The cities of Dallas and Minneapolis-St. Paul drew international attention last week with shocking violence. As part of many community-wide efforts to begin healing, these two cities are creating tandem community singing events. Why? No simplistic solutions exist to wipe away all the issues behind the violence and subsequent unrest in our cities, but singing together holds unique power to break barriers. Singing creates community.

On Thursday night, July 14, at 7:30pm CT, Classical MPR’s A Bridge of Song and Dallas’ Dallas Sings/Dallas Strong will connect via livestream on Classical MPR’s Facebook page. Participants are encouraged to use the hashtag #BridgeofSong.

The entire Minneapolis-St. Paul community is invited to sing at this free event. Classical Minnesota Public Radio is inviting Minnesota law enforcement and reaching out to Minnesota’s communities of color to join local choirs led by Tesfa Wondemagnehu and Phillip Shoultz III. The event will last approximately one hour and consist largely of music, interspersed with brief readings from scripture of many faiths.

If you’d like information for developing an similar event in your community, please contact your Station Representative. They will connect you with MPR’s organizers for more details. Also, stay tuned: we are working on a similar, nationwide event that we’ll share with you soon. We want you to join us in uniting people through the power of music and singing during this difficult time.