By HWM
This Millennium Stage event was only live-streamed of the performance on June 1st, 2024, in the Opera House in Harlem, New York.
Through orchestral, choral, gospel, and soul choral music, this one-night-only event was the signature celebration for The Kennedy Center’s Conflux partnership with National Black Theatre (NBT), which ran from May 26 – June 2, 2024.
The Gathering: A Collective Sonic Ring Shout took audiences on a sonic quest produced by the National Black Theatre and The Apollo. Taking place in the Opera House at The Kennedy Center, “The Gathering” centered on the soul of Black folks and the heart of America’s brilliant and bitter present.
With Creative Concept and Direction by NBT’s Executive Artistic Director, Jonathan McCrory, and featuring 80 members of the American Composers Orchestra conducted by Chelsea Tipton, II, and 48 members of the NEWorks Voices of Inspiration chorale under the leadership of choirmaster Nolan Williams, Jr., this night featured the DC premiere of Seven Last Words of the Unarmed by Joel Thompson alongside Carlos Simon’s Amen! and Courtney Bryan’s Sanctum.
In conjunction with these pieces, the night was curated in the African tradition of call and response to include original works by genre-defying Black artists such as Abby Dobson, Toshi Reagon, Troy Anthony, and Nona Hendryx.
The Gathering: A Collective Sonic Ring Shout was originally performed to a sold-out audience at The Apollo in Harlem, New York, in 2022.
This performance was co-produced by the National Black Theatre and The Apollo in association with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and was an external rental presented in coordination with the Kennedy Center Campus Rental Office.
Photo credit: Nona Hendrix, Apollo.
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