He conducts a choir offering hope and healing to homeless women

Beneath the vaulted ceiling of the Church of the Covenant in Boston, a small group of women is gathered around a baby grand piano. Their coats and, for some, all their personal possessions are laid carefully across the front pews. Although it’s near midday, the glow from the stained glass windows and brass chandeliers barely affords enough light to read the sheet music. 

The pianist rolls out the chords for the fourth verse of “Still I Rise,” a rousing gospel song by Rosephanye Powell that was inspired by Maya Angelou’s poem of the same name. The women sing:

Though you see me slump with heartache; 

Heart so heavy that it breaks.

Be not deceived I fly on birds’ wings. 

Someone is singing slightly off-key, but the group remains focused, with flashes of jubilance. They are learning. And in just four

A rising young conductorA visible transformationThree other groups with arts opportunities