BRATTLEBORO — The Brattleboro Music Center EOS (Educate. Open. Strengthen.) Project's first performance of the 2021-2022 season draws its inspiration from Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes' iconic “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.”
The concert is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. at the BMC at 72 Blanche Moyse Way. Tickets at $20 are available at bmcvt.org.
As analyzed in a news release, “The Hughes poem recounts ancestral connections from days long since past, cultural roots that extend wide and deep/past and present, and the rich histories witnessed - and made - by African diasporic peoples.”
“The rivers, both real and symbolic, take on meanings larger than their already expansive size.”
Curated by BMC's inaugural Artist-in-Residence Ashleigh Gordon, the event will invite audience members to draw their own personal meanings to water and cultures.
In developing the program, which includes original films by Daniel Callahan depicting the Connecticut River and other bodies of water around Brattleboro, Gordon shared in the news release that she was inspired by “the Connecticut River and my ruminations on the stories it witnessed, people it carried, and connections it fostered traveling through four different states.”
“Elaborating on those thoughts, this program explores similar ideas with other bodies of water and African diasporic people,” she continued.
In addition to Gordon, on viola, performers will include Sarah Briggs and Greg Diehl, violins; Wayne Smith, cello; and Susan Dedell, piano.
The EOS Project is a direct response to questions about social justice as it pertains to the world of classical music and institutions such as the BMC.
Developed and led by faculty member Heather Sommerlad, EOS is envisioned as a collaborative effort of BMC Music School faculty and other local musicians to actively seek out and intentionally study and perform music by composers who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, as well as composers who identify as anything other than cisgender male.
Proof of vaccination or negative results of a COVID-19 PCR test within 72 hours is required for admittance to events at the BMC. Masks must be worn at all times while at the venue.
For more information, call 802-257-4523.