Dal Niente teams up with Chicago-based Black chamber music collective, D-Composed, for a free evening of music at the Beverly Arts Center. This is the fourth in a series of shared programs between Dal Niente and other respected Chicago artists, supported by a DCASE Chicago Artists Recovery Program Grant. This will be the first appearance by all of these artists at the Beverly Arts Center, a multifaceted not-for-profit arts organization showcasing dance, visual arts, music, film and theater on Chicago's South Side.
Set I: Ensemble Dal Niente
Roscoe Mitchell, Cards (2021) for oboe, bassoon, viola, cello, piano
Tania Leon, Mosaicos (2022) for bassoon and piano
Jessie Cox, At[ou]M (2021) for solo oboe
Roscoe Mitchell, Cards (2021) for viola, cello
performers: Andrew Nogal, oboe; Ben Roidl-Ward, bassoon; Caitlin Edwards, violin; Ammie Brod, viola; Juan Horie, cello; Winston Choi, piano
Set II: D-Composed
Nina Simone (arr. yelley taylor),Young, Gifted, & Black
Ahmed Al Abaca, Story Time Medley
Daniel Bernard Roumain, String Quartet No. 5 “Rosa Parks”
ii. Kap Ur Handz
Tomeka Reid, Prospective Dwellers
Jonathan Miller, The Home: Pain & Progression
Coleridge Taylor-Perkinson, String Quartet No. 1 “Calvary”
ii. Quarter note = 54
iii. Rondo: Allegro Vivace
performers: Caitlin Edwards, violin; Khelsey Zarraga, violin; Wilfred Farquharson, viola; Tahira Whittington, cello
About D-Composed:
Historians of art and culture may not currently take into full account that Black culture and creativity is a part of every musical institution's foundation that we currently see today.
D-Composed, a Black chamber music collective, exists to ensure that we never forget it.
Led by their mission to uplift and empower society through the music of Black composers, this Chicago based creative incubator acts as a bridge between the past and present to the future of representation, music centered experiences, and the communal power of Black composers and their impact.
Music is not just solely entertainment, for this collective music is a storytelling tool that educates and inspires. Unapologetically Blackness is at the core of their experience, protecting, nurturing and sustaining, is on the other side. In the middle lies their impact - the people who make up these experiences, whether as a musician, a creative, or a community member.
As a Black ensemble that focuses exclusively on the works of Black composers, D-Composed ensures to partner with institutions that have a proven commitment to communities of color. They’ve collaborated with Apple, Theaster Gates’ Rebuild Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, The Kennedy Center, Kaufman Music Center in New York, and TEDx. While merging the worlds of contemporary music and classical, they’ve also collaborated with Jamila Woods during her appearance on The Late Show with Stepen Colbert and hip-hop artist Chance the Rapper.
The walls that exist to keep Black people out of America’s most beloved cultural institutions are meant to be scaled and then dismantled by the creative architects who are bold enough to build against the status quo.
The meaning of the collective’s name embodies that boldness in action.
D–COMPOSED /DEE-KUHM-POHZD/ – ADVERB - Our creative process that involves the breaking down of preconceived notions, barriers, and opinions of what people think classical music should be to re-writing our own narrative to reflect what the classical world could be.