On the day of “World Music Day” (June 21st), the musicians in residence at the Fondation des États-Unis in Paris presented a virtual concert in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States and across the globe. Their hope is to offer a healing space for music and reflection, while connecting a musical response to direct action. The participating musicians have included links to donate to relevant foundations and initiatives dedicated to fighting racism and injustice. In addition, they would like to showcase the work of three African-American musicians: Duke Ellington, Robert Nathaniel Dett, and Betty Jackson King.
Links to Donate
1. National Bail Fund Network COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund
Starting May 30th, the Emergency Response Fund is prioritizing supporting bail for protest support across the National Bail Fund Network. Every day, community bail & bond funds raise money to free our friends and neighbors from local and county jails as well as immigration jails. This is always urgent work as jails, prisons, and immigration jails have always been sites of violence and death. The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated this public health crisis.
2. The National Police Accountability Project
This organization seeks to educate and inform the public about issues relating to police misconduct, provide information resources for non-profit and community groups who work with victims of police abuse, support legislative reform efforts aimed at raising the level of police accountability, and create a forum for legal professionals and community organizations to come together and creatively work to end police misconduct.
3. The Sylvia Rivera Law Project
All Lives don’t Matter until Black Lives Matter. Black Lives don’t Matter until Black LGBTQ+ Lives Matter. The Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP) works to guarantee that all people are free to self-determine their gender identity and expression, regardless of income or race, and without facing harassment, discrimination, or violence. SRLP is a collective organization founded on the understanding that gender self-determination is inextricably intertwined with racial, social and economic justice. Therefore, we seek to increase the political voice and visibility of low-income people and people of color who are transgender, intersex, or gender non-conforming. SRLP works to improve access to respectful and affirming social, health, and legal services for our communities. We believe that in order to create meaningful political participation and leadership, we must have access to basic means of survival and safety from violence.
The Program
Duke Ellington (1889-1974)
In a Sentimental Mood
Elias Rodriguez, clarinet and Daniel Schreiner, piano
Robert Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943)
Adagio Cantabile from Cinnamon Grove
Daniel Schreiner, piano
Betty Jackson King (1928-1994)
In The Springtime
Solange Adamson, soprano and Daniel Schreiner, piano
About the Musicians
Lyric soprano Solange Adamson sings a variety of operatic roles in the US and Europe. A student of Vladimir Chernov and Olga Toporkova, she began studies this fall at École Normale de Musique Alfred Cortot, in the Cycle de perfectionnement. An avid performer of new music, she collaborated with composer Gabrielle Owens to create a song cycle based on the 13th century poetry of Beatriz de Dia which premiered in 2019. With Opera UCLA, she created the roles of Sor Andrea in Carla Lucero’s opera Juana, and the Queen in Nicki Sohn’s The Emperor’s New Clothes. In the 2017/18 season, she performed the roles of Indiana Elliott in Virgil Thompson’s The Mother of Us All, Dardano in Handel’s Amadigi, both with Opera UCLA, and the Abbess in Puccini’s Suor Angelica with the Center for Opera Studies in Italy.
Clarinetist Elias Rodriguez made his national solo debut at the age of 16, after performing on a live broadcast of NPR’s « From the Top. » He has since appeared in international music festivals throughout the Americas and Europe, from the Grafenegg Festival in Austria to teaching masterclasses in Cali, Colombia. He is an alumnus of the New York based ensemble, «The Orchestra Now,» with which he has performed as a soloist on New York public radio, recorded a CD on Hyperion Records, and played a concert series at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York City. Elias was awarded the Harriet Hale Woolley Scholarship and an artist residency at the Fondation des États-Unis.
A musician, composer, and interdisciplinary artist of diverse interests, Daniel Schreiner is continuing to fashion an eclectic career. Recent collaborative engagements include concerts with members of the JACK Quartet at New Music on the Point in Vermont; joint recitals of Debussy and Ligeti Etudes with Shuhui Zhou in New York and at Bard College; and performances as guest alumnus at Williams College’s Iota Festival of New Music. Daniel is a founding member of KnoxTrio, a newly-formed flute, cello, and piano trio dedicated to experimental contemporary repertoire, whose successful first season commissioned three world premieres by living composers responding to the environment and climate change. A recipient of the Harriet Hale Woolley Scholarship from the Fondation des États-Unis, Daniel currently lives in Paris, France, studying at La Schola Cantorum with Billy Eidi.