Black composers, experiences in Bach Festival’s spotlight
From moments of great pain will come great music. Aspects of the African American experience are at the fore of the next Bach Festival Society concert, in collaboration with the Bethune-Cookman University Concert Chorale.
Slavery and the killings of unarmed Black men, including Sanford’s Trayvon Martin, are explored musically in “Elation and Dissent,” which will be presented April 23-24 at Rollins College in Winter Park. “The Ordering of Moses” — about the exodus of the Jews from captivity — also is on the program, as is a new piece written as a response to the war in Ukraine.
“We think about music being an aid for social justice and activism,” said Terrance Lane, director of the concert chorale at the historically Black university in Daytona Beach. He will conduct the combined Bach and Bethune-Cookman choirs’ performance of “Seven Last Words of the Unarmed” — creating a rare sight by the absence of Sinclair.
“It’s not too often conductors actually give up their podium,” said Lane, acknowledging the moment. “Just the fact we are doing this concert together, we hope, speaks volumes about what the world needs.”
Sinclair, who is white, said it was essential for Lane to conduct Joel Thompson’s composition, which contains the last words of Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner and others killed by police officers or other authority figures.
“I don’t know what it’s like,” to grow up Black in America, Sinclair said. “I have immense empathy but I don’t have the credibility for this.”
George Zimmerman, a neighborhood-watch volunteer, fatally shot Martin, 15, in 2012 in Sanford. He was later acquitted of second-degree murder. Brown, 18, was killed by a white police officer in 2014 in St. Louis. No charges were filed in that case. Garner, 43, died in 2014 after a New York Police officer put him in a chokehold as he repeatedly said, “I can’t breathe.” No charges were filed in that case, although New York City agreed to pay Garner’s family $5.9 million in an out-of-court settlement.
Thompson sets each of the seven men’s last words in a different musical style in his piece.
Lane said he can relate to the music personally: He knows what it’s like to be followed by store employees “in case I’m going to steal something.” And a cousin was killed by a police officer.
The emotional context of Thompson’s work can create difficult moments for the singers, Lane said.
“It’s important for us to talk about it in rehearsal, go through it and then express it,” he said. “If we can’t feel it, the audience can’t feel it.”
Also on the program is Florence Price’s “Ethiopia’s Shadow in America” — a work both Lane and Sinclair selected simultaneously without knowing the other also had it in his sights.
“It’s a very powerful instrumental piece,” said Sinclair, explaining the music takes a journey from the arrival of slaves in America, to their resignation to their new lives, to an expression of how their faith carried them through.
Price, who died in 1953, was a Black pianist, organist and composer of more than 300 works.
“The Ordering of Moses” also was created by a Black composer who didn’t get deserved recognition while alive: R. Nathaniel Dett, who died in 1943.
“I was moved to tears because I read the story of Nathaniel Dett,” Sinclair said. “He was brilliant and did not get his due because of the color of his skin.”
Added Lane: “We long for the day our composers can be recognized as simply great composers.”
Lane and Sinclair have collaborated on “The Ordering of Moses” before, but this time plan to record the piece.
Guest soloists on the program include Laquita Mitchell, Krysty Swann, Samuel McKelton and Kevin Deas.
“A Prayer for Ukraine,” by John Rutter, was a last-minute addition to “Elation and Dissent.”
“We thought we needed to say something,” Sinclair said. “Artists have an obligation to be part of society, to be if not the solution, part of the dialogue.”
Lane pointed out that Rollins and Bethune-Cookman have a long history of supporting each other and contributing to progress on social issues.
“I think we have to use music to keep the message alive, to keep the motivation alive,” he said. “We’re not going to let anyone turn us around.”
‘Elation and
When: 7:30 p.m. April 23 and 3 p.m. April 24 Where: Knowles Memorial Chapel at Rollins College, 1000 Holt Ave. in Winter Park
Cost: $20 and up
Info: bachfestivalflorida.org
Dissent’
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