Around The Requiem: An interview with Damien Geter & Katherine FitzGibbon
“Being able to sit with Dr. Mitchell, Onry (a member of the choir), the conductor Bill Eddins, and the soloists—who are also some of my closest friends —it was just really special. To see my friends doing their thing—I felt very proud to have been able to bring them along on the journey—and to be able to take a moment to talk about it on camera…It was just great.”
As we look forward to the premiere of our short film, “Around the Requiem,” we reflect with some of the artists who made ”An African American Requiem” possible.
This week, Resonance Ensemble Artistic Director Katherine FitzGibbon and composer Damien Geter met for a conversation about Geter’s pivotal work, “An African American Requiem,“ his ongoing work with Resonance, and how Kathy and Damien’s partnership came to be.
Photo by Karen Pride
Kathy: As you know, Resonance premieres a short film later this month called “Around the Requiem.” I thought it would be interesting for us to talk about our partnership to give folks a sense of how Resonance got involved with your work and who we are together as collaborators. First, how did you get involved with Resonance Ensemble?
Damien: Well, I moved to Portland in 2015. And ironically, Kathy is the sister of a very good friend of mine from when I lived in Indianapolis. And when I moved to Portland, Resonance hired me as a singer.
Kathy: We loved having you sing with us! And you even decided to join our board – why?
Damien: Well, the mission of Resonance aligned with my own personal artistic goals and philosophy. I think that the work that Resonance does is important in the world because it uses art in one of the ways that art should be used, and that is to promote social causes. It was a natural fit for me to join the board. Since then, I’ve taken on the role of Artistic Advisor, alongside the great Shohei Kobayashi. We are currently working on season 2023-24, which is going to be amazing.
Kathy: Let’s talk about An African American Requiem. How did it feel composing and premiering it, knowing it was in the hands of Resonance?
Damien: Well, I knew it was in good hands. I could write anything that I wanted, and I knew that it was going to be fine because not only is the group politically astute, but also musically just a beast. I knew I could write whatever I wanted to.
Photo by Rachel Hadiashar
Photo by Rachel Hadiashar
Damien: What was it like for you, when you started rehearsing the piece?
Kathy: Honestly, it was a dream come true. It felt like a weighty responsibility because I believe in you so completely, and I believe in your music. And I felt and I knew in my bones that An African American Requiem was going to be a generational piece of music that could really transform the dialogue, certainly here in Portland, but also nationally. By the time we got to rehearsals in 2022, having had our interrupted attempt in 2020, we knew it was going to be live-broadcasted coast to coast and syndicated thereafter by All Classical Portland. We also knew we were going to be able to do it both with the Oregon Symphony in Portland and then with the Choral Arts Society of Washington at the Kennedy Center. I knew it had the potential to have a huge impact.
Damien: It felt good to know I could count on Resonance to do this right.
Kathy: Thinking back on the time you were composing it, I felt so honored that you had let me into the compositional process. I had seen it PDF by PDF as it was being born over the period of a couple of years, really. And I felt so much love for the music and such a belief in the music that I wanted to be sure the performance was worthy of it. The stakes were so critical, and I wanted to give everything possible. It's really, of the things I have done in my life besides having my family, the most important thing I've ever been attached to. Thanks for trusting me with it, Damien.
Photo by Rachel Hadiashar
Damien: Yeah, thanks for trusting me. Because really, I had not written anything on that scale before. Honestly, some of those moments just poured out of me. I'm not going to say that it was easy to write, but there were certain movements that... For example, The Confutatis. I wrote that in a day.
Kathy: Oh, my goodness.
Damien: And then once I had the idea for Lacrimosa, that took longer to write because it was a little bit more complicated, but it didn't take me very long to write.
Kathy: Some composers write the tune in a basic harmonization, and then later on, they go back and do the orchestral detail. The thing that surprised me about witnessing your process, was that it flowed out of you fully orchestrated. You heard the whole orchestral color in your imagination as you were writing and it was like you had the three-dimensional picture of what you wanted the music to be from the very beginning.
Damien: Yeah, the piece was pretty much fully formed as it went along. To think that it was supposed to be this little short Requiem originally, and then as I moved forward, it was just like, no, we actually need to say this.
Kathy: What did it feel like to you to sit at the world premiere in Portland with Resonance, with the Oregon Symphony, and with the soloists who are not only amazing artists, but your friends? Can you describe that feeling?
Damien Geter with Oregon Symphony President and CEO Scott Showalter and flutist Adam Eccleston backstage at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.
Photo by Rachel Hadiashar
Damien: Honestly, I was sitting in there and trying to listen to it as if I did not write it and just listen to it as an audience member. And I think I was pretty successful in doing that. But at the same time, when I was sitting there, it felt like I was in another world because the moment was there.
Also, just to see the impact that the piece has on people. After I conducted it [in January with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra], this woman came up to me and she was like, I just got to tell you, I grew up in a racist household. And she told me that the Requiem changed her heart. This was down in Texas. I was like, okay, that says a lot. So, we need to get this thing out in the world. I'm really honored to have been a vessel to make this. I have nothing to do with it, I just put the notes on the page.
Kathy: Do you remember the “Around the Requiem” filming? What was that like?
Damien: This was filmed on the Winningstad Theatre stage - two days before the actual premiere of the Requiem. Remember, the original premiere had been delayed for two years. The piece was finished two years before that. So there were all these years, literally, that had passed. And then it was suddenly actually happening — and to think the whole hall was sold out. That was really cool. I don’t remember exactly what we talked about, but I do remember it was filmed in the middle of a whirlwind week of rehearsals and interviews and I was feeling excited and emotional about everything.
Kathy: I remember that so well. I was so happy it was finally happening. Do you remember what sitting on that film set was like?
Around the Requiem cast on stage at The Winningstad Theatre - May 2022 Photo Courtesy of Oh! Creative
Damien: Yeah, so being able to sit with Dr. Mitchell, Onry (a member of the choir), the conductor Bill Eddins, and the soloists—who are also some of my closest friends —it was just really special. To see my friends doing their thing—I felt very proud to have been able to bring them along on the journey—and to be able to take a moment to talk about it on camera…It was just great.
Kathy: I am looking forward to watching it with you on May 21 and remembering some of this journey we’ve been on together. Thank you, Damien, for trusting Resonance with this historic work.
Damien: Thank you, Kathy, for believing in it. I knew it was in good hands with Resonance Ensemble, and I was right.
Attendance for Around the Requiem on May 21st is free, but registration is required. To register today, or for more information, visit our event page.
