NEW YORK - Clarinetist
Anthony McGill, the first ever African-American Principal player of the
New York Philharmonic, has posted a powerful musical protest video in
a demonstration against the death of George Floyd and historic racial
injustice. The video has received over 50,000 views in less than two
days and is now sparking a movement.
In the 1½ minute video, Mr. McGill performs his own arrangement of America the Beautiful,
with a melody that wavers between optimism and anguish and concludes
with a final chord that doesn't resolve. At the end, Mr. McGill falls to
both knees with his arms behind his back. He accompanied the video with
a personal and passionate post (facebook link above, text version
available here) encouraging people to #TakeTwoKnees in support of the struggle for justice and decency.
Opera singer Lawrence Brownlee, flutist Demarre McGill, composer and flutist Allison Loggins-Hill, trombonist Weston Sprott, dancer Alicia Graf Mack, and trumpeter Billy Hunter are just some of the artists who have already posted videos in response.
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment