Performers dressed in white holding large candle-like cylinders created an air of reverence, at the beginning of “The Gathering: A Collective Sonic Ring Shout,” a moving colossal production with words and music that guided the audience beyond the struggles of Black people in America, recently presented at the Kennedy Center on June 1.
National Black Theatre’s Executive Artistic Director Jonathan McCrory was the creative visionary and director of a brilliant storytelling event.
“What we were trying to tackle is so massive,” said McCrory. “[We wanted] to find a way for Americans to reconcile its original sin and the way Black folks can exceed beyond our wildest imaginations irrespective of what America needs to face.”
McCrory, a native Washingtonian and a Duke Ellington School of the Arts graduate, orchestrated a team that included Mahagony L. Browne, a Kennedy Center’s Next 50 fellow, who was the virtual narrator. Browne, through her compositions, led the production through moving scenarios. For instance, in the composition “Say Her Name,” Abby Dobson, an artist-in-residence with the African American Policy Forum, led an acknowledgment with names projected across the stage, of Black women who have died due to injustice.
Joel Thompson, composer-in-residence with the Houston Grand Opera, gave audiences “Seven Last Words of the Unarmed,” an extraordinary chorale piece.
Composer and lyricist Troy Anthony took a packed Kennedy Center Opera House through a meditation and breathing session, while audiences heard uplifting songs of faith.
A 2023 MacArthur Fellow and currently Composer-in-Residence with Opera Philadelphia, Courtney Bryan opened the second part of the evening with her composition “Sanctum for Orchestra and Recorded Sound,” which began with an ominous tone then went into some jazz bass riffs.
Toshi Reagon, who grew up in Washington, D.C., with singers BIGLovely and dancer Maleek Washington, performed the native Washigntonian’s “My Name, A Reflection of Home.”
Before she sang, Reagon gave a powerful rationale about voting.
“We have so much to do and can it start with us?” said Reagon. “Voting is not an emotional act. It is business for a country that started on business, using the currency of our people on the gorgeous planet Earth.”
“Amen!” by Kennedy Center Composer-in-Residence Carlos Simon‘s sprawling orchestral composition took the audience through every genre of music that could be traced to African roots. The brass section had so much power, and the string section sounded like insects buzzing. The execution was riveting.
The finale from Nona Hendryx, a veteran and respected composer and lyricist, performed “Heaven, Grace, We Rise!” a compelling piece that made the audience sit up and tune in. Known as a member of the icon groups Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles and for her solo work, Hendryx belted out her song with the strength for which he has been known.
All of these musical performances were accompanied by the American Composers Orchestra conducted by Chelsea Tipton, II and the NEWorks Voices of Inspiration chorale under the leadership of choirmaster of DC’s own Nolan Williams Jr.
The audience left “The Gathering: A Collective Sonic Ring Shout” and left the Opera House buzzing, talking about what they captured from the evening.
View the full performance on the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage website.
