(gentle orchestral music) ♪ We shall overcome ♪ ♪ We shall overcome ♪ ♪ We shall overcome ♪ ♪ Some day ♪ (musicians tuning) - When the Atlanta Symphony asked me to curate this concert, it was really a carte blanche opportunity, (bright music) and I was really excited to start.

I just didn't know how things would work out.

I knew that I had to include Morehouse and Spelman into the equation.

(choir singing) And everything else kind of fell into place.

(bright piano music) My first time hearing the Atlanta Symphony was with the Morehouse College Glee Club when I sang with them on Christmas Carol Concert in 2004.

And after the concert, I was on the bus headed back to campus, and I went to the director, David Morrow, to say, "How do you get your music performed with the Atlanta Symphony?"

And he said, "You gotta keep working.

You gotta keep working and learn orchestration, and learn composition, learn the art form, and you'll get there one day."

It's being in rehearsal today was like, wow, here we are 20 years later.

(gentle orchestral music) This concert is really meant to showcase the special aspects of the historically Black college, namely Morehouse and Spelman.

You know, this is an institution that really, it made me the man I am today.

I really wanted to highlight the music departments and just kind of show that these institutions are really special.

They are vital to our society, (choir singing) not just in music, but in every industry.

(hip hop music) When you think about Black music, there are certain musical genres that come to mind, right?

There's rap, there's hip hop, there's R&B, there's gospel, there's jazz, there's blues.

It's not just one thing.

It's a conglomeration of so many different genres, and particularly in classical music, (gentle orchestral music) Black folks have been marginalized, particularly performers, especially composers.

Not all Black composers use idioms of like blues and jazz, but some do.

And for a long time, you know, you think about classical music and blues and jazz, those are two different worlds, two different types of people, if you will, and coming from two different types of socioeconomic environments.

There's this separation, if you will, and the goal of this concert is really to kind of show it shouldn't, that you can coexist.

(performer singing opera) So you'll have an aria, you know, from an opera, but also have a spiritual, and it's the same performer and they're singing it equally well.

That's the goal, you know?

The separation between rich and poor and Black and white, it's all a construct.

We use music as a connector.

(performer singing opera) My good friend, Brian Major, we were students together while we were at Morehouse, and he's since gone on to pursue vocal performance and performed at many of the greatest opera houses across the world.

And my good friend, Kearstin Piper Brown, who was a graduate of Spelman College, that was, you know, a part of how the program sort of evolved around Morehouse and Spelman Colleges.

Even though I had the final say, it was very much a collaboration with the team here, the ASO and the performers as well as the directors of Morehouse and Spelman Glee Clubs.

I chose to start the program with "Ring Shout," a piece of mine that is from a larger piece called "Four Black American Dances."

The ring shout historically was, it's a dance that enslaved Africans did during the reconstruction.

It was meant to be a celebratory moment, and at a moment where they could all be together and enjoy each other's company and just celebrate, and they would dance in a circle.

I wanted to start the concert with this, because we're all gathered in this space.

The piece, I think, is a call to celebrate for us to be all together, to sort of inaugurate the space and to commemorate this, the memory of the ancestors, and to show that we are here celebrating.

These spirituals were birth, and the plantations, and the dead heat of the sun, and birth and struggle.

But here you hear them in the beautiful hall with the majestic orchestra.

(Kearstin singing opera) And in a way, they're sort of polished.

(Kearstin singing opera) But the intention is still there.

Yes, these songs come out of struggle, but there is a sense of integrity, and you have to kind of pull the intention that the enslaved had when they were in the fields.

You know, pull that intention into the hall and into the performance.

When people listen to these spirituals in the first half, I really want them to come with their own expectations, and to take something away that they necessarily wouldn't have thought about.

I think it's important for audiences to come to the concert hall, and you get something out of it for yourself, depending on how you were raised and your background, (audience applauds) what you just went through, you know, in the day.

You may hear something that sparks your interest, or helps you, or inspires you in a certain way.

(audience applauds and cheers) (audience applause and cheers continue) (no audio) (bright orchestral music) (bright orchestral music continues) (bright orchestral music continues) (bright orchestral music continues) (bright orchestral music continues) (bright orchestral music continues) (performers clapping) (bright orchestral music continues) (bright orchestral music continues) (energetic orchestral music) (energetic orchestral music continues) (energetic orchestral music continues) (energetic orchestral music continues) (energetic orchestral music continues) (energetic orchestral music continues) (bright orchestral music) (bright orchestral music continues) (bright orchestral music continues) (bright orchestral music continues) (energetic orchestral music) (energetic orchestral music continues) (energetic orchestral music continues) (energetic orchestral music continues) (energetic orchestral music continues) (energetic orchestral music continues) (energetic orchestral music continues) (energetic orchestral music continues) (energetic orchestral music continues) (energetic orchestral music continues) (energetic orchestral music continues) (energetic orchestral music continues) (audience applauds and cheers) (audience applauds) (no audio) (no audio) ♪ Let us break bread together ♪ ♪ On our knees ♪ ♪ Let us break bread together ♪ ♪ On our knees ♪ ♪ When I fall on my knees ♪ ♪ With my face to the rising sun ♪ ♪ Oh Lord ♪ ♪ Have mercy on me ♪ ♪ Let us drink wine together ♪ ♪ On our knees ♪ ♪ Let us drink wine together ♪ ♪ On our knees ♪ ♪ When I fall down on my knees ♪ ♪ With my face to the rising sun ♪ ♪ Oh Lord ♪ ♪ Have mercy on me ♪ ♪ Let us praise God together ♪ ♪ On our knees ♪ ♪ Let us praise God together ♪ ♪ On our knees ♪ ♪ When I fall on my knees ♪ ♪ With my face to the rising sun ♪ ♪ Oh Lord ♪ ♪ Have mercy ♪ ♪ if you please ♪ (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (audience applauds and cheers) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) ♪ Jesus lay your head in the window ♪ ♪ Jesus lay your head in the window ♪ ♪ Jesus lay your head in the window ♪ ♪ Hear some sinner pray ♪ (gentle orchestral music continues) ♪ Some pray all day ♪ ♪ Some pray all night ♪ ♪ Then leave their faith to one side ♪ ♪ Like children, when your heart is right ♪ ♪ His ear is open wide ♪ (gentle orchestral music continues) ♪ Jesus lay your head in the window ♪ ♪ Jesus lay your head in the window ♪ ♪ Jesus lay your head in the window ♪ ♪ Hear some sinner pray ♪ (gentle orchestral music continues) ♪ Your deaf, your dumb ♪ ♪ Your bridled tongue ♪ ♪ He'll listen and he'll supply ♪ ♪ Go, lose the men and let him go ♪ ♪ That he may prophesy ♪ (gentle orchestral music continues) ♪ Jesus lay your head in the window ♪ ♪ Jesus lay your head in the window ♪ ♪ Oh, lay ♪ ♪ Your head in the window ♪ ♪ Hear some sinner pray ♪ (gentle orchestral music continues) ♪ Jesus lay your head in the window ♪ ♪ Jesus lay your head in the window ♪ ♪ Jesus lay ♪ ♪ Your head in the window ♪ ♪ Hear some sinner ♪ ♪ Pray ♪ (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (audience applauds and cheers) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) ♪ This little light of mine ♪ ♪ I'm going to let it shine ♪ ♪ This little light of mine ♪ ♪ I'm going to let it shine ♪ ♪ This little light of mine ♪ ♪ I'm going to let it shine ♪ ♪ Let it shine ♪ ♪ Let it shine ♪ ♪ Let it shine ♪ (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) ♪ Everywhere I go ♪ ♪ I'm going to let it shine ♪ ♪ Everywhere I go ♪ ♪ I'm going to let it shine ♪ ♪ Everywhere I go ♪ ♪ I'm going to let it shine ♪ ♪ Let it shine ♪ ♪ Let it shine ♪ ♪ Let it shine ♪ (gentle orchestral music continues) ♪ All through the night ♪ ♪ I'm going to let it shine ♪ ♪ All through the night ♪ ♪ I'm going to let it shine ♪ ♪ All through ♪ ♪ The night ♪ ♪ I'm going to let it shine ♪ ♪ Let it shine ♪ ♪ Let it shine ♪ ♪ Let it shine ♪ (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (audience applauds) (bright orchestral music) (bright orchestral music continues) ♪ Oh Lord, what manner of man is this ♪ ♪ All nations in him are blessed ♪ ♪ All things are done by his will ♪ ♪ He spoke to the sea and the sea stood still ♪ ♪ Now, ain't that a witness for my Lord ♪ ♪ Ain't that a witness for my Lord ♪ ♪ Ain't that a witness for my Lord ♪ ♪ Soul is a witness for my Lord ♪ ♪ Ain't that a witness for my Lord ♪ ♪ Ain't that a witness for my Lord ♪ ♪ Ain't that a witness for my Lord ♪ ♪ My soul is a witness for my Lord ♪ (bright orchestral music continues) (bright orchestral music continues) ♪ Now there was a man from the Pharisees ♪ ♪ His name was Nicodemus and he didn't believe ♪ ♪ The same came to Christ by night ♪ ♪ He wanted to be taught out of human sight ♪ ♪ Nicodemus was a man who desired to know ♪ ♪ How a man can be born when he is old ♪ ♪ Christ told Nicodemus as a friend ♪ ♪ Man, you must be born again ♪ ♪ Said, marvel not, man, if you wanna be wise ♪ ♪ Repent, believe and be baptized ♪ (bright orchestral music continues) ♪ Then you'll be a witness for my Lord ♪ ♪ You'll be a witness for my Lord ♪ ♪ You'll be a witness for my Lord ♪ ♪ Soul will be a witness for my Lord ♪ ♪ You'll be a witness for my Lord ♪ ♪ You'll be a witness for my Lord ♪ ♪ You'll be a witness for my Lord ♪ ♪ Soul is a witness for my Lord ♪ (bright orchestral music continues) (bright orchestral music continues) ♪ Did you read about Samson, from his birth ♪ ♪ Strongest man that ever lived on earth ♪ ♪ Way back yonder in ancient times ♪ ♪ He killed 10,000 of the Philistines ♪ ♪ Then old Samson went wandering about ♪ ♪ Samson's strength was never found out ♪ ♪ 'Til his wife sat upon his knee ♪ ♪ She said, tell me where your strength lies ♪ ♪ If you please ♪ ♪ Now, Samson's wife, she talk so fair ♪ ♪ Samson said, cut off my hair ♪ ♪ Shave my head as you clean as you can, ♪ ♪ And my strength will become like a natural man ♪ ♪ Now Samson was a witness for my Lord ♪ ♪ Samson was a witness for my Lord ♪ ♪ Samson was a witness for my Lord ♪ ♪ Soul was a witness for my Lord ♪ ♪ Samson is a witness ♪ ♪ Samson is a witness ♪ ♪ Samson is a witness ♪ ♪ Samson is a witness ♪ ♪ My soul is a witness ♪ ♪ For my Lord ♪ (audience applauds and cheers) (audience applause and cheers continue) (bright music) - I grew up in East Point, Georgia and my family moved here from Washington DC in 1996.

It's sort of a tradition in my family, you know, the men will start churches, and all the children will do stuff in the church.

So I come from a very long line of preachers.

My grandfather was a preacher, great-grandfather was a preacher, and my dad's a preacher.

So almost 100 years of preachers in my family.

It's a family business.

And so my dad started his church.

I was enlisted to play the organ and piano, so growing up here, during that time, my life really centered around the church.

But one of the things I learned was that the idea of service, helping other people on a weekly basis, not just whenever you can, you know, it was something you did as a part of your life, and that was something that continued, you know, through music.

I see what I do as a form of service to others and it's essentially that's what preachers do.

You know, they bring people together and to help people in a spiritual way, but there's also a sense of community.

In my family, we couldn't listen to anything other than gospel music.

It was pretty intense, you know, from a very strict household.

But there was one time, you know, was coming from church, my dad was kind of scrolling on the radio, and this orchestra came up on the scan, and it was like, "Wow, let's stop there.

(laughs) Let's listen to this group."

(bright orchestral music) And it just kind of blew my mind, you know, just to hear the orchestra in that way, without film, and it led me down a path of curiosity of who were the composers, who were the orchestrators, who did what, basically.

It seemed like a different world from a different time.

I really was like, what is the sound and how do I make the sounds, you know?

And I just had no clue.

But that would get little nuggets here and there that would lead me in the place where I could fully discover, you know, what it is to eventually write for an orchestra and to stand in front of an orchestra and to hear music that I wrote and to learn about Beethoven, to learn about Mozart, and to learn that they were using music of their people into this symphonic form.

And so learning about their lives and how they used music to inspire others and to showcase their culture, it gave me permission to use gospel music, (choir singing) to use jazz (saxophone plays) and use the music of my people into this symphonic art form.

(Kearstin singing opera) That's been my journey.

(gentle music) Being a graduate of Morehouse comes with a certain expectation, you know, in the world.

And you know, I knew that growing up.

You know, in the Black community, historically Black colleges have a huge reputation for building leaders.

When I got accepted, my parents, they were over the moon.

They were just like, "Wow, you've made it."

Think about so many of the graduates that have come out of the school, not just Morehouse and Spelman, but Clark Atlanta, but Howard University, Hampton University, so many others, and we're all a part of big one big family.

(gentle orchestral music) "We Shall Overcome" was an easy choice to include in the program.

When I was a student, one of the pieces that I performed with the Morehouse Scholars Glee Club, and Spelman, and with the Atlanta Symphony, it's arranged by my mentor, Dr. Uzee Brown, who was a, served as a chairman of the music department in Morehouse.

And he's been a mentor, he is been a friend, a colleague since then.

This was a piece that I had to have on the program.

♪ We shall overcome ♪ - And they kind of, you know, show homage to my mentor, Dr. Brown.

So to have him in the audience with Dr. Morrow directing the Glee Club, I think it's really, really special to me.

(choir singing) - The goal of this particular section was, really, to highlight and to showcase both Kearstin and Brian, their talents and how they can sing an operatic aria just as well as a spiritual, and that's something that I learned, and that's something that they learned.

The Spelman College Glee Club will sing "Go Down Moses," which is arranged by a Spelman graduate, B.E.

Boykin.

we went to school together and sang in the glee clubs together, so it's particularly special.

And then the Morehouse College Glee Club, will sing "Betelehemu," which is sort of a staple for the Glee Club.

We sing it everywhere, you know?

I remember singing it, and people just went wild after the performance of it, no matter where we were.

You know, we performed it in South Africa, performed it in Mississippi, (drums beating) and then people just loved it, wherever we went.

And so I wanted to include in the program, and I hope that the people of Atlanta have the same reaction.

(choir singing) (choir singing continues) (no audio) (no audio) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (Kearstin singing opera in French) (Kearstin continues singing opera in French) (gentle orchestral music continues) (Kearstin continues singing opera in French) (Kearstin continues singing opera in French) (Kearstin continues singing opera in French) (Kearstin continues singing opera in French) (Kearstin continues singing opera in French) (Kearstin continues singing opera in French) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (Kearstin continues singing opera in French) (gentle orchestral music continues) (Kearstin continues singing opera in French) (gentle orchestral music continues) (Kearstin continues singing opera in French) (Kearstin continues singing opera in French) (Kearstin continues singing opera in French) (gentle orchestral music continues) (Kearstin continues singing opera in French) (Kearstin continues singing opera in French) (Kearstin continues singing opera in French) (Kearstin continues singing opera in French) (Kearstin continues singing opera in French) (Kearstin continues singing opera in French) (Kearstin continues singing opera in French) (gentle orchestral music continues) (Kearstin continues singing opera in French) (Kearstin continues singing opera in French) (Kearstin continues singing opera in French) (Kearstin continues singing opera in French) (gentle orchestral music continues) (Kearstin continues singing opera in French) (Kearstin continues singing opera in French) (audience applauds) (Kearstin continues singing opera in French) (Kearstin continues singing opera in French) (gentle orchestral music continues) (Kearstin continues singing opera in French) (gentle orchestral music continues) (Kearstin continues singing opera in French) (gentle orchestral music continues) (audience applauds and cheers) (audience applauds) (audience applause continues) (no audio) (choir singing) (choir singing continues) (bright orchestral music) (bright orchestral music continues) ♪ Go down Moses ♪ ♪ Go down Moses ♪ ♪ Way down ♪ ♪ Tell old Pharaoh ♪ ♪ Let my people go ♪ ♪ When Israel was in Egypt's land ♪ ♪ Let my people go ♪ ♪ Oppressed so hard, they could not stand ♪ ♪ Let my people go ♪ ♪ Oh, go down Moses ♪ ♪ Go down Moses ♪ ♪ Way down ♪ ♪ Tell old Pharaoh ♪ ♪ Let my people go ♪ ♪ The Lord told Moses ♪ ♪ What to do ♪ ♪ Let my people ♪ ♪ Go ♪ ♪ To lead the children ♪ ♪ Of Israel ♪ (audience applauds) ♪ Let my people go ♪ ♪ Go down ♪ ♪ Moses ♪ ♪ Way down in Egypt's land ♪ ♪ Go down ♪ ♪ Moses ♪ ♪ Way down in Egypt's land ♪ ♪ Oh tell old ♪ ♪ Old Pharaoh ♪ ♪ To let my people ♪ ♪ Go ♪ ♪ My people ♪ ♪ Oh tell old ♪ ♪ Old Pharaoh ♪ ♪ Let my people ♪ ♪ Let my people go ♪ ♪ Go down ♪ ♪ Moses ♪ ♪ Way down in Egypt's land ♪ ♪ Go down ♪ ♪ Moses ♪ ♪ Way down in Egypt's land ♪ ♪ Oh tell old ♪ ♪ Old Pharaoh ♪ ♪ To let my people ♪ ♪ Go ♪ ♪ My people ♪ ♪ Oh tell old ♪ ♪ Old Pharaoh ♪ ♪ Let my people ♪ ♪ Let my people ♪ ♪ Go ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Let us all in Christ ♪ ♪ Be free ♪ ♪ Let my people go ♪ ♪ And let us all ♪ ♪ In Christ be free ♪ ♪ Let my people ♪ ♪ Let my people ♪ ♪ Go ♪ ♪ Go down ♪ (audience applauds and cheers) (audience applause and cheers continue) (audience applauds) (bright orchestral music) (bright orchestral music continues) (bright orchestral music continues) (audience laughs) (bright orchestral music) (Brian singing opera in Italian) (bright orchestral music) (Brian singing opera in Italian) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (gentle orchestral music) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (bright orchestral music) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (bright orchestral music continues) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (gentle orchestral music) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (audience applauds) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (audience laughs) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (Brian claps) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (bright orchestral music) (Brian continues singing opera in Italian) (bright orchestral music continues) (audience applauds and cheers) ♪ There's a man ♪ ♪ Goin' round ♪ ♪ Takin' names ♪ ♪ There's a man ♪ ♪ Goin' round ♪ ♪ Takin' names ♪ ♪ He has taken my father's name ♪ ♪ And it's left my heart ♪ ♪ In pain ♪ ♪ There's a man ♪ ♪ Goin' round ♪ ♪ Takin' names ♪ ♪ Oh, Death is that man ♪ ♪ Takin' names ♪ ♪ Oh, Death is that man ♪ ♪ Takin' names ♪ ♪ He has taken my mother's name ♪ ♪ And it's left my heart ♪ ♪ In pain ♪ ♪ Oh, Death is that man ♪ ♪ Takin' names ♪ ♪ There's a man ♪ ♪ Goin' round ♪ ♪ Takin' names ♪ ♪ There's a man ♪ ♪ Goin' round ♪ ♪ Takin' names ♪ ♪ He has taken my brother's name ♪ ♪ And it's left my heart ♪ ♪ In pain ♪ ♪ Oh, Death is that man ♪ ♪ Takin' names ♪ (choir singing continues) ♪ There's a man ♪ ♪ Goin' round ♪ ♪ Takin' ♪ ♪ Names ♪ (choir sings) (audience applauds and cheers) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) ♪ Do not stand at my grave and weep, ♪ ♪ I am not there ♪ ♪ I do not sleep ♪ ♪ I am a thousand winds that blow ♪ ♪ I am the softly falling snow ♪ ♪ I am the gentle showers of rain ♪ ♪ I am the fields of ripening grain ♪ ♪ I am in the morning hush ♪ ♪ I am in the graceful rush ♪ ♪ Of far-off birds ♪ ♪ In circling flight ♪ ♪ I am the star shine of the night ♪ (gentle orchestral music continues) ♪ Lacrymosa ♪ ♪ Dies ♪ ♪ Illa ♪ ♪ Lacrymosa ♪ ♪ Dies ♪ ♪ Illa ♪ (gentle orchestral music continues) ♪ I am in every flower ♪ ♪ That blooms ♪ ♪ I am in still ♪ ♪ And empty rooms ♪ ♪ I am the child ♪ ♪ That yearns to sing ♪ ♪ I am in each lovely thing ♪ (gentle orchestral music continues) ♪ Do not stand at my grave and cry ♪ ♪ I am not there ♪ ♪ Lacrymosa ♪ ♪ I did not ♪ ♪ Die ♪ (audience applauds) (audience applause continues) ♪ Betelehemu ♪ ♪ Betelehemu ♪ (drums beating) ♪ Betelehemu ♪ ♪ Betelehemu ♪ (choir singing in foreign language) (choir continues singing in foreign language) (choir continues singing in foreign language) (choir continues singing in foreign language) (choir continues singing in foreign language) (choir continues singing in foreign language) (choir continues singing in foreign language) ♪ Betelehemu ♪ ♪ Betelehemu ♪ ♪ Betelehemu ♪ (drums beating rapidly) (audience cheers) (drums beating continues) (drums beating continues) (audience cheers) (choir continues singing in foreign language) (choir continues singing in foreign language) (choir continues singing in foreign language) (choir continues singing in foreign language) (choir clapping) (choir continues singing in foreign language) (choir clapping) (choir continues singing in foreign language) (choir continues singing in foreign language) (choir continues singing in foreign language) (choir continues singing in foreign language) (choir continues singing in foreign language) (choir continues singing in foreign language) ♪ Betelehemu ♪ ♪ Betelehemu ♪ ♪ Betelehemu ♪ (choir singing in foreign language) (choir continues singing in foreign language) (choir continues singing in foreign language) (choir continues singing in foreign language) (choir clapping) (choir continues singing in foreign language) (choir continues singing in foreign language) (choir continues singing in foreign language) (choir continues singing in foreign language) (choir clapping) (choir continues singing in foreign language) (choir clapping) (audience applauds and cheers) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) ♪ We shall overcome ♪ ♪ We shall overcome ♪ ♪ We shall overcome ♪ ♪ Some day ♪ ♪ Oh, deep in my heart ♪ ♪ I do believe ♪ ♪ We'll overcome ♪ ♪ Some day ♪ (gentle orchestral music continues) ♪ We shall overcome ♪ ♪ We shall overcome ♪ ♪ We shall overcome ♪ ♪ Some day ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Deep in my heart ♪ ♪ I do believe ♪ ♪ That we shall overcome ♪ ♪ Some day ♪ (gentle orchestral music continues) ♪ We'll walk hand in hand ♪ ♪ We'll walk hand in hand ♪ ♪ We'll walk hand in hand ♪ ♪ Some day ♪ ♪ Oh, deep in my heart ♪ ♪ I do believe ♪ ♪ What we shall overcome ♪ ♪ Some day ♪ (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) ♪ We are not afraid ♪ ♪ We are not afraid ♪ ♪ We are not afraid ♪ ♪ Today ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Deep in my heart ♪ ♪ I do believe ♪ ♪ I believe ♪ ♪ That we shall overcome ♪ ♪ Some day ♪ (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) ♪ We shall overcome ♪ ♪ We shall overcome ♪ ♪ We shall overcome ♪ ♪ We shall overcome ♪ ♪ We shall overcome ♪ ♪ Some day ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Deep in my heart ♪ ♪ I believe ♪ ♪ That we shall overcome ♪ ♪ Some day ♪ (gentle orchestral music continues) ♪ We shall overcome ♪ ♪ Some ♪ ♪ Day ♪ (bright orchestral music) (audience applauds and cheers) (gentle music) - In 2021, the Minnesota Orchestra approached me to write a piece to commemorate George Floyd, his memory.

And initially I almost said no to the project, because I had so many feelings about the piece.

Well, I talked to Marc Bamuthi Joseph.

I mean, I said, "What do you think?

Should I do it?"

And he says, "Yeah, I think you have, you can say something new."

So we took the project on, and we spent the next three years going back and forth from DC to Minnesota, talking with George Floyd's family, community leaders, whoever we could, who would talk to us about what happened during that time.

From that, we birthed a piece that we thought George Floyd would listen to, not just, you know, regular patrons, but a piece that the community, that George Floyd, the folks would listen to.

So the collaboration came out of a place where we wanted to deal with the moment of his death and how horrific it was, but also what comes after this, what comes after this tragedy and what is our collective duty in making sure that there are, you know, equitable solutions for people of color, and that's really the goal of the piece.

(gentle music) - The relationship between law enforcement and the Black body, and in a lot of ways, the relationship between this country and the Black body is checkered and contested.

To think about the people of Minneapolis, to think about the family of George Floyd, but also to think about my son or my daughter, the young people that will be performing with us, the wide radius of people that are impacted by violence because of their skin.

The idea of Black Lives Matter isn't so much about the matter of Black life, it's about the matter of law in relationship to Black life.

And so there was also a responsibility to tell that story with integrity, do the people of Minneapolis proud, but also to do African America proud.

And so bringing breadth to this place at this time in a month that not only honors the legacy of Black achievement, but is an opening unto Black future makes a lot of sense, and I'm proud to represent here and now.

(gentle music continues) - Since we spent so much time talking to people and just kind of being in the space, once we sat down and wrote the piece, it didn't take long at all, six to seven months.

But it's a big piece, a 35-minute work, with choir, an orchestra, with the soloist.

It's one of my biggest pieces that I've written, but it deserved it.

(gentle orchestral music) - The truth is is that neither one of us lives in Minneapolis, and so it's not really kind of our purview to document the day or the moment of George Floyd's passing, and so that's not a thing that this piece does.

What this piece does is consider a wide landscape and set of conditions around George Floyd's passing.

And in order to tell a story that's both figurative and literal, we wanted to have a high degree of integrity and to take an approach that could be abstract or figurative, but also journalistic and almost ethnographic.

And that's what spoken word allowed us to do.

In a lot of ways, the composition is a concerto for spoken word.

(Marc speaking faintly in performance) The same way that we think about a concerto for violin or a concerto for piano.

This emphasizes a virtuosic poet and hopefully can be performed by other virtuosic poets deep into the future.

- The title of the piece is called "Breadth," with a D in parentheses.

The breadth of the task.

What do we have to do?

And so it really is a call to action for us as a whole to really respond in a way that we are, you know, creating an anti-racist world, a system in place that responds to racism.

So I wrote "Elegy" in 2014, when Trayvon Martin was murdered, also responding to the murder of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, Breonna Taylor, and so many other names are being added to the list.

Initially I didn't know what to do with my feelings.

You know, I was upset, I was angry, confused even, and so I went to music.

And so that piece comes out of that experience, and seeing the protests at that time on TV in Baltimore, and seeing, you know, protests all over the country in 2014, and in 2020 when George Floyd was murdered, it was the same things, you know?

And so it made sense for me to include that work, you know, into the larger work.

It gave me some sense of hope in that somebody in the audience would get it, but to finally get it and then they would go in, go into the world and make decisions based on what they heard.

(bright orchestral music) (audience applauds and cheers) - I think that the arts are the last bastion of possibility for a transformative future.

We consume the arts, we consume culture to give us inspiration and to make visible either escapist drama or to kind of deepen our understanding.

We're consuming cultural content all the time, and that shapes not only our politic, but it shapes who we think we can be.

I hope that the audience gets both lost in meditation and also remembers something.

This piece isn't nostalgic.

This piece activates our collective civic memory, and maybe even our, kind of, collective sense of community, of co-responsibility, and asks us not in a way that relives any kind of trauma, but asks us actually to relive the American premise and to ask ourselves how we're carrying that forward.

- The ending, for me, is the piece that stands out to me.

(choir singing) The last words are "So much work has been done, but who does the work that's still left?"

And the choir shouts that at the end.

And again, it's a call to action, and literally the piece, it feels like I wanted to create sort of a, like, a push.

So you've heard the word.

Now go.

Like a sendoff.

And you know, you hear it in the percussion, it's like it's this large swell in the percussion with the bases and the celli sort of playing, you know, a low rumble.

And it's really meant to kind of push the audience out into the world.

And I hope that this is something that the audience feels as they listen.

(drums beating rapidly) (audience applauds and cheers) (audience applause continues) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) ♪ Give us this day ♪ (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (intense orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music) (intense orchestral music) (intense orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) ♪ Give us this day ♪ ♪ Our daily bread ♪ - We pledge collegiance to the facts that the United States of America is racially healing in public.

So you could understand how some in this nation wonder, God, could dignity be afforded to all?

♪ Give us this day ♪ ♪ Our daily bread ♪ - The breadth of the task, the asking for bread, the expiring breath, the black odor of dread.

(gentle orchestral music continues) ♪ Give us this day ♪ ♪ Our daily bread ♪ - Give us this day, respect for the breadth of the ask.

With an expiring breath, he called for a dead woman several years past.

♪ Give us this day ♪ - Give us this day, respect for the ghost, and the murmurs of a man with a speck of bread singed like the Lord's prayer, singing in his choke-held throat, sitting flat like a scar, sustaining like bread.

A grown man, ticking like a trumpeter's fingers playing valves that only exist in his head.

♪ Give us this day ♪ - The breadth of the loss and the bitter and the lonely.

The breath of a winded man whose allies have left to struggle alone, go on.

Go on.

Give us this day, the breadth of repair, the breath of the labor, the held breath of the witness, watching life progress to death.

I too am a witness.

Shook my head, tried to make some sense.

This miracle of political bread, the manner that is the folk wall of American promise and the breadth of our common belief in the premise of justice.

For all fallen breath.

(choir sings) Of a man whose heart is failing.

(choir sings) The rising blood of a people with scotch tape and ancestral will keeping their American hearts from breaking, breaking the breath, fasting with water and incessant prayer for bread.

Give us this day, the breadth of what's due.

(intense orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music) What would you kneel for?

Assume the posture of casual prayer, a genuflection while levitating, buoyed by the neck of a man you are actively robbing of air.

Armed robbery of breath over some bread and the wide genocidal breadth of our country's racial timeline, our country's daily bread, our injurious history written enlightening the animating factors that authorize violence.

Give us this day, a shot at peace.

(gentle orchestral music continues) A day when you don't have to function knowing the night before, a young woman was state-sanctioned murdered in her sleep, Lord.

♪ Give us this day ♪ - The breadth of the task.

♪ Our daily bread ♪ - Give us this day, one more breath, Lord.

Solemnly hear the underlying desperation of the ask.

Give us this day, our bread.

(gentle orchestral music continues) Enough to feed our ancestors when we pay them respects.

♪ Give us this day ♪ ♪ Our daily bread ♪ - [Marc] Give this day, the breadth of our American state.

♪ Give us this day ♪ ♪ Our daily bread ♪ - Restore the debt of stolen life.

♪ Our daily bread ♪ (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (audience applauds and cheers) (energetic drum music) (energetic orchestral music) (bright orchestral music) - A soul to keep.

(energetic drum music) Breathe in relief.

The night is fruits.

The moon is sweet.

(bright orchestral music) Take a piece.

Swallow the satellite beyond your reach.

The night is dream, but I'm not asleep.

Not woke, just awake.

I breathe in what I see, I breathe in the night.

It smells strangely of fruit, to me.

Breathe in the chemical shift when I walk by the police.

(intense orchestral music) The smell of all the probabilities played out on all of the screens.

Breathe in the scenes.

(bright orchestral music) Breathe in the night and imagine the time that you felt most free.

When in your life have you felt most free?

I sing America's longest notes.

I sometimes forget to breathe.

When I do, my cultural differences haven't been tucked into the skirts of the queen.

I'm free to access an infrastructure of oak.

Breathe in the night.

The moon is ripe with juice.

It smells like autonomy, smells like fruit, beginning to bruise and rot.

Breathe in.

It's a lot.

Breathe out.

Let it go.

(gentle orchestral music) Imagine yourself living, knowing you only have one more breath before your soul lets go.

(intense orchestral music) Breathe in mortality.

It is an inevitability, and as such, should it one's last breath be made with dignity?

But breath in the idea that death is a lie.

That energy, not a human shell is the actual tell of a life.

Life is death as a vision, as a lived permission, inception of an intuition of what's a cosmically expect.

Life is just a set of lips to whisper, born to kiss our names back to the wind so our spirit might hear it and vibrate a mitzvah.

Incarnate and back again, reciprocal energy, spirit and flesh.

These words rolling off my tongue.

The first breath of after death in my lungs.

After life, I just go back to wherever I came from.

Breath is drum.

Breathe in light and smoke.

Breath is drum.

Breathe in the midnight sun where life never sets.

Breath is drum.

Ancestors know no death.

Breath becomes the way ancestors pay at the gates.

In Heaven, breath is bread.

The first breath of after death in my lungs.

After life, I just go back to where I came from.

Breath is drum.

Breathe in light and smoke.

Breath is drum.

Breathe in the midnight sun where life never sets.

Breath is drum.

Ancestors know no death.

Breath becomes the way ancestors pay at the gates.

In Heaven, breath is bread.

(gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (bright orchestral music) (audience applauds) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (bright orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (intense orchestral music) (no audio) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (bright orchestral music) ♪ What does the night ♪ ♪ Say to you ♪ ♪ Before you lay your head down ♪ ♪ Does the night confide ♪ ♪ Its prideful truth ♪ ♪ Before the night falls ♪ (gentle orchestral music continues) ♪ Does the pride fall too ♪ ♪ Or does the pride of the night ♪ ♪ Rise ♪ (intense orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music) - Before it was a corner, it was a boundless plane that never considered the square edges of man's myopia.

Over time, the edges encroached, and brought with them paper and value.

Before it was a constitution, it was a handwritten note presented to a Native woman as legal tender.

She held it to the light, squinted twice and laughed at the myopic man who tried to pass a counterfeit bill.

(intense orchestral music) (intense orchestral music continues) (intense orchestral music continues) (choir sings intensely) (intense music continues) (gentle orchestral music) Before the sun rose that day, the corner knew.

Pride comes before the fall.

American avarice, too.

American pride consumes like a starving cub hungry for food, if not justice for all America then how do you choose who wins America?

Does somebody invariably lose?

Before the sun rose that day, the corner already knew.

The corner had seen it before.

The block knows before the news.

The block knows who America is likely to choose before the sun rises.

The night tells America's truth.

(gentle orchestral music continues) What does the night say to you?

Before you lay your head down, does the night confide its prideful truth?

Before the night falls, does the pride fall too?

Or does the pride of the night rise like a hand in salute?

(gentle orchestral music continues) What does the night say to you?

Before you lay your head down, does the night confide its prideful truth?

Before the night falls, does the pride fall too?

Or does the pride of the night rise like a hand in salute?

Before the sun rose that day, the corner already knew.

(gentle orchestral music continues) Before the sun rose that day, the corner already knew.

(gentle orchestral music continues) (intense orchestral music) (choir singing intensely) (intense orchestral music continues) (intense orchestral music continues) (intense orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) Before there was a cost, there was bread.

Before there was socially determined health, we collectively cared for the sick and honored the dead.

Before there was qualified immunity, the laws and loyalty to community provided enough force to protect the peace.

Before the man was taken for some bread, he had access to memory, of sharecropping in North Carolina, of making music in Church, of 13 sisters and brothers, of challenges with sobriety, of a life before the fall.

Before the fall, there was bread.

Before the sun rose that day, the corner was already cursed and blessed.

Weight of the body, wait for true equity, wavering feet, equally bruised legs.

Of course there is before.

Much has happened to us, but we the people are more than ill will be done.

Our kingdom once was and shall come.

Give us this day, our bread.

Before the fall came, a duty to keep our ancestors fed.

What is the equity owed to the people before American bread?

The people for whom the parchment of American purchase is counterfeit.

God bless American bread and the hands that have prepared it.

May the bounty be baked into 24 demands, seasoned by 2,000 seasons, true to our native land.

Before the sunrise tomorrow, may we feast on the bread that bought us one more day to get it right.

May we feast on the bread?

- May we feast on the bread that bought us one more day?

- May we feast on the bread?

- That bought us more day.

- May we feast on the bread that bought us one more day?

- To try.

- May we feast on the bread- - To get it right.

- That bought us one more day to try to get it right?

- May we feast on the bread that bought us one more day to try to get it right?

- May we feast on the bread that bought us one more day to try to get it right.

(gentle orchestral music) - May we feast on the bread that bought us one more day to try to get it right?

♪ May we feast on the bread ♪ ♪ That bought us one more day ♪ ♪ To get it right ♪ ♪ May we feast on the bread ♪ ♪ That bought us one more day ♪ ♪ To get it right ♪ ♪ To get it right ♪ (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) (orchestral music rumbling softly) (orchestral music rumbling softly continues) (orchestral music rumbling softly continues) (orchestral music rumbling powerfully) (intense orchestral music) (orchestral music rumbling softly) (orchestral music rumbling powerfully) (intense orchestral music) (intense orchestral music continues) (intense orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) ♪ So much work has been done ♪ ♪ Who does the work that's still left ♪ ♪ So much work ♪ ♪ So much work has been done ♪ ♪ Has been done ♪ ♪ Who does the work ♪ ♪ Who does the work that's still left ♪ ♪ That's still left ♪ (intense orchestral music) ♪ So much work ♪ ♪ Has been done ♪ ♪ The work that's still left ♪ (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues) - The breadth of the task.

In 1619, Jamestown enshrined a color-based American caste.

It took 244 years before Black people were enshrined a voting place in the franchise.

1868.

The 14th amendment was ratified.

Jamestown to citizenship.

244 years in between.

244 years from 1868 will be the second decade of the next century.

By the time there is a parody of Black enslavement and Black political agency, no one in this room will be alive.

And that is the breadth of the task.

(gentle orchestral music continues) We have to create the equal positive effect of that historical debt.

The debt of 12 generations of humans who were not permitted to be who they could have been.

That is the breadth of the sin.

Caste is the infrastructure of our divisions.

It is our country's preexisting condition.

If a person has high blood pressure, it's not a surprise if they suffer a heart attack.

Why are we surprised by the way law enforcement disregards the dignity of Blacks?

The breadth of the task is to make a future that remembers the breadth of the stolen.

To think of joy as an economy, to consider its theft with interest.

Consider the breadth of a man at the very end of a life.

He breaks no law that requires the death penalty, but that is what he receives.

Consider at the time of his death there is a viral disease that literally sees no color, sees us for what we actually are: as the same, as an interconnected species.

It took a blind organism to make the planet stop and notice the breadth and depth and late spring carelessness by which American law presides over Black deaths.

The breadth of a life, the breadth of the lives of folks on the block who didn't have activist intentions, and the breadth of the local activists who supported them with intention.

The breadth of our intention to learn the cost of the debt, our intention to earn back what was lost with his breath.

The breadth of the people who ain't out here for bread, who are healing the city, who the city often forgets.

The breadth of our intention to learn the cost of the debt, our intention to earn back what was lost with his breath.

The breadth of the people who ain't out here for bread, who are healing the city, who the city often forgets.

Do you remember?

(audience applauds) Do you remember 2020?

Do you remember its breadth?

I found myself transported to the root of the American experiment, beyond anger or grief.

What led so many of us to gather in the streets?

What are the ties that bind us together?

The breadth of common hope that we could be better than this.

That with clear-eyed understanding of our social pathologies, there existed a pervasive doe-eyed idealism underneath.

There was a reason why we demanded better of our country, because we collectively knew we were capable of better, that like a teacher's most gifted student, after failing several critical tests, we collectively knew that we could be more accurately defined by our promise, then by our failures.

The promise of what's possible.

That's the breadth of the task: to make possible the breadth of the promise.

♪ So much work ♪ ♪ So much work ♪ ♪ Has been done ♪ ♪ Has been done ♪ ♪ Who does the work ♪ ♪ Who does the work ♪ ♪ That's still left ♪ ♪ That's still left ♪ ♪ So much work ♪ ♪ So much work ♪ ♪ Has been done ♪ ♪ Has been done ♪ ♪ Who does the work ♪ ♪ The work that's still left ♪ (intense orchestral music) - The promise, the promise of what's possible, that's the breadth of the task.

To make possible the breadth of the promise.

(orchestral music rumbling softly) (orchestral music rumbling softly continues) (orchestral music rumbling powerfully) (audience applauds and cheers) (audience applause and cheers continue) (audience applause and cheers continue) (audience applause and cheers continue) (audience applause and cheers continue) (audience applause and cheers continue) (audience applause and cheers continue) (audience applause and cheers continue) (audience applause and cheers continue) (audience applause and cheers continue) (bright music) - One of the most profound moments that I've had after the performance of "Breadth," the premiere in Minnesota, after so many, like, talks, so many conversations that we had with family and in the community, one of the people who lived in the community where George Floyd lived came up to me and just said, "You listened, thank you so much.

You listened.

I could tell you listened."

And that was the best compliment I could have ever gotten.

(bright music continues) My hope is that, you know, folks who have felt like they've been marginalized and to hear this work and that the hope is that you listen and you feel that I listened, that Bamuthi and I, we listened, and we are here to kind of represent and to give voice through the music.

- I love that this work is landing in this city with this symphony orchestra.

Atlanta is a phoenix city, historically.

Atlanta isn't just the city of civil rights.

It's not just the capital of the south.

It's not just a city that's too tired to hate.

Atlanta is a city that understands Black future in a very unique way.

The Atlanta Symphony is representative of a city that holds all those responsibilities and contradictions.

(bright orchestral music) There was a man who lost his life in an insidious way in 2020, at a time when we were all exposed to dis-ease.

That happened.

And the reaction to that moment that we all experienced in terms of what equity could or should be, that explosion on the racial timeline still has a very wide amplitude and aperture.

And it's our collective responsibility as cultural institutions to remember that moment, to live here presently, and then to take it forward so that we can heal together in public.

(bright music) - I hope the concept of this concert, or the blueprint, will be duplicated around the country, and to kinda show that it's possible, you know, that we can have a concert that has spirituals and opera arias on it.

You can have a piece that's contemporary, that instill with the same message of unity and hope and of change and social justice.

(bright music continues) Well, I hope that people who watch this will be inspired and to do something in their own way.

And I don't care if you're an accountant or you're a politician or you're a bank teller.

The hope that is that you leave the space with some inspiration to go out into the world and change the world.

(audience applauds and cheers) (gentle orchestral music) (gentle orchestral music continues) (gentle orchestral music continues)