GEORGE WALKER
(DAVID DEBALKO)
Composer George Walker in Verizon Hall, April 29, 2018, where his "Lyric for Strings" was performed.
It happened almost a year ago in Aurora, Colo. But like an echo growing
paradoxically louder over time, the story of Elijah McClain and his
horrific death has spread across the country.
Next week it lands in Philadelphia. A group of local string players is
planning two candlelight vigils in his memory — one Wednesday at Malcolm
X Park in West Philadelphia, and another July 19 on the steps of the
Philadelphia Museum of Art.
The aim is to “lift up voices of Black artists and musicians, and to
hold the space for victims of systemic racism and police brutality,”
says instrumentalist Veronica Jurkiewicz, one of the organizers, who
will play viola at the vigils.
“Music has always found a way to bring peace and bring a calm to people
when there is so much tragedy in their lives,” says Alberta Douglas, a
Philadelphia violinist who is another one of the planners. “It has a way
of conveying emotion that words can’t always do.”
McClain, a Black 23-year-old massage therapist, was walking home from a
corner store last August when he was approached by three white Aurora
police officers after a 911 call reporting someone who “looked sketchy.”
Police said McClain was “uncooperative,” according to a district
attorney report. They struggled to handcuff him. A police body camera
reveals McClain saying: “I am an introvert. Please respect the
boundaries that I am speaking. Leave me alone.”
Police placed him in a carotid hold, and paramedics injected him with
the sedative ketamine. He suffered cardiac arrest on the way to the
hospital and died three days later, according to news reports.
After an initial investigation, no charges in his death were filed.
David Zalubowski / AP
FILE - In this June 27, 2020, file photo, demonstrators carry a giant
placard during a rally and march over the death of 23-year-old Elijah
McClain outside the police department in Aurora, Colo.
***
McClain’s fate has especially drawn the attention of musicians, who see
him as one of their own. He was also a violinist, and a photograph of
him playing music for stray cats has been widely circulated.
***
The music chosen for the candlelight vigils has significance. Lyric for Strings is by George Walker,
whose 1996 Pulitzer Prize for music was the first to be awarded to a
Black composer. The work was premiered in 1946 on a radio concert by the
orchestra of the Curtis Institute of Music, just after Walker graduated
from the Philadelphia school. It was originally titled Lament.
“He wrote it after someone in his life [his grandmother] passed away,”
says Douglas. “In the piece, you can hear it goes in and out of
happiness as if to remember all the sweet memories of the person and the
sadness and longing for the person who you can no longer walk beside.
It seems to me it has the gentleness of Elijah’s soul and the spirit and
sweetness of his smile. But also the sadness of this tragedy.”
