by Daniel Hathaway
AFTER A WEEKEND OF VIOLENCE:
This is a day to push COVID-19 concerns to the side and consider our institutional and individual responses to the tragic death of George Floyd last week in Minneapolis and the chaos that event inspired across the nation over the weekend. Here are a few musical selections to focus our thoughts, with more to come.
The New England Conservatory Music Hub offered a song by Cleveland composer H. Leslie Adams on May 29:
Today we welcome #NECHealingMusic from alumna Denyce Graves and Collaborative Piano chair Cameron Stowe, offering this moving rendition of “Prayer” by H. Leslie Adams, with text by Langston Hughes, part of Adams’s song cycle Nightsongs: Six Afro-American Songs.
“I believe that it’s a moment for us to be quiet, to be still, and to step aside and let the divine intelligence come in and do its work. I’ve always believed that things don’t happen to us; they happen for us, and I believe that this is a moment that will make us all better human beings and create a better world.” — Denyce Graves ’88, ’14 hon. DM
Prayer
by Langston Hughes
I ask you this:
Which way to go?
I ask you this:
Which sin to bear?
Which crown to put
Upon my hair?
I do not know,
Lord God,
I do not know.
Cleveland Chamber Choir posted this message on May 31:
During this time of suffering, our choir offers this performance of Joel Thompson’s The Seven Last Words of The Unarmed to give voice to the voiceless.
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- Kenneth Chamberlain
- Trayvon Martin
- Amadou Diallo
- Michael Brown
- Oscar Grant
- John Crawford
- Eric Garner
Click here to watch a 2017 performance of the orchestrated version of Thompson’s piece by the University of Michigan Glee Club posted by The Sphinx Organization.
And today we’ve posted Jarrett Hoffman’s article about New York Philharmonic principal clarinet Anthony McGill’s #TakeTwoKnees movement. Read the story here.