“Remembering” is more than a concert—it’s a journey through the heart of the immigrant experience, woven together with evocative music and poignant storytelling. Acclaimed vocalist Meena Malik and masterful cellist Aristides Rivas bring their personal stories to life, blending song and narrative in a deeply moving exploration of memory, identity, and transformation. Through their artistry, they invite the audience to feel, reflect, and connect with the universal themes of home, belonging, and change.
Work-in-progress performance of Remembering at Collage
The program was ignited from a simple question from their son, "what is an immigrant?" In the process of sharing these memories, the artists strive to answer deeper questions related to sense of belonging; traditions and cultural practices that were brought from their home countries of Japan and Venezuela; experiencing and navigating grief; the healing power of music; and what is at stake if these memories are lost.
Meena reflects, “We found that despite the fact that the stories we tell through the program are specific to our experiences and very personal, the audiences who attend our show feel resonance with them. Maybe it’s because even if the stories and characters are personal, the emotions and experiences we share are universal.”
Additionally, audience members are invited to participate by contributing to a collective altar and wishing tree during intermission and after the performance. This activity is meant to be an inclusive exercise where all members of the audience can become a living part of the program, and serves as an invitation to remember their own journeys so that they can dream their futures together.
Premiere at the Boston Court Pasadena
Upcoming Performances
Saturday, April 26, 2025 at 7pm
Onyx Theater at Kennesaw State University
Free and Open to the public!
Creators & Performers
Photo by Jeffrey Filiault
Meena Malik is a musician, arts consultant, mediator and coach, who is known as a mover and shaker re-defining what conversations around equity in the arts look like. Meena has performed with Opera Providence, MassOpera, Boston Opera Collaborative, New England Orchestra among others. She was a founding member and performer with Voci Angelica Trio, an international band that created a musical fusion of world folk and classical music, for 14 years. With Voci Angelica, Meena toured to the USA’s East Coast, Midwest and Southern regions, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. An alumna of the artEquity National Facilitator Training, a member of the Emergent Strategy Ideation Institute Facilitation Cohort and a Senior Associate at The Aspire Group, Meena is actively engaged in a national community of practice for anti-oppression work in the arts. For more information, visit www.meenamalik.com
Photo by Gulnara Niaz
A unique mix of talents, Grammy nominated cellist Aristides Rivas embodies a rich culture from South America and combines it with a western European repertoire to delight audiences. The exquisite balance of sounds, storytelling, and sometimes flavors, invites you to a new experience of live concerts. Rivas’ multi-style career has brought him to share the stage with world renown artists such as latin jazz legend Paquito D’Rivera, Yo-Yo Ma, and jazz virtuosic guitarist Julian Lage. He has performed at a wide range of international music venues and festivals such as Caramoor Music Festival, Tanglewood, Carnegie Hall, Newport and Montreal Jazz Festivals, the Barbican in England, Sejong Center in South Korea, and Teatro Colon in Argentina, among many others. Rivas serves as a cello faculty at California Baptist University. For more information, visit www.aristidesrivas.com
Dramaturg & Director
Photo by Chris Emerick, courtesy of the Segerstrom Center for the Performing Arts
Shyamala Moorty is an award winning director, choreographer and dramaturg who values collaboration, connection and transformation through the arts. Her interdisciplinary performance work draws on dance, theater, multimedia, yoga and community engagement and has been described as a “tour de force” (LA Times, 2003) and “that special kind of healing that art can accomplish” (Contemporary Indian Dance, 2011). Her two short films have won multiple awards and are currently showing on the International film festival circuit. Shyamala teaches in the Dance Department at California State University Long Beach and is honored to be working with Meena and Aristides on Remembering. For more information, visit www.shyamalamoorty.com