Music in Time

John Kennedy, Director and Host

Program

Selections from Radical Acceptance Joy Guidry (b. 1995)

I. “Just Because I have a Dick Doesn’t Mean I’m a Man” II. “Inner Child” III. “How to Breathe While Dying” IV. “Grace”

Joy Guidry, bassoon, voice, electronics Jessie Cox, percussion

FESTIVAL HALL

May 29, 5:00pm

1 hour, 15 minutes Performed without an intermission

Please find song texts on page 106.

Evil’s Peak Mikhail Johnson (b. 1989)

I. “Det Tu hEvribadi” (Death to Everybody) II. “Det Tu Di Chrch” (Death to the Church) III. “Det Tu Di Stiet” (Death to the State) IV. “Det Tu Di Caman an nat so Caman” (Death to the Common and not so Common)

Departure Duo: Nina Guo, soprano; Edward Kass, double bass

Alongside a Chorus of Voices Jessie Cox (b. 1995)

Kamna Gupta, conductor Members of Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra: Abigail Hong, violin; Hana Cohon, cello; Edward Kass, double bass; Viola Chan, flute; Casey Kearney, oboe; Barret Ham, clarinet; Joy Guidry, bassoon; Hannah Culbreth, horn; Morgen Low, trumpet; Liam Glendening, trombone; Lucas Sanchez, percussion; Wesley Ducote, piano

This performance is made possible in part through funds from the Spoleto Festival USA Endowment, generously supported by BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America.

JESSIE COX (composer, percussion) is one of the world’s most brazenly experimental composers. Cox makes music about the universe and our future in it. Through avant-garde classical, experimental jazz, and sound art, he has devised his own strand of musical science fiction—one that asks where we go next. Cox’s music goes forward. When he describes it, he compares it to time travel and space exploration, likening the role of a composer to that of a rocket ship traversing undiscovered galaxies. He is influenced by a vast array of artists who have used their music to imagine futures, and takes Afrofuturism as a core inspiration, asking questions about existence, and the ways we make spaces habitable. Known for its disquieting tone and unexpected structural changes, his music steps into the unknown, and has been referred to by The New Yorker as a “nebulous and ever-expanding sound world that includes breathy instrumental noises, mournfully wailing glissandi, and climactic stampedes of frantic figuration.”

DEPARTURE DUO is a soprano/double bass duo comprised of Nina Guo and Edward Kass. Committed to expanding the repertoire for this “high-low” combination, they commission new works and breathe life into existing pieces. Their commissioning work has received recognition from Chamber Music America and New England Conservatory. Recent commissions include Katherine Balch, John Kennedy, Emily Koh, and Sarah Gibson. They have been featured at Yellow Barn, Omaha Under the Radar, I Care If You Listen, and more. They previously appeared in recital at Spoleto Festival USA in 2018. Their debut album comes out in September on New Focus Recordings.

JOY GUIDRY (composer, bassoon) Radical self-love, compassion, laughter, and the drive to amplify Black artmakers comprise the core of Joy Guidry’s work. Based in New York City, Guidry holds degrees from the Peabody Conservatory and Mannes School of Music. They have performed with the Dance Centre Kenya Ballet Orchestra, International Contemporary Ensemble, and Alarm Will Sound, and have been a featured soloist in the opera Fear is their Alibi (Prototype, 2021). They have been commissioned by National Sawdust, Long Beach Opera, JACK Quartet, and the I&I Foundation, and featured at Spoleto Festival USA and the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Guidry is a finalist for the 2021 Berlin Prize for Young Artists. They founded Sounds of the African Diaspora, a competition and commissioning platform for composers from the African diaspora that offers resources to foster new, innovative music.

KAMNA GUPTA (conductor) is an American prize-winning conductor experienced in operatic, orchestral, and choral repertoires. Conducting engagements in 2022 includes In Our Daughter’s Eyes with LA Opera; Zolle with the International Contemporary Ensemble, Jungle Book with The Glimmerglass Festival; Dark Sisters with Temple University; and The Ritual of Breath is the Rite to Resist at the Dartmouth Hopkins Center for Arts. Gupta will also join Spoleto Festival USA as an assistant conductor for the production of La bohème. Additional recent company credits include the Royal Opera in Versailles, Seattle Opera, Beth Morrison Projects, Sarasota Opera, Opera Saratoga, Tapestry Opera, and American Lyric Theater.

MIKHAIL JOHNSON (composer) is one of Jamaica’s most promising pianists and composers. Johnson’s unique style has resulted in several commissions from Departure Duo, Transient Canvas, fivebyfive, the David Bruce 5 Composers 1 Theme series, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Texas Tech University, and Bowling Green State University. His music has been featured in Wire Magazine London, Dallas Opera TV, and the David Bruce 5 Composers 1 Theme series. Johnson has also been chief adjudicator for several international music competitions. Johnson holds degrees from Texas Tech University, Bowling Green State University, and Northern Caribbean University. This is Johnson’s compositional debut at Spoleto Festival USA.

JOHN KENNEDY (Spoleto Festival USA Resident Conductor and Director of Orchestral Activities) has been a change-maker in music for over 30 years, leading acclaimed performances and premieres worldwide of opera, orchestral, ballet, and new music. In recent seasons at the Festival, Kennedy has conducted operas by leading composers of our time including Francesconi, Glass, Lachenmann, Lim, Huang Ruo, Saariaho, and others. Kennedy is a prolific composer whose works have been performed worldwide; his family opera The Language of Birds will have a new production by Canadian Children’s Opera Company in Toronto in June. This summer, he will lead West Edge Opera in the US Premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s opera Coraline.

THE SPOLETO FESTIVAL USA ORCHESTRA serves as a backbone to the Festival’s programming, appearing in many different configurations as part of opera, symphonic, choral, chamber, and contemporary performances. Comprised of early career musicians, the Orchestra is formed anew each year through nationwide auditions. Alumni of the Orchestra can be found in orchestras throughout the world, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Concertgebouw Orchestra, LA Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic, and many others.