metroplex to join us not only in singing out against violence, but also to sing out for peace, love, and unity. The Dallas Police Choir has also been extended an invitation to perform.” Says Jonathan Palant, founder and director of Credo. “Already, we know of singers from the Dallas Symphony Chorus, Turtle Creek Chorale, Dallas Independent School District, Cathedral of Hope, Temple Shalom, and from many churches who plan to join this massed choir.” Palant continues, “We cannot sit idly by hoping change will come while doing nothing. We have been given a voice and we are going to use it.”

Due to the nature of this event and the short planning time available, not all performers have been finalized, but the current roster includes appearances by local opera star Ava Pine and Dallas favorites Denise Lee, Paul Mason, and Liz Mikel. Several speakers, both religious and lay leaders, will offer thoughts and words of encouragement.

Anyone wishing to sing in the massed choir is asked to enter the Meyerson Symphony Center through the glass doors on Flora Street by 5:30 p.m. and follow signage toward the stage. There is no pre-registration. Sheet music will be distributed at the start of rehearsal. There is no charge to sing and all singers are welcome. Attire for performers is business casual.