Standing in solidarity against racism and injustice
Dear friends,
Music is a temporal art, and one that breathes. I have been thinking so much this week about time and breath - essential elements of life and of music. Eight minutes and forty-six seconds is a long time. It’s about the average length of a performance of Barber’s Adagio for strings, and longer than the second movement of Florence Price’s 3rd Symphony. I have listened to these pieces contemplating time and breath and the last minutes of George Floyd’s life.
We continue to mourn him and the other lives lost - Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and the many others whose names we know and those we don’t know.
Their lives matter.
Prayers and mourning and silent messages in solidarity are not enough.
We must act against racism, brutality, and hate so that millions of people will not need to live in fear.
This week, people in every state and in 18 countries across the world have made a stand against racial injustice. Communities and industries have started to engage in difficult and important conversations with renewed purpose. Like many other industries, classical music has struggled to break ingrained patterns of systemic racism, and any progress has been incremental at best.
I have always believed that for our art form to be the most relevant and connect with the most people, the artists and the work on our stages must reflect the people in our communities, our nation, and our world. Resonance Works has been, since our formation, committed to the empowerment of our artists' stories and perspectives; it is inherent to our mission of championing music and themes that resonate with the current climate. Our continuing goal is to foster and normalize diversity within our programming model; our specific initial focus has been on gender equity, while also presenting more works by composers of color (30% of our 19-20 season).
But we can do better, and we will. We understand that what we say and what we do has an impact, and we will continue to learn by stepping back, listening to others, and leading with empathy.
With the coronavirus silencing theaters and concert halls all over the world, the music world has been turned upside down - artists are facing many months or more without work, and companies are facing financial crises that could easily turn existential. But in this time there is also an opportunity to reset, examine, and reinvent how we work. Someone said to me yesterday that if we in the arts don’t come out of this better than we were before, this time has been wasted.
I want you to know that we do not intend to waste this time. We are working on new programming and performance models for our current situation and for the future. We are committed to equity in all aspects, which will include presenting more works by Black composers, collaborating with more Black artists, and creating partnerships across the community to make the local and national arts ecosystem more diverse and inclusive.
In light of all of this, we have decided to postpone tomorrow’s Elixir of Love Redux & Reunion event to Saturday June 20 at 7:00 pm in order to not distract from the Amplify Black Voices movement. We are grateful for all of you who planned to spend the evening with us and look forward to revisiting this beloved production in two weeks. Tomorrow, however, we hope that you will join us in listening and learning. There is great content being shared under these hashtags: #amplifyblackvoices #amplifymelanatedvoices, as well as others.
Here are a few specific links that I have found very meaningful this week:
“The Seven Last Words of the Unarmed” by Joel Thompson
This multi-movement work for men’s chorus and orchestra sets the last words of Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Oscar Grant, Eric Garner, Kenneth Chamberlain, Amadou Diallo, and John Crawford. Visit sevenlastwords.org for more information about the piece and its creators, the lives of these seven men, and a number of educational resources. There is also a wonderful documentary about the original collaboration for this work with Dr. Eugene Rogers and the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club which includes a performance of the piece in its original version as well as Dr. Rogers’ uplifting arrangement of Glory from the Selma film soundtrack.
Operascopic: A conversation with Christine Lyons and Adam Richardson
This week, two wonderful singers who were undergraduate voice majors while I was in grad school at Carnegie Mellon spoke on Instagram Live about their personal experience being Black in America and specifically working in opera. I remember them as undergrads - Adam was actually in the first opera I ever conducted. Hearing them talk so candidly about the struggles they continue to face in our industry and in the world was emotional and powerful.
John Holiday sings “Love is the only word sweeter than black”
This excerpt from the world premiere production of WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED by Daniel Bernard Roumain and Marc Bamuthi Joseph is one of the most moving moments I’ve witnessed in opera. This clip also includes baritone Adam Richardson, a CMU alum mentioned above. Premiered by Opera Philadelphia in 2017, the complete opera is available to stream through August 31 as a part of their Digital Festival.
Julia Bullock sings “Brown Baby”
Julia and her husband, my conductor friend Christian Reif, posted this a week ago. In her words, "We are responsible and must care for the generations that come after us. This song is about wanting for the future... the sadness and anger comes from the reality of the present."
We have also started a YouTube playlist, Amplify Black Voices, with these performances and more. We will continue to grow this list and share on our social media channels, and hope that you will listen, contribute, and share.
With hope and resolve,
Maria Sensi Sellner
Artistic & General Director, Founder