String Awakening: CTS Juneteenth Orchestra

Concerts @ First and Challenge the Stats

present:

String Awakening: CTS Juneteenth Orchestra

String Awakening June 18, 7:00 p.m.

CTS Juneteenth Orchestra Navajo Vocable for Piano, No. 12

Connor Chee (b.1989)

Angelica Hairston, Harp; Student String Quartet Starburst

Jessie Montgomery (b.1981) CTS Juneteenth Orchestra

Ojis Azules

arr. Allan Lavalle Terry (b. 1978)

CTS Juneteenth Orchestra Sankofa

Tramaine Jones (b. 1982) Tramaine Jones, Violin

An Elegy: A Cry from the Grave

Carlos Simon (b.1986)

CTS String Quartet Thulani Vereen, Dance Four Novelletten for String Orchestra Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) III. Andante con moto IV. Allegro molto CTS Juneteenth Orchestra

Camerata en Guaguancó

Guido López Gavilán (b.1944)

CTS Juneteenth Orchestra Egbe Ayan, Afro-Cuban Orisha Percussion Ensemble

About Challenge the Stats Challenge the Stats (CTS) exists to empower BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) communities by equipping audiences and artists of color with the tools needed to advocate for justice both inside and outside of the concert hall. To date, CTS has impacted the lives of hundreds of artists through concerts, workshops, and other programing in Atlanta and across the nation. Challenge the Stats currently serves as the Collective in Residence at First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta. The CTS Juneteenth Orchestra is the first ensemble of its kind by Challenge the Stats with an aim of creating community and career altering support for BIPOC artists.

To learn more about Challenge the Stats and to support our continued work of empowering BIPOC artists, visit: https://www.challengethestats.org/

About the Concert Curators Challenge the Stats Founder: Harpist Angelica Hairston is known for her fiery performances and her passion for social justice. She launched Challenge the Stats in 2016 with a desire to advocate for BIPOC artists and create platforms that empower and uplift marginalized voices through the performing arts. In addition to her work with CTS, she serves as an Artistic Consultant for the Urban Youth Harp Ensemble and is an active harp educator, speaker, and global performing artist. She was recently celebrated as one of the youngest recipients of the 2019 Governor’s Award for the Arts & Humanities and the 2020 Atlanta Magazine’s Women Making a Mark Award; both awards recognizing her significant contributions to the state of Georgia’s civic and cultural vitality through excellence and service. As a 2021 Sphinx Organization MPower Grant recipient, Angelica was invited to the University of Ghana (Accra) to study the African origins of the modern day harp. She holds a Master of Music Industry Leadership from Northeastern University (Boston) and a Bachelor of Music from The Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto, Ontario).

Challenge the Stats Juneteenth Orchestra Artistic Director & Conductor: Verena Lucía Anders is a LatinX pianist, conductor, composer, vocalist and music educator. Verena is also the founder of Symphonic Revolution, an Atlanta-based chamber orchestra which advocates for diversity and inclusion, and performs affordable concerts in alternative venues. Verena was born in Berlin, Germany, of Chilean and Peruvian parents. After immigrating to the U.S., Verena began her training in music and dance at the age of four at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, MD and continued her music and dance studies at The Baltimore School for the Arts, University of Maryland, Alvin Ailey School for Dance, and the Catholic University of America. Verena currently serves as Director of Music at St James UMC, Atlanta, and Co-Director of Voices Found, a community chorus focused on social change. Mrs. Anders has performed as a CTS artist for “Rhythm of the Roots”, with the Atlanta Symphony Chorus and Chamber Chorus, and has served as Teaching Artist with the Atlanta Music Project, an El Sistema-based music education program. She currently lives with her husband, Will Buthod, in Atlanta, Georgia.

Featured Artists Conductor Verena Lucía Anders Violin 1 DuMarkus Davis Gordon Meeks+* Violin 2 Tramaine Jones* Chris Mosley Roland Saavedra+ Viola Shadwa Mussad* Lana Teko-Ahatefou Vincent Walton+

Cello Alana Bennett* Spencer Brewer Jonathan Walton+ Bass Jackie Pickett Harp Angelica Hairston Dance Thulani Vereen Percussion Ensemble Egbe Ayan - Lead by Enoch DeMar "Awoniyi"

* CTS String Quartet + Student String Quartet

About the Program Connor Chee is a Navajo composer and pianist. His collection of Navajo Vocables for piano was inspired by the vocables (chanted utterances) of the Navajo people. Tonight we will hear an arrangement of Navajo Vocable No.12 for harp and strings; the harp accompanies with sweeping runs while the bowed strings call out the chanting melodies.

Jessie Montgomery’s Strum was originally composed for the Sphinx Ensemble in 2012. The Sphinx Ensemble is the premier string orchestra of the Sphinx Organization, a social justice-based organization which promotes Black and LatinX musicians on the classical concert stage. Montgomery describes her inspiration- “This brief one-movement work for string orchestra is a play on imagery of rapidly changing musical colors. Exploding gestures are juxtaposed with gentle fleeting melodies in an attempt to create a multidimensional soundscape. A common definition of a starburst, ‘the rapid formation of large numbers of new stars in a galaxy at a high rate enough to alter the structure of the galaxy significantly,’ lends itself almost literally to the nature of the performing ensemble that premiered the work, the Sphinx Virtuosi, and I wrote the piece with their dynamic in mind.”

About the Program Ojos Azules is an example of the Huayno, a traditional style of music and dance from the Andean region of South America. It is still practiced today by the Quechua peoples, especially in Peru, Bolivia and Chile. Tonight’s arrangement was written by Peruvian conductor, educator and arranger, Allan Lavalle Terry.

Violinist and composer Tramaine Jones bends time as she uses a looper pedal to create instant recordings of her instrument while playing live. Her improvisatory performance of Sankofa reflects the metaphorical symbol used by the Akan people of Ghana depicted as a bird with its head turned backward taking an egg from its back. The concept expresses the importance of reaching back to knowledge gained in the past and bringing it into the present in order to make positive progress.

An Elegy: A Cry from the Grave is the work of American composer, Carlos Simon, in response to the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, and “to those who have been murdered wrongfully by an oppresive power.” This deeply contemplative piece uses a recurring motif to represent the “cry of those struck down unjustly.” And yet, the piece embraces moments of hope through consonance and bright harmonies.

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Novelletten for orchestra was composed at a time when the composer was gaining exposure and interest in both his own heritage and the plight of the African-American. Coleridge-Taylor’s newfound thirst for knowledge and music from the African Diaspora began influencing his own compositions. The Novelletten are elegantly composed in the Romantic style, while exploring new and colorful sounds from the ensemble.

Guaguancó is a style of rumba that is deeply rooted in Afro-Caribbean culture, music and dance. Composed for string orchestra by Cuban musician Guido López-Gavilán, Camerata en Guaguancó masterfully combines the fundamental rhythms of Afro-Cuban music and the melodic cries of the West African Yoruba tradition. We are honored to have percussion ensemble Egbe Ayan join us this evening to draw us into the fuller experience of this style.

Music and Arts Staff Dr. Jens Korndörfer—Director of Worship and the Arts, Organist Ms. Katie Patterson— Director of the School of Fine Arts, Assistant Director of the Arts Dr. Daniel Bara, Dr. Deanna Joseph—Co-Directors of the Choir and Orchestra Ms. Maya Negishi Mikimoto— Administrative Assistant for Music

Mr. Brendan Callahan-Fitzgerald— Director of the Children’s choirs Dr. Ana Baida—Director of the Carillon choir Victoria Shorokhova and Rontray Miller– Music Interns

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Orchestrator

Anonymous

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Concerts @ First presents September 23, November 11, January 20, February 17, April 21 12:00 P.M. Bach’s Lunch Series Co-presented with the Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta

With members of Atlanta Symphony, Atlanta Chamber Players, Vega Quartet Friday, September 16, 2022 8:00 P.M. Ukraine Benefit Concert With member of The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Vega Quartet, GSU University Singers, and more Friday, October 7, 2022 8:00 P.M. César Franck Anniversary Concert With David Coucheron, Julie Coucheron, and Jens Korndörfer Friday, November 4, 8:00 P.M. M5 Mexican Brass Ensemble Friday, November 19, 2022 8:00 P.M. Chopin Concert With Chopin Competition Prizewinner, Jakub Kuszlik Friday, December 2, 2022 8:00 P.M. Harp for the Holiday With Challenge the Stats’ Angelica Hairston, Mallory McHenry, Robbin Gordon Cartier Sunday, December 11, 2022 10:00 A.M. Christmas Concert– Handel’s Messiah First Presbyterian Church’s Choir and Orchestra Friday, March 17, 2023 8:00 P.M. Bach Celebration Ling-Ju Lai and Rachel Ostler Bach’s Goldberg Variations and more Sunday, May 21, 2023 3:00 P.M. Atlanta Chamber Players

Saturday, June 17, 2023 8:00 P.M. Challenge the Stats Celebrating Artists of Color

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