This concert serves as a protest, an act of resistance to bills currently under consideration in

several U.S. states that aim to ban or significantly curtail the teaching and discussion of critical

race theory, LGBTQ+ issues, and antisemitism in public schools. Banned books that grapple

with these issues serve as the backbone and inspiration for the concert, which consists of five

new commissions, each by a different contemporary composer and inspired by a title of their

choosing.*

Richard Brooks: And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell for piano, violin, cello, clarinet, percussion, and narrator 

Laura Jobin-Acosta: New kid by Jerry Craft for piano, violin, cello, clarinet, and baritone

Laura Kaminsky: Read Dangerously by Azar Nafisi for piano, cello, and clarinet

Tamar Muskal: Maus by Art Spiegelman for piano, violin, cello, and electronics

Damian Norfleet: The Bluest Eye by Tonie Morrison, for clarinet, and baritone, responded by the whole ensemble improvisation  

Louis Goldlford: Truth is What Is, inspired by Lenny Bruce texts, for voice, piano, violin, cello, clarinet, percussion, and marching machine

*Venue entrance at 111 Amsterdam between 64th and 65th