THE TELLING
THE TELLING
Composed by Daniel Bernard Roumain
Directed by Dana Greenfield
Commissioned by FirstWorks
“The Telling” is a new collection of original live works by renowned Haitian-American composer, violinist, and activist Daniel Bernard Roumain. Through instrumental solos, dance, and chamber music, the artists reflect upon and respond to the forces of crisis and communion in our lives, telling stories of our anger, anguish, and enduring hope. Surrounded by singers, dancers, and strings, how can we, the living, honor the lost?
"Twin Stars: Diamond Variations for Dae'Anna" is the centerpiece of the program, incorporating movement for the first time. This complex chamber work by Roumain, with libretto by Marc Bamuthi Joseph, is a cry for racial justice and a searing artistic response to the killing of Philando Castile who was fatally shot during a traffic stop by a police officer in 2016 while driving with his girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, and her four-year-old daughter Dae'Anna.
A community town hall follows the performance, fostering community in a conversation around the intersection of classical music and the racial problems we face in society today. Is this the world we want to inhabit, and if not, what are we going to do about it?
“The stage may be our last bastion of democracy - a place where every voice can be heard and our musical diplomacy thrives.”
“The Telling” original works include:
“I Have Nothing to Do Except Love”
“They Still Want to Kill Us”
“Love is the Only Word Sweeter than Black”
“Twin Stars: Diamond Variations for Dae’Anna”
Featured artists at the FirstWorks 2022 Premiere include: Becky Bass, Shura Baryshnikov, Melvin Chen (Music Director), MusicWorks Collective, Daniel Bernard Roumain, Albert Rudolph Lee, Jay Breen, David Shocket and Victoria L. Awkward.
Photo Credit Jared Jorge
Photo Credit Jared Jorge
ABOUT DBR
Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) is a Black, Haitian-American composer who sees composing as collaboration with artists, organizations and communities within the farming and framing of ideas. He is a prolific and endlessly collaborative composer, performer, educator, and social entrepreneur. “About as omnivorous as a contemporary artist gets” (New York Times), Roumain has worked with artists from J’Nai Bridges, Lady Gaga and Philip Glass to Bill T. Jones, Marin Alsop and Anna Deavere Smith.
Known for his signature violin sounds infused with myriad electronic and African-American music influences, Roumain takes his genre-bending music beyond the proscenium. He is a composer of solo, chamber, orchestral, and operatic works, and has composed an array of film, theater, and dance scores. He has composed music for the acclaimed film Ailey (Sundance official selection); was the first Music Director and Principal Composer with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company; released and appeared on 30 album recordings; and has published over 300 works. He has appeared on CBS, ESPN, FOX, NBC, NPR, and PBS; and has been presented and collaborated with the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Kennedy Center, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Sydney Opera House. He was Artist-in-Residence and Creative Chair at the Flynn in Burlington, Vermont. Currently, he is the first Artistic Ambassador with Firstworks; the first Artist Activist-in-Residence at Longy School of Music; and the first Resident Artistic Catalyst with the New Jersey Symphony.
Roumain is an Atlantic Center Master Artist, a Creative Capital Grantee, and a Hermitage Artist Retreat Fellow. He has won the American Academy in Rome Goddard Lieberson Fellowship; a Civitella Ranieri Music Fellowship Award; two regional Emmy Awards for The New Look of Classical Music: Boston Pops Orchestra and Art is Essential: New Jersey Symphony; National Sawdust Disruptor Award; and the Sphinx Organization Arthur L. Johnson Award. He has been featured as a keynote speaker at universities, colleges, conservatories and technology conferences, and was the first ASU GAMMAGE Residency Artist. He has lectured at Yale and Princeton University and was a Roth Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Dartmouth College. He currently serves as a board member for the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (Vice Chair), the League of American Orchestras, and is a voting member for the Recording Academy GRAMMY awards.
A student of William Albright, Leslie Bassett, and William Bolcom, Roumain graduated from Vanderbilt University and earned his doctorate in music composition from the University of Michigan. He is currently a tenured Associate and Institute Professor at Arizona State University Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts.
Photo Credit Robert Torres
ABOUT DANA GREENFIELD
Dana’s passion for the performing arts began at a young age, ultimately distilling her obsession for a variety of mediums along with activism into her work as a theater + film director. Dana brings her theatrical experience and knack for collaboration to Sozo Artists in many capacities as a producer, nourishing the organic growth of artistic and creative projects across the company. Her work as a director has been seen throughout New York City as well as internationally, extending east to Romania and south to Buenos Aires. She spent years working under avant-garde titan Lee Breuer, and was invited to continue direction on his production A Coffin in Egypt after his passing. She brings her directorial prowess to Sozo, most recently directing DBR’s The Telling at FirstWorks, Providence. Between artistic and producing adventures, Dana tends to her garden in Brooklyn, NY.
Photo Credit Stephanie Poth