Panel & Symphony Hall concert celebrate resistance and resilience

Boston University School of Music presents Symphony Hall concert and panel co-sponsored BU Arts Initiative discussing the role of artists in moments of social change and protest

The School of Music at Boston University College of Fine Arts presents a special panel discussion in collaboration with BU Arts Initiative. The School of Music’s spring concert at Symphony Hall will accompany the panel and showcase repertoire composed in the spirit of protest and social change.

Aligned with the University’s memorialization of the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a BU alumnus (GRS’55, Hon.’59), who was assassinated fifty years ago in April 1968, The Art of Protest panel discussion and Symphony Hall concert explore themes of protest, resistance, and resilience.

Artists and academic leaders including Dr. Harvey Young (Dean of the College of Fine Arts), Kirke Mechem (renowned composer, whose work Songs of the Slave will be performed in its New England premiere at the concert), and Dr. Kerri Greenidge (BU alumna, co-director of African American Freedom Trail Project at Tufts University), examine the role of the arts and artists in social change in a panel on Friday, April 6.

The following Monday, Boston University Symphony Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, and Symphonic Chorus will perform at Symphony Hall. Works include Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber, Lincoln Portrait by Aaron Copland (featuring narration by Dr. Cornell Brooks, former NAACP president and visiting professor at Boston University), Music for Prague 1968 by Karel Husa, Songs of the Slave by Kirke Mechem, and Plain-Chant for America by William Grant Still.

“Each piece on this program links to a moment of social upheaval,” says Shiela Kibbe, director ad interim of the School of Music “and yet also speaks in a timeless way to broader issues of freedom, human rights, individual potential and cultural and societal responsibility.”

This event is free and open to the public. Tickets are required for admittance into Symphony Hall at www.bu.edu/cfa/symphonyhall.

Protest Without Words Panel

Friday, April 6, 2018 – 7pm
Boston University Photonics Auditorium (8 St. Mary’s St., Boston)

Panelists:

• Harvey Young, Dean of the College of Fine Arts
• Kirke Mechem, composer
• Kerri Greenidge, co-director of African American Freedom Trail Project at Tufts University

Moderator: Louise Kennedy, senior writer/editor for BU Development Communications, former senior producer for arts engagement at WBUR and arts reporter and critic at The Boston Globe.

Exploring the role of the fine arts in American culture’s history of protest, resistance, and resilience, the evening’s conversation will serve as prelude to the April 9th Symphony Hall concert repertoire. Co-sponsored by the BU Arts Initiative.

Symphony Hall Concert

Monday, April 9, 2018 – 8pm
Symphony Hall (301 Massachusetts Ave., Boston)

• Boston University Symphony Orchestra
  Neal Hampton, conductor
  Samuel Barber, Adagio for Strings
  Aaron Copland, Lincoln Portrait (Dr. Cornell Brooks, narrator)
• Boston University Wind Ensemble
  David Martins, conductor
  Karel Husa, Music for Prague 1968
• Boston University Symphony Orchestra and Symphonic Chorus
  Miguel Angel Felipe, conductor
  William Grant Still, Plain-Chant for America
  Kirke Mechem, Songs of the Slave (Soloists – Michelle Johnson, soprano & Brian K. Major, baritone)

Read more in Spark, and at bu.edu/cfa/symphonyhall.