24 Black composers and classical music organizations to celebrate.
A statement on racism, the music industry and society at large, and we can do about it.
“The greatest sin of our time is not the few who have destroyed, but the vast majority who’ve sat idly by.”– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
This past week has been among the most difficult in America in recent history. The spread of COVID-19 has changed our daily routines and claimed the lives of over 100,000 of our fellow Americans. In the midst of a pandemic that disproportionately impacts minorities, one of our nation’s oldest pandemics has resurfaced yet again. Multiple incidents of racist violence have shaken the country to its core, from the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota to Monday’s killing of David McAtee. The past week’s protests arise from incredible, justified anger at systemic racism. Black lives matter.
“You don’t make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.”– Shirley Chisholm
Music executives Jamila Thomas and Brianna Agyemang have organized the music industry around #TheShowMustBePaused, calling the “multi-billion dollar music industry…that has profited predominantly from Black art” to “protect and empower Black communities.” The classical music industry has its own long history of racism and support of racist power structures, and in our musical world, in addition to profiting from Black art, we too often fail to recognize and celebrate Black musicians. Classical music has too often erected gates and gatekeepers to preserve a small, elite, white canon.
“We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community…Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.” – Cesar Chavez
Eureka Ensemble has been committed to equality and inclusion at every level since its inception. We create social change through music, in our work with communities and community leaders, but can only do that if we also create change in music. We are a small organization, and we are not perfect; there is always room for improvement. But we can try. Art reflects the environment in which it was created, but it can also change that environment.
We join hands with our Black brothers and sisters in the fight to dismantle systemic racism. We mourn together today, but tomorrow, we will celebrate Black voices in building a more just music industry and a more just world. As a primarily classical music organization, that will be our focus. We reaffirm our commitment to creating a home in music for all by programming composers of color in every Eureka performance and to support our musicians’ individual efforts to do the same.
For every hour of the day, we have gathered together links to either a) music by Black American composers created as a counter to the racism they faced; or b) information about Black-led/Black-founded groups working towards inclusion and equality.
“It is my honest belief that to contribute to the betterment of something, one can do it best in the medium through which one expresses one’s self most easily.” – Marian Anderson
And what can you do? There are protests, of course, but there are countless other ways to help. You can write to your elected officials, educate yourself on the history and origins of racial issues, check in on your friends of color, or share your own beautiful, world-changing art. We create social change through action, together.
“You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.” — Malcolm X
With peace, love, and solidarity,
The Eureka Ensemble Team
The work towards a more just world cannot last one day alone. We are committed to celebrating musicians of color by performing compositions by composers of color at every public performance.
For every hour of the day, here is a list featuring incredible music by Black composers, or the work of a Black-led/Black-founded group and Black musicians who work towards inclusion and equality.
1. Joel Thompson, “Seven Last Words of the Unarmed,” performed by the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra and the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club
2. Adolphus Hailstork, “American Guernica,” performed by the Nevada Wind Ensemble
3. Florence Price, “Ethiopia’s Shadow in America” performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales
4. William Grant Still’s Symphony № 2 “Song of a New Race”, performed by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra
5. Margaret Bonds’ “Ballad of the Brown King,” a Christmas cantata in honor of King Balthazar with words by Langston Hughes, performed by the Dessoff Choirs & Orchestra
6. Undine Smith Moore’s “Scenes from The Life of a Martyr,” a dedication to the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr., performed by the Detroit Symphony
7. Zenobia Powell Perry’s “Cycle of Song on Poems by Paul Laurence Dunbar,” from the album Music of Zenobia Powell Perry: Art Songs and Piano Music
8. Trevor Weston’s gorgeous retelling of the folk tale “The People Could Fly”
9. Tania León’s “Indígena,” featuring Continuum, conducted by the composer
10. Daniel Bernard Roumain’s A Boy Called King, performed by the Boston Children’s Chorus
11. Evan Williams’ Dead White Man Music, performed by Urban Playground Chamber Orchestra
12. Jonathan Bailey Holland’s “American Voices,” performed by the UT Austin Trombone Choir, featuring words of Marion Anderson, Rosa Parks, Shirley Chisholm, Coretta Scott King, and Barbara Jordan
>>>CLICK HERE TO LISTEN<<<
13. Jessie Montgomery’s take on the US national anthem, “Banner”, performed by the Catalyst Quartet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q23Njl6ZmLs
14. William Levi Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony, performed by the American Symphony Orchestra (our artistic adviser would like to draw your attention to the stunning 2nd movement in particular)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJX1jCmCev8
15. Julius Eastman’s “If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=LTEBlyCNAuA
16. Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s 4-movement “Lamentations,” for solo cello, performed here by our very own Co-founder/Senior Adviser Alan Toda-Ambaras!
intro starts at 10:10, music at 13:10 (after a Bach prelude)
17. Hale Smith’s celebration of the famous Haitian revolutionary leader, “Toussaint L’Ouverture, 1803”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCOqwVk2uUI
18. Nkeiru Okoye’s searing musical memorial to unarmed Black men killed by police, “Invitation to a Die-In”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-GVwxDfb_0
Black-led and/or founded groups
We switch our focus now to Black-led or Black-founded groups and ensembles, because once music is created, it also needs to be supported, performed, and celebrated!
