Pain and Trauma are difficult to process. One composer, Blake Allen, found a way to release it with his new album The Shards Of An Honor Code Junkie, produced by No Reverse Records. It’s a musical retelling of his difficulty coming out as a gay man while a Mormon and a student at Brigham Young University.
There is an album composed by composition professor Carlos Simon called Requiem For The Enslaved on the Decca label.
What calamity!! Composer Bill Banfield, who’s also a retired professor, an author, mentor and all around happy guy NOW, says life has thrown him a couple of curves. Covid and a symphony score lost for 20 years. Now though, things are back on track. The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra performed his “lost” symphony this year and there’s more. Hear all the “deets”.
It looks like French composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges might be getting rediscovered. This 18th century contemporary of Mozart has been lost to history almost since his lonely death in Paris in 1799. The Winston-Salem Symphony, with Music Director Timothy Redmond, is performing a play with music about this Black man, written by playwright Bill Barclay called The Chevalier – A Voice To Be Heard.
Several people encouraged Barclay to pursue this play with music and the Winston-Salem Symphony has joined with two groups to produce it.