Evening-themed lullabies, ballads and elegies come to Cambridge’s Multicultural Arts Center in July with “Nocturnes,” organized by Somerville singer and composer Shira Laucharoen.
A nocturne can be quiet, eerie and contemplative, if not brooding, and reflect the turmoil of emotions and questions evoked by our current moment. “We live in times right now there can be a lot of darkness,” and her work explores those shadows, Laucharoen said.
“Just because something feels sorrowful in some way, doesn’t mean that it can’t also be uplifting,” Laucharoen said.
These nocturnes will be deepened by their presentation by six artists sharing a stage for the first time. In addition to Laucharoen, the audience will hear from actor Fady Demian, cellist Lauren Roberts, pianists Sakurako Kanemitsu and Sophy Gao, and singer Chloe Gardner.
“I’m really excited to see how our different energies and different points of view, different perspectives will meld and merge,” Laucharoen said. “It could make for a really memorable evening.”
Work for the show came together over several years, and its themes have inspired Laucharoen for even longer. She grew up listening to Chopin’s “Nocturnes,” which go on a rising and falling journey through enchanting dreamscapes and shifting shadows.
The July program reflects Laucharoen’s own artistic development; over the time the songs were written, she said, she has found herself as a performer. “Growing up, I was probably scared to share my voice with people,” she said, and overcoming that took time and effort. “It’s more than being nervous to go on stage. It took work to say, can I tell things that are not necessarily what you’re seeing of me now? Can you dig into a different place and say something that you haven’t said to people before?”
Laucharoen’s “Nocturnes” began to take shape in late December when she approached Najee Brown, artistic director at the Multicultural Arts Center, for a performance against the backdrop of its high ceilings and intricate vintage balconies. Brown provided support but gave her freedom in developing the idea and assembling the cast, and Laucharoen drew on years of exposure to Boston artists as a performer, enthusiast and as a reporter covering arts and culture. (Laucharoen freelanced for Cambridge Day in 2021-2022.)
The program includes 14 songs, including a short ballet. Roberts accompanies her for seven songs; one will be a duet with Gardner.
The collaborations transformed her work, Laucharoen said. “Something kind of magical happens when you have these songs in your head that you’ve been playing by yourself or doing independently, and then once you get in a room with someone else and they make it all come to life through the collaboration. I think that feels really genuine and amazing,” she said. “Sometimes the person you’re working with will see things about the song that you didn’t necessarily see.”
Her song “Can’t Make This Up” grabs listeners with an upbeat cello intro before diving into a narrative of nostalgia and yearning. “It’s sort of capturing these precious golden moments of life,” Laucharoen said. But the song’s refrain invites listeners to question what they hear, drawing them deeper into the storyline. Upbeat, clever, and inviting of fantasy, it’s a piece that would prime an adventurous plot as part of a larger story arc.
In contrast, the ballad “Me and You Alike” is a stark moment of realization demanding maturity and pragmatism as the narrator sheds a layer of fancifulness. Laucharoen said this piece is her most honest. As part of a musical, she said, it would happen toward the end, “where everything that could possibly have gone wrong has gone wrong. And yet, this is a character saying that there’s something that they’re holding on to.”
“Nocturnes,” from 7 to 9 p.m. July 5 at the Multicultural Arts Center, 41 Second St., East Cambridge. $20. La Saison Bakery drinks and desserts will be available.
A version of this article appeared on Some was was co-published by HorizonMass.
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