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What does Belonging Mean in America?
What does belonging mean in America? Eric Tuan’s We Belong, with text by Emily Jiang, takes its inspiration from Wong Kim Ark, the San Francisco-born son of Chinese immigrants whose challenge to being denied reentry to the United States reached the Supreme Court. The landmark 1898 decision affirmed that the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees birthright citizenship.
Commissioned through Volti’s 2026 Choral Institute for High School Singers as the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, We Belong looks at the distance between the nation’s ideals and the experiences of people who have been excluded from them. Jiang gives Wong an imagined voice as he confronts demands to prove his identity and his right to be here.
The concert brings together Volti and singers from Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, with each ensemble presenting its own set before joining forces for We Belong, conducted by Tuan. Volti’s performance also includes selections from Jens Ibsen’s Trace the Sky, inspired by the birds he encountered on walks through his native Bay Area during the pandemic.
Eric Tuan, We Belong: Choral Reflections on Citizenship (world premiere)
Jens Ibsen, Selections from Trace the Sky (world premiere)
Shawn Crouch, A Marshland Elegy
Thursday, November 12, 2026 · 7:00 PM
Knuth Hall · College of Liberal & Creative Arts
San Francisco State University
1600 Holloway Ave., San Francisco