Voices of the Unarmed: Justice, Love, Resilience
February 14, 2025, 8 PM
Carolina Theatre, Durham
SOLD OUT – ALL TICKETS ARE RESERVED! TICKETS WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR.
On February 14th, 2025, the Durham Symphony Orchestra (DSO) will present an uncommon tale of love—a unique and personal tribute to the healing power of art and community. This free concert, “Voices of the Unarmed,” offers an impassioned program weaving together music, text, and conversation as it explores the themes of justice, love, and resilience. The event features Joel Thompson’s “Seven Last Words of the Unarmed” (for chorus and orchestra), a poignant tribute to unarmed Black men killed by police and authority figures. The NC Central Kizazi Alumni Chorale and the Concert Singers of Cary join the DSO for this performance. The DSO will also foreground the work of Durham’s nationally recognized HEART program as it features the premiere of a work by critically acclaimed composer Herman Whitfield III. Whitfield, a young African American composer, was killed by Indianapolis police while experiencing a mental health crisis in his home. The hope-filled words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will close the program in William Henry Curry’s stirring “Eulogy for a Dream:” “We will. . . transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.”
Audience members are invited to a post-concert conservation with the artists.
Concert Program
Francis Scott Key/Arturo Toscanini: The Star-Spangled Banner.
Aaron Copland: “Fanfare for the Common Man”
This familiar and exhilarating evocation of hope and possibility was composed as the US entered the Second World War.
World Premiere of “Overture-Fanfare in G Major”
Composed by Herman Whitfield III, this inspiring work honors resilience and healing in the wake of tragedy.
Joel Thompson: “Seven Last Words of the Unarmed”
A poignant tribute to unarmed Black men killed by police and authority figures performed by the DSO with the Concert Singers of Cary and NC Central Kizazi Alumni Chorale.
Intermission
Bedrich Smetana: “The Moldau”
Smetana wrote this work summoning the sounds of the river flowing through Czechoslovakia while completely deaf. Upon its premier in 1875, it immediately came to symbolize the identity of the Czech people.
William Henry Curry: “Eulogy for a Dream,” narrated by Jason McKinney
A stirring tribute inspired by the hopeful words of
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
.