This work is one of three works from Songs of Isolation, a project aimed at illuminating important voices in this immensely challenging time across the globe. The three composers writing solo cello works for this project are Andrea Casarrubios, Stephanie Ann Boyd, and Carlos Simon.
SEVEN (2020) by Andrea Casarrubios is a tribute to the essential workers during the global COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to those who lost lives and are still suffering from the crisis. The piece ends with seven bell-like sounds, alluding to New York City’s daily 7PM tribute during the lockdown – the moment when New Yorkers clapped from their windows connecting with each other and expressing appreciation for those on the front lines.
Thomas Mesa, cellist Andrea Casarrubios, composer and cellist
Monday Music: Tarek Yamani: King Matar
Don’t Miss This Encore of “Some Old Black Man”!
About a month ago I wrote my impression of the University Musical Society’s (University of Michigan) video presentation of James Anthony Tyler’s Some Old Black Man. This presentation is again available to stream on demand from March 1 – 12, 2021…and is really a don’t miss event! Here are the details:
For three weeks in Fall 2020, the creative team for this digital theater production quarantined in Ann Arbor, rehearsing and putting together this production under strict coronavirus safety protocols.
In Some Old Black Man, Calvin Jones (Wendell Pierce), a hip, coolly intellectual African-American college professor, moves his 82-year-old ailing but doggedly independent father, Donald Jones (Charlie Robinson), from Greenwald, Mississippi into his Harlem penthouse. The play begins with an argument over what to eat for breakfast, then turns into a generational clash over race, opportunity, and a decision that Calvin made years ago. Donald’s grumpiness is peppered with disturbing outbursts, revealing bits of his past, informed by growing up Black and poor in the South. Donald is wary that he isn’t seen by his gifted, accomplished son as being good enough, and Calvin resents Donald as being a self-righteous, relentlessly tough parent. Father-son strife escalates when their generational conflict is lensed through civil rights. Some Old Black Man frames racial prejudice with a bold probity rarely confronted and dramatized
And here is the link to UMS where you can register to stream the video and view two trailers related to the performance. This is going on my calendar for a second viewing!