Welcome to this evening’s Durham Symphony performance. You may be wondering what this program is all about, especially on Valentine’s Day. Neuroscientists tell us that in the evolution of homo sapiens, music predated language. There is indeed something indescribably primal in music’s expressive power, the feelings it arouses, the stories it tells. This is as true of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony as it is of Charlie XCX’s Brat. It’s no stretch to assert that music can take us into the full range of human experience and emotion with all its joy and sorrows, contradictions, nuances, and mysteries.

Tonight’s program explores the extraordinary duality of living with injustice, loss, and grief while finding the wellspring of empathy, love, and resilience to go forward. Joel Thompson’s “Seven Last Words of the Unarmed” brings us squarely into this space. Prompted by the killings of seven unarmed black men killed by police and other authority figures, the work is described by Thompson as “…a sonic diary entry expressing my fear, anger, and grief in the wake of this tragedy,” yet it also awakens our empathy for these men, asking us to consider their humanity.

Both Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man and Herman Whitfield III’s Overture-Fanfare in G Major also inhabit this duality. Copland wrote the work in 1941 as the United States entered the Second World War, a period of unimaginable terror, fear, and loss. And yet his fanfare has become a world-renowned anthem—an exhortation to our unbridled capacity for making a better, more humane world for all. Herman Whitfield III’s work is similarly exuberant, positive, and uplifting—a glimpse of what his future might have been. Yet in 2022, this black, award-winning composer with advanced degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and the Cleveland Institute of Music died unarmed (in his home) at the hands of responding police when his parents tried to summon medical help for a mental health crisis. He was 40 years old.

Though written in 1875 by Czech composer Bedrich Smetana, “The Moldau” shares profound resonances with our theme. As the second movement of his suite Má Vlast (“My Country”), its evocation of the Vltava River running through the Czech Republic was so redolent of Czech folk melodies and rhythms that it was instantly beloved and became the country’s unofficial national anthem. It was such a symbol of Czech identity that in 1939, when the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia, they banned its performance—though they were not entirely successful. Its composition was an equally profound act of love and resilience: Smetana composed “The Moldau” directly after his swift and terrifying descent into total deafness.

No one better epitomizes the capacity to look clear-eyed toward despair and injustice than Martin Luther King–yet his ultimate message is still a brighter future: “We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop….” In 1985 Coretta Scott King suggested to our very own Music Director William Henry Curry that he set this and other speeches by King to an orchestral composition. His Eulogy for a Dream closes tonight’s program. Curry has led a life inspired by King’s messages of justice, love and resilience, and he has led the Durham Symphony with the conviction that the orchestra holds a central place in fulfilling King’s dream.

This evening is the culmination of the Durham Symphony’s Voices of the Unarmed project that has included Joel Thompson’s visits with students in two Durham Public High Schools and a professional development session with DPS teachers. DSO board members and Maestro Curry have worked closely with new community partners in creating a forum for the discussion of the themes of this program as they impact Durham’s residents.

Voices of the Unarmed: Justice, Love, Resilience is made possible by generous grants from The Clinton Family Fund, Duke University Chapel and Duke Arts, North Carolina Arts Council, and the City of Durham’s Special Events Funding.

The Durham Symphony in the Community

Like many DSO programs created by Music Director William Henry Curry, Voices of the Unarmed: Justice, Love, Resilience reveals important themes closely connected to our time and place. This program in particular highlights challenges faced daily in Durham associated with gun violence, public safety, and mental health. Shortly after deciding to program Seven Last Words of the Unarmed (which vividly foregrounds these issues), we decided to include a work by Herman (“Tres”) Whitfield III, who had been mentored by our Maestro William Henry Curry.  In 2022, this award-winning, young Black composer died unarmed in his home at the hands of responding police when his parents sought medical help for him by dialing 911 amidst his  mental health crisis.  He was 40 years old.

The urgency, depth, and relevance of this music impelled us to explore how our program could find resonance in Durham beyond the concert.   We invited composer Joel Thompson to come to Durham—not just for the concert, but also to appear in Durham Public Schools to talk about the work, its musical structure, and its meaning. In the days before the performance, Joel will have worked with students at Durham School of the Arts and Jordan High School. He will also have met with DPS teachers in a professional development session to discuss how the work can be utilized in the classroom.

DSO principal violist and board member Ken Rogerson alerted us to the existence of the Durham Community Safety Department’s acclaimed HEART program—the Holistic Empathetic Assistance Response Team.  HEART’s crisis response units connect people experiencing non-violent mental health crises or quality-of-life concerns with the right care by sending the type of responders most closely matched to the residents’ needs.  Through other DSO board members, we learned about a range of people and organizations also working in the multiple dimensions of these challenges: Religious Coalition for a Nonviolent Durham, Restorative Justice Durham, Health and Safety Committee of The Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, The Wilson Center for Science and Justice, The Duke Center for Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation, and Duke University Chapel.    

We invited our newfound partners to meet with us to explore how to amplify our program’s messages. This gathering led us to plan a community dinner and forum preceding the concert on February 14^th. One goal is to connect with the lived experience of Durham residents, seeding new relationships and conversations that may lead to a safer Durham and include future roles for the Durham Symphony.  We hope to explore further how music and the arts can strengthen our community.  More than fifty Durham residents will attend this event, including our partners and also (importantly) the people they serve.

As we look to the future, our hope and intent is wonderfully captured in William Henry Curry’s Eulogy for a Dream, Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, and Bedrich Smetana’s The Moldau.  Inasmuch as the pursuit of justice requires resilience and love in the face of loss, grief, and personal despair, so too can music be an inspiration–a beacon signaling the beauty of our shared humanity and lighting the way toward a healthier community.