Damien Geter
An African American Requiem Graphic
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: (Washington, DC)
5/17/2022
Chesterfield
County, Virginia native and acclaimed composer Damien Geter set to have
his "An African American Requiem" receive its East Coast Premiere at
The Kennedy Center.
Following
its world premiere by the west coast based Resonance Ensemble, Geter's
work will be performed on Monday, May 23, 2022 in collaboration The
Choral Arts Society of Washington.
The Choral Arts Society of Washington will present the East Coast premiere and recording of South Chesterfield County, Virginia native Damien Geter’s An African American Requiem in collaboration with
Oregon’s Resonance
Ensemble. The concert will take place on Monday, May 23, 2022 at The
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. This
setting of the requiem piece is drawn from traditional
Latin text and has been in the works for the last several years. It is a
bold and thought-provoking musical response to racial violence
against African Americans in the United States.
Growing up in Virginia, his artistic style was molded and influenced as a
Black male growing up in the rural South. To have this important work performed in the Nation's Capital at
The Kennedy Center not too far from his
hometown, Geter considers this as a marked and important occasion. Additionally, he views it as a homecoming for him to
showcase classical music to the Black community, a segment of the
population that has long been excluded from the genre.
The work is a 20-movement piece that
memorializes Black American victims of lynching, hanging, and other
racial violence perpetuated throughout our country’s history. The
infusion of Black vernacular, spirituals, and modern declarations
enhances the traditional Latin requiem used for the body of work.
Listeners will experience a setting of Ida B. Wells’s speech “Lynching
is Color-Line Murder”; the famous last words of Eric Garner, “I can’t
breathe”; and spirituals like “There’s A Man Goin’ Round” and
“Kumbaya.”
An African American Requiem was
commissioned by Resonance Ensemble in 2017 and was originally set to
premiere in April of 2020. Because of the pandemic shutdowns, the world
premiere occurred on May 7, 2022, in Portland, Oregon at the
Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Resonance's
Artistic Director Dr. Katherine FitzGibbon spoke about the
composition's early inception: “When we commissioned An African
American
Requiem, we had no idea the path we were about to embark on. Damien’s
work
is extraordinary and moving, and it’s exciting to see how audiences,
community partners, and arts organizations across the country are coming
together to watch his vision come to life...it’s exciting to be able to
perform it again
so soon in the East Coast premiere. We are grateful for this incredible
collaboration with Choral Arts as we perform and record Damien’s work at
the Kennedy Center together” she concluded.
Artistic Director of Choral Arts Scott Tucker shared about the importance of this new work:
“It has been an honor and privilege to work
with Damien Geter and Resonance Ensemble. “An African American Requiem" has been in the
works for a long time and we cannot wait to share it. Music has the
power to awe, transform opinions, and evoke change. As we honor the
lives of Black women, children, and men who have been killed senselessly
in this country, we hope the audience is moved to start conversations
about the disparities Black Americans continue to face" he said further.
The East Coast premiere will feature the
Choral Arts Symphonic Chorus with Artistic Director Scott Tucker,
Resonance Ensemble with Artistic Director FitzGibbon and NEWorks Chorus
and Philharmonic Orchestra with Nolan Williams, Jr.
AN AFRICAN AMERICAN REQUIEM
WHEN: Monday, May 23, 2022 | 7 pm
WHERE: The Kennedy Center Concert Hall
COST: Tickets start at $15
TICKETS: https://choralarts.org/geter-requiem
No comments:
Post a Comment