The lights will dim at Benaroya Hall, and 75 voices will rise together. That collective sound has long defined Seattle Women’s Chorus. This weekend, the chorus presents Legacy, a show built around women’s lives and the histories they carry.

Onstage February 28 and March 1, Legacy moves between protest songs, contemporary choral works, and familiar classics. A highlight of the program is “Say Her Name” by Alicia Lee, a song that honors women of color and trans women whose lives were lost to violence and calls audiences to remember them out loud.

“This piece holds so much weight,” says singer and board member Meisha Wangerin, one of the narrators for the song. “‘Say Her Name’ connects our personal stories to a much larger legacy of Black women whose lives mattered deeply, even when the world failed to protect them. Performing it within Legacy is a powerful reminder of why we sing—to bear witness, to honor history, and to call each other toward something better.”

The program also marks the first major concert led by resident conductor Beth Ann Bonnecroy, who began the role last fall as the first woman to hold the position. “Legacy brings together music that speaks to who we are, who we’ve been, and who we can become,” Bonnecroy says.

Seattle Women’s Chorus, founded in 2002, is part of a larger group that includes Seattle Men’s Chorus. Together, the ensembles form one of the largest community choral organizations in North America and rank among the largest LGBTQIA-identified choruses in the world, with more than 450 singing members.

Over the years, the chorus has paired performance with civic engagement. In 2012, the combined choruses traveled across western Washington with a free concert supporting marriage equality ahead of the state’s Referendum 74 vote. When Washington voters approved same-sex marriage that November, two founding members of Seattle Women’s Chorus, Pete-e Petersen and Jane Abbott Lighty, were the first couple to receive a marriage license in King County. They married onstage during a holiday concert at Benaroya Hall. In 2015, the chorus performed at a Seattle rally celebrating the Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.

“This program [Legacy] is a testament to the chorus’s mission: to use music as a force for connection, reflection, and change,” says Craig Coogan, executive director of Seattle Women’s Chorus.

The show also includes Moira Smiley’s “We Are Timeless,” Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” Marvin Gaye’s “Mercy Mercy Me,” and a mashup of “Put a Little Love in Your Heart” and “Love Train.”

Performances take place Saturday, February 28 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 1 at 2 p.m. Tickets are available here.