BSO Announces a Free Chamber Music Concert Curated by BSO Composer Chair Carlos Simon

The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) announces that the Boston Symphony Chamber Players (BSCP) will perform a free concert on Sunday, September 29 at 3 p.m. at Union United Methodist Church in Boston’s South End neighborhood. The program, curated by the inaugural BSO Composer Chair Carlos Simon, includes works by Simon, Jessie Montgomery, Damien Geter, Dave Ragland, and Jasmine Barnes—all members of the collective of composers known as "The Blacknificent 7.” Simon will accompany several pieces at the piano.

Three solo and chamber works by Simon are on the program, the first BSCP concert of the 2024-25 season: move it, for solo flute, to be performed by new Principal Flute Lorna McGhee; between worlds, for solo cello, to be played by BSO Principal Cello Blaise Déjardin, and his 2023 composition Giants for wind quintet.

The concert includes three chamber pieces by Grammy-winning composer Jessie Montgomery, whose critically acclaimed works Starburst and Rounds have been performed recently by the Boston Symphony. She is represented here with her compositions Strum, for string quintet, and Rhapsody No. 1, for solo violin, and with her arrangement of the spiritual, "I Want to Go Home", for soprano and string quintet.

Damien Geter’s woodwind quintet I Said What I Said will be performed as part of this program. A celebrated bass-baritone, Geter is currently Richmond Symphony’s Composer-in-Residence through 2026 and serves as Interim Music Director and Artistic Advisor at Portland Opera. Geter’s major new opera, Loving v. Virginia, based on the true story of Mildred and Richard Loving and the landmark Supreme Court decision, premieres with the Richmond Symphony and Virginia Opera in May 2025.

Also on the program are two works for soprano soloist accompanied by Simon at the piano: a recent work by Jasmine Barnes (“America’s Mandatory Pottery Class” from Might Call You Art), and an arrangement by Dave Ragland of the classic spiritual “Steal Away." An acclaimed vocalist and educator, Barnes is also the composer of five operas. She has received commissions from several distinguished organizations, including the New York Philharmonic, Washington National Opera (in celebration of the Kennedy Center's 50th anniversary), Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Ragland is a four-time Emmy nominated composer, vocalist, pianist, and conductor based in Nashville, Tennessee.

Statement from Carlos Simon, BSO Composer Chair:

“I am excited to work with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players to present music by some of the most dynamic and highly accomplished African American composers of my generation in a church with longstanding ties to Boston’s Black community. During the pandemic, Jasmine Barnes, Damien Geter, Jessie Montgomery, Dave Ragland, and I connected through a Facebook Live talk show called #KikiKonversations, created and hosted by soprano Karen Slack who described it ‘as a way for artists and industry leaders to connect during a time when the entire performing arts sector had been hit with devastating loss.’ Since then, we have continued to collaborate and lift each other up as a collective known as ‘The Blacknificent 7,’ a group which also includes Joel Thompson and Shawn Okpebholo. In curating this free chamber music program, I chose pieces that present a small snapshot of the musical language and style of each of these trailblazing artists. Three of my own works are included, and it will be a thrill and an honor for me to hear them performed by extraordinary principal players of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.”

Statement from Chad Smith, BSO President and CEO:

"We are pleased to open the Boston Symphony Chamber Players’ 2024-25 season with a free program curated by our inaugural Composer Chair Carlos Simon. Carlos has selected a range of his own compositions paired with compelling new works and arrangements by some of today’s leading Black composers. We are honored to present this thought-provoking chamber program in a historic church with deep ties to the Black community."

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