Aoife O’Donovan’s new album “All My Friends” is a musical journey through the history of women’s suffrage in the United States. The Orlando Philharmonic commissioned the project to celebrate the 2020 centennial of the 19th Amendment that granted women the right to vote.
“It really ended up being a very educational thing for me,” O’Donovan said. “I knew about women’s suffrage, but I hadn’t quite done enough research as an adult into all of the people and the nitty-gritty of what went down.”
O’Donovan will perform selections from “All My Friends” on June 7 at the Sottile Theatre accompanied by members of the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra and the Palmetto Youth Choir.
From History Books to Folk Songs
Many songs on “All My Friends” were inspired by the work of suffragist and peace activist Carrie Chapman Catt, who founded the League of Women Voters in 1920. “Her words and her spirit really came alive to me in reading so many of her speeches and her essays and her letters,” O’Donovan said. “I almost felt like I knew her.”
The result of that research is an album that blends historical depth with O’Donovan’s signature folk sound, capturing the spirit of the movement and making it resonate with contemporary audiences.
Songs like “Crisis,” which revisits a 1916 speech as a ballad, showcase O’Donovan’s ability to translate historical texts into evocative musical narratives. “I really tried to reframe it as a folk song,” O’Donovan said. “Imagining her with her friends around a campfire.”
Harmonies of the Palmetto Youth Choir
The Palmetto Youth Choir, a select group of 12 Lowcountry girls ranging from pre-teens to late teens will perform with O’Donovan. The girls worked not only to master O’Donovan’s arrangements but also to understand the music’s historical context, said Regina Ruopoli, the choir’s artistic director.
“We have talked a lot about the women’s suffrage movement and what it meant,” Ruopoli said. “The girls watched videos featuring rare footage from that era, which really brought the story to life for them.
“It will inspire them to vote and be anxious and eager and ready to vote as soon as they turn 18. It is our duty and our honor to do it.”
Like the choir, the audience will also experience history through music. But O’Donovan’s thoughtful integration of political themes with her folk roots creates a space for reflection and celebration.
“It’s not a preachy concert,” O’Donovan says for her audience. “It is a concert of beautiful music for people to enjoy. I want people to walk away having felt something.”
Shirin Gupta, an Arts Journalism and Communications graduate of the Newhouse School at Syracuse University, is a creative storyteller and writes about some of her views on her blog popCulture Baazar.
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