Art-Song Offering

A bit of news related to our developing interest in words and music. (Look for our first art-song feature in our November issue, coming soon!)

Kevin Simmonds, whose poems appeared in 9.2 and will also appear in 11.1 (spring/summer 2014), is the composer of a musical piece being performed this weekend and next in San Francisco. The piece concerns the life and death of Emmett Till, the African American teen who in 1955, after allegedly whistling at a white woman, was kidnapped from his uncle’s home, brutally beaten, shot in the head, and thrown into the Tallahatchie River. The photograph of his open casket became an iconic image that circulated throughout the world, and Emmett Till immediately became a symbol of the Civil Rights Movement.

Simmonds also wrote half the text of this unusual and powerful presentation, which, utilizing a combination of Japanese Noh and religious oratorio, includes poetry, musical settings of poetry, characters, a chorus, and an instrumental ensemble—all in a concert presentation.