SDSU Music Collaborates with San Diego Master Chorale
“Art carries the power to open our hearts with issues that our minds might otherwise resist,” said Eric Smigel, Chair of Arts Alive SDSU.
Exploring the emotions of tragic loss, the San Diego Master Chorale and SDSU Symphony Orchestra unite for a night of powerful music. The concert, entitled “Truth and Reconciliation” will be held on Saturday, Oct. 19, at 7:30 p.m at the College Avenue Baptist Church and includes a pre-concert discussion panel at 6:30 p.m.
The concept of “Truth and Reconciliation” was designed by John Russell, Director of the San Diego Master Chorale and Michael Gerdes, the Director of the SDSU Symphony Orchestra.
The program features three works of choral-orchestral musical selections by composers dealing directly with tragedy, including the west coast premiere of the fully orchestrated version of Joel Thompson’s “Seven Last Words of the Unarmed,” Francis Poulenc’s “Litanies a la Vierge Noir,” and John Adams’s “Mother of Man from Naive and Sentimental Music.”
There will be a pre-concert talk at 6:30 p.m. at the concert venue with guest composer Joel Thompson, Bonnie Reddick, Lecturer in the Department of Africana Studies, and Michael Gerdes, Director of the SDSU Symphony Orchestra, and John Russell, Director of the San Diego Master Chorale.
In addition to the pre-concert discussion, there will be an interdisciplinary panel discussion and open forum, “Seven Last Words of the Unarmed: Art and Racial Injustice” with Bonnie Reddick, Joel Thompson, and Burrel Vann, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice in the School of Public Affairs. This is a free event hosted by Arts Alive SDSU in the Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union Theatre on Oct. 17 from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m.
“Gerdes and Russell created a thoughtful program around Thompson’s work, inviting everyone who shares the experience to listen to each other with compassion and empathy,” said Smigel.
“In this concert, we’re presenting music that confronts the tragic loss of life. “Seven Last Words of the Unarmed” by Joel Thompson deals directly with the individual tragedies of seven African American men. The audience is left to ponder and discuss the ramifications of these tragedies on our society as a whole,” said Gerdes.
The concert creates opportunities for the San Diego Master Chorale and SDSU Symphony Orchestra to collaborate and showcase both organizations.
“It has always been valuable for the Master Chorale to partner with larger institutions in San Diego,” said Russell. “An academic partnership is really wonderful, it’s a nice way to overlap and unify to perform.”
Russell said that he is also excited to give students an opportunity to see how to continue music as a passion beyond academia, even if it is not their chosen profession.
For more information and tickets visit https://www.sdmasterchorale.org/concerts.
The content within this article has been edited by Lizbeth Persons.
