Kathy’s #REQUIEMSTORY

Katherine FitzGibbon, Artistic Director

In an "alternate universe," today would have been the world premiere of Damien Geter's groundbreaking work, An African American Requiem. Damien's work is a powerful tribute to victims of racial violence against African Americans, from lynchings to police brutality. We need this work. We needed it when Damien wrote it, and sadly, we still need it. Ahmaud Arbery. Brionna Taylor. 

When we see injustice in the world, we speak out against it. As a musician, the way I process things and the "pulpit" I can use is musical performance. I've struggled these last two months with my feelings of loss — while recognizing that many other people have experienced loss on a vastly more significant scale than my own. But there is still loss; I have been part of the team of people bringing this work to life, raising funds, building awareness, for the last few years. I had conducted several choir rehearsals before we had to disband due to COVID. I "met" this work, movement by movement, as Damien was writing it, and I saw over and over how its very existence was galvanizing our community.

There is a lot we have lost by not performing this work today. (And we are comforted by the knowledge that we WILL perform this work in the future!) We've lost, for now, our opportunity to use Damien's extraordinary music to respond NOW to racial violence against African Americans. We've lost, for now, the intentional community of choral singers that has come together, from all races and ethnicities, for what felt to us like a higher purpose. We've lost, for now, the incredible energy from our community partners on the African American Requiem Advisory Board who were working to create an entire curriculum around this concert, to build momentum in young people and Black Student Unions around the region, and (as Ombrea Moore at SEI said), to create Wakanda in the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. 

But today is also a celebration. This music exists, and our hundred and ten voice choir has these amazing musical scores in our homes. We are still ready. The music is alive and is already changing us. We just have to wait a little longer for it to change our audience. 

One of my friends was reflecting this week about the way we can choose to identify and amplify the good things, the beautiful, the positive even against a backdrop of anxiety or loss. She asked, what is this? Is it grace? Is it hope? It's not just keeping a positive attitude about what may come, but it's choosing to see the beautiful things NOW. 

So, today, on what would have been the world premiere of An African American Requiem, I choose to see and embrace these truths. Damien has composed a work that is already doing what he set out to do. It is changing us. We have created a choir that never existed before, and we are brought together by our shared passion for this music and this message. We are forming new friendships. We are doubling down on our commitment against injustice. And we sense this shared energy and support from everyone who would have been in the audience tonight, and from our friends at the Oregon Symphony and AllClassical Portland. Can this seed of beauty and grace that already exists sustain us through our difficult time until it reaches its full flowering at its later world premiere? I know it can.