Miller Theatre Presents Courtney Bryan Composer Portrait
Miller Theatre's Courtney Bryan Composer Portrait on September 12 features three recent chamber works by the 2023 MacArthur Fellow, performed by International Contemporary Ensemble and Quince Ensemble.
Miller Theatre presents its Courtney Bryan Composer Portrait on September 12, opening the 25th season of its renowned Composer Portraits concert series at Columbia University. The concert is a full-evening immersion into the 2023 MacArthur Fellow’s music, accompanied by onstage conversations with the acclaimed composer-pianist about her creative process.
> September 12: Courtney Bryan Composer Portrait at Miller Theatre
International Contemporary Ensemble and Quince Ensemble join forces to perform three recent chamber works by Bryan: DREAMING (Freedom Sounds) (2023); Blessed (2020), featuring Bryan on piano; and Requiem (2019). The program explores themes that appear in much of Bryan’s oeuvre, including freedom, hope, faith, and life.
DREAMING (Freedom Sounds) is a 20-minute work for a large ensemble and two voices—performed here by Damian Norfleet and Alice Teyssier—that meditates on the idea of freedom within and beyond systems, incorporating texts by figures like Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, and George E. Lewis. The second movement, "We Dissent," features excerpts from US Supreme Court dissenting opinions on issues like affirmative action and LGBTQ rights.
Blessed for voice and piano, with film by Tiona Nekkia McClodden, was originally commissioned for the Opera Philadelphia Channel in 2020. The “highly effective score” (Philadelphia Inquirer) weaves together musical recordings and film footage from New Orleans, New York, and Philadelphia. Created as a response to the milestone events of 2020—the uprising in response to police brutality against Black men and women, the November election—Blessed reflects upon the Christian Bible’s avowal that the meek will one day “inherit the earth.”
Requiem for four sopranos and chamber ensemble is a powerful five-movement work bridging end-of-life rituals from a spectrum of traditions, including the Anglican Church Order for the Burial of the Dead, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, Neo-shamanist dying rituals including the “Great Death Spiral,” and New Orleans jazz funeral celebrations of life.
Concert Information
Thursday, September 12 at 7:30pm ET
Columbia University School of the Arts
Miller Theatre | New York, NY
More info
Damian Norfleet, voice
Alice Teyssier, voice
Courtney Bryan, piano
International Contemporary Ensemble
Quince Ensemble
Rebekah Heller, conductor
ALL-COURTNEY BRYAN PROGRAM
DREAMING (Freedom Sounds) for large ensemble and two voices (2023)
Blessed for voice and piano (2021) with film by Tiona Nekkia McClodden
Requiem for four sopranos and chamber ensemble (2019)
Photo: Taylor Hunter