Crosstown Theater
Friday, August 19, 2022
Doors at 7pm | Performance at 7:30pm

Tickets: pay-what-you-can
PURCHASE TICKETS / RSVP HERE

ICEBERG New Music, Blueshift Ensemble, and acclaimed poet Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz present “The Peace Chronicles (Part 2),” an evening of music and spoken word focused on finding peace in a violent and chaotic world. Blueshift Ensemble will perform works by Alex Burtzos, Derek Cooper, Jack Frerer, Jessica Mays, Max Grafe, as well as new music by Becky Turro. Dr. Sealey-Ruiz will read from her recent book The Peace Chronicles.

After the performance, the poet, performers, and composers will join audience members for drinks and discussion.

ABOUT THE MUSIC

The Peace Chronicles is a two-evening program of poetry and music created as a collaboration between composer collective ICEBERG New Music (www.icebergnewmusic.com) and award-winning poet and scholar Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz (www.yolandasealeyruiz.com). The program premiered to sold-out audiences in New York City in Spring 2022. Each of the newly-composed works included in The Peace Chronicles is inspired by a poem from Dr. Sealey-Ruiz’s book of the same name. In performance, the words and music are juxtaposed next to one another, inviting listeners to find connections between the different media. The programs are structured dramatically, the poems tracing a path from conflict through reconciliation and peace.

ABOUT ICEBERG NEW MUSIC

ICEBERG New Music is a collective of ten young composers based in New York City. ICEBERG’s mission is to promote the idea that substance, not surface, is the heart of music creation and perception. The collective’s ten member composers hail from different schools of thought and cultivate radically different sounds — from musical theater and indie rock to avant-garde sounds and electronic installations — but their contrasting musical languages belie a shared emphasis on structure and depth of meaning. When these artists compose for the same ensemble and present their works during a joint concert, the result is a glimpse into the ever-widening possibilities of art music in the twenty-first century.

ABOUT YOLANDA SEALEY-RUIZ

Dr. Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz is an award-winning Associate Professor at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research focuses on racial literacy in teacher education, Black girl literacies, and Black and Latinx male high school students. A sought-after speaker on issues of race, culturally responsive pedagogy, and diversity, Sealey-Ruiz works with K-12 and higher education school communities to increase their racial literacy knowledge and move toward more equitable school experiences for their Black and Latinx students. Sealey-Ruiz appeared in Spike Lee’s “2 Fists Up: We Gon’ Be Alright”, a documentary about the Black Lives Matter movement and the campus protests at Mizzou. Her co-authored book [with Dr. Detra Price-Dennis] Advancing Racial Literacies in Teacher Education: Toward Activism for Equity in Digital Spaces will be published in April 2021.

ABOUT BLUESHIFT ENSEMBLE

Blueshift is a Memphis-based contemporary chamber music ensemble dedicated to bringing artists and audiences together through artistic collaboration. By programming both new and existing classical repertoire alongside multi-genre collaborations, Blueshift aims to connect a wider audience to today’s classical music. Members of Blueshift are involved in almost every corner of the Memphis music community, from performing in the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, recording in the studio, teaching at the University of Memphis and Rhodes College, playing in your favorite local bands, and composing original music for film. Founded by flutist Jenny Davis and cellist Jonathan Kirkscey in 2016, Blueshift aims to bring classical music out of the concert hall and into the community.

This programming is made possible in part thanks to an Organizational Development Fund grant from New Music USA.