{"id":6018,"date":"2020-01-21T23:18:15","date_gmt":"2020-01-21T23:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/?p=6018"},"modified":"2020-01-27T23:25:09","modified_gmt":"2020-01-27T23:25:09","slug":"review-chicago-sinfonietta-in-seven-last-words-of-the-unarmed-a-sobering-potent-tribute-to-dr-king","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/review-chicago-sinfonietta-in-seven-last-words-of-the-unarmed-a-sobering-potent-tribute-to-dr-king\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Chicago Sinfonietta: In \u2018Seven Last Words of the Unarmed,\u2019 a sobering, potent tribute to Dr. King"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Chicago Tribune<\/a><\/p>\n

By Howard Reich<\/p>\n

Trayvon Martin.
\nEric Garner.
\nJohn Crawford.<\/p>\n

Three unarmed black men, among many, killed by police in notorious incidents that sparked nationwide debate and anguish.<\/p>\n

They were more than just headlines, though. To composer Joel Thompson, they were men executed for a very particular crime: their race.<\/p>\n

Thus Thompson penned \u201cSeven Last Words of the Unarmed,\u201d a haunting oratorio that received its Chicago premiere in Orchestra Hall on Monday night, not coincidentally on the national holiday celebrating the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.<\/p>\n

Bravo to the Chicago Sinfonietta for making Thompson\u2019s opus the centerpiece of its annual \u201cMLK Tribute Concert.\u201d It would have been very easy for the Sinfonietta to have served up an evening of inspirational fare (which was not lacking from this program). But by applying the combined forces of the orchestra and the Adrian Dunn Singers to Thompson\u2019s probing composition, the Sinfonietta chose to confront head-on the racism that Dr. King fought against.<\/p>\n

Like Dr. King, the seven men remembered in Thompson\u2019s composition died violently and too young. Unlike Dr. King, they were not symbols or icons \u2013 at least not while they were still breathing. In a way, that makes their deaths still more unfathomable.<\/p>\n

Thompson told the audience before \u201cSeven Last Words\u201d began that nothing these men did merited the death penalty.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

Sinfonietta\u2019s \u201cMLK Tribute Concert\u201d opened with assistant conductor Jonathan Rush and singer Kymberli Joye, his sister, performing a rousing arrangement of Patty Griffin\u2019s \u201cUp to the Mountain\u201d; Joye, the Adrian Dunn Singers and guest conductor Armstrong digging deeply into John Legend and Common\u2019s \u201cGlory\u201d (from the film \u201cSelma\u201d); and Sinfonietta music director Mei-Ann Chen presiding over a warmly stated symphonic arrangement of the spiritual \u201cDeep River.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chen closed the evening with the finale of Mahler\u2019s Symphony No. 2, \u201cResurrection,\u201d which featured sumptuous work from soprano Summer Hassan, mezzo-soprano Leah Dexter and the combined North Central College Concert Choir and the Roosevelt University Conservatory Chorus. The epic score taxed the Sinfonietta\u2019s resources, but conductor Chen shaped it to telling effect.<\/p>\n

Composer Thompson\u2019s \u201cSeven Last Words,\u201d however, gave this evening its prevailing message and will be remembered long after the rest has been forgotten.<\/p>\n

Read the full review.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Chicago Tribune By Howard Reich Trayvon Martin. Eric Garner. John Crawford. Three unarmed black men, among many, killed by police in notorious incidents that sparked nationwide debate and anguish. They were more than just headlines, though. To composer Joel Thompson, they were men executed for a very particular crime: their race. Thus Thompson penned … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3613,4692,3686,3612],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6018"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6018"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6019,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6018\/revisions\/6019"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/1374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opus3artists.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}