SOUND PROJECTIONS
AN ONLINE QUARTERLY MUSIC MAGAZINE
EDITOR: KOFI NATAMBU
FALL, 2022
VOLUME TWELVE NUMBER ONE
SOUND PROJECTIONS
AN ONLINE QUARTERLY MUSIC MAGAZINE
EDITOR: KOFI NATAMBU
FALL, 2022
VOLUME TWELVE NUMBER ONE
Featuring the Musics and Aesthetic Visions of:
BAIKIDA CARROLL
(September 3-9)
BILLY DRUMMOND
(September 10-16)
BOBBY MCFERRIN
(September 17-23)
ALBERT KING
(September 24-30)
CLORA BRYANT
(October 1-7)
DEAN DIXON
(October 8-14)
DOROTHY DONEGAN
(October 15-21)
BOBBY BLUE BLAND
(October 22-28)
CARLOS SIMON
(October 29-November 4)
VALERIE CAPERS
(November 5-11)
CHARLES MCPHERSON
(November 12-18)
ROLAND HAYES
(November 19-25)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_Simon_(composer)
Carlos Simon (composer)
Carlos Simon (born 1986) is an African-American composer of Western classical music.
Born in Washington, D.C.[1] and raised in Atlanta, Simon is the son of a preacher[2] and grew up in a household where he was forbidden to listen to anything other than gospel music;[3] he has described gospel's improvisatory nature as a critical influence in the development of his own compositional style,[2][3] alongside the more formal elements of the work of such composers as Ludwig van Beethoven and Johannes Brahms.[2] Beginning at the age of ten he played piano for Sunday services at his father's church, at which point he began formal piano lessons as well.[3] Later in life he spent time as keyboardist and musical director for R&B artists Angie Stone and Jennifer Holliday.[4] He completed degrees at Morehouse College and Georgia State University before attending the University of Michigan for doctoral studies with Michael Daugherty and Evan Chambers. Formerly on the music faculty of Spelman College and Morehouse College, in 2019 he became an assistant professor in the Department of Performing Arts at Georgetown University.[5][6]
Simon's music is informed by his interest in social justice issues, and frequently incorporates activist themes in his work; such pieces include Elegy for string quartet, honoring the memories of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Eric Garner,[5][6] and Requiem for the Enslaved, in which African-American spirituals are combined with the Latin mass and elements of hip hop to tell the story of the 1838 sale of slaves to discharge the debts of Georgetown University.[7][8] Other compositions are inspired by the work of visual artists, such as Bill Traylor and Romare Bearden.[9]
In 2021, Simon received the Sphinx Medal of Excellence from the Sphinx Organization, becoming only the second composer to receive the award;[10] that same year he joined the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as composer-in-residence.[11] In 2018 he was named as a Sundance/Time Warner Composer Fellow by the Sundance Institute. Among the organizations from which he has received commissions and performances are the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera, the Philadelphia Orchestra, Washington National Opera, the Reno Philharmonic Orchestra, the American Composers Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra.[5][6][11]
Carlos Simon is a native of Atlanta, Georgia whose music ranges from concert music for large and small ensembles to film scores with influences of jazz, gospel, and neo-romanticism. Simon is the Composer-in-Residence for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
“My dad, he always gets on me. He wants me to be a preacher, but I always tell him, ‘Music is my pulpit. That’s where I preach,’” Carlos Simon reflected for The Washington Post’s ‘Composers and Performers to Watch in 2022’ list.
Having grown up in Atlanta, with a long lineage of preachers and connections to gospel music to inspire him, Simon proves that a well-composed song can indeed be a sermon. His compositions span genres – jazz, gospel, and contemporary classical music are noticeable influences – and can be found everywhere from film scores to concert music.
Simon is the current Composer-in-Residence for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and frequently writes for the National Symphony Orchestra and Washington National Opera, with the 2022 and 2023 season seeing premieres with Boston Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Brooklyn Art Song Society and Minnesota Orchestra – a large-scale tribute to George Floyd and the ongoing movement for racial justice.
These follow recent other commissions from the likes of New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic, and performances from Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, and American Ballet Theatre.
A “young composer on the rise, with an ear for social justice” (NPR), Simon’s latest album, Requiem for the Enslaved, is a multi-genre musical tribute to commemorate the stories of the 272 enslaved men, women, and children sold in 1838 by Georgetown University. Released by Decca in June 2022, this work sees Simon infuse his original compositions with African American spirituals and familiar Catholic liturgical melodies, performed by Hub New Music Ensemble, Marco Pavé, and MK Zulu.
Acting as music director and keyboardist for GRAMMY Award winner Jennifer Holliday, Simon has performed with the Boston Pops Symphony, Jackson Symphony, and St. Louis Symphony. He has also toured internationally with soul GRAMMY-nominated artist Angie Stone and performed throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Simon’s latest album, MY ANCESTOR’S GIFT, was released on the Navona Records label in April 2018. Described as an “overall driving force” (Review Graveyard) and featured on Apple Music’s “Albums to Watch”, MY ANCESTOR’S GIFT incorporates spoken word and historic recordings to craft a multifaceted program of musical works that are inspired as much by the past as they are the present.
As a part of the Sundance Institute, Simon was named as a Sundance Composer Fellow in 2018, which was held at the historic Skywalker Ranch. His string quartet, Elegy, honoring the lives of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Eric Garner was recently performed at the Kennedy Center for the Mason Bates JFK Jukebox Series. With support from the US Embassy in Tokyo and US/Japan Foundation, Simon traveled with the Asia/America New Music Institute (AANMI) on a two-week tour of Japan in 2018 performing concerts in some of the most sacred temples and concert spaces in Japan including Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Japan.
Simon earned his doctorate degree at the University of Michigan, where he studied with Michael Daugherty and Evan Chambers. He has also received degrees from Georgia State University and Morehouse College. Additionally, he studied in Baden, Austria at the Hollywood Music Workshop with Conrad Pope and at New York University’s Film Scoring Summer Workshop.
Requiem for the Enslaved
Carlos' debut album for Decca features a new work for spoken word, ensemble and piano honours the passing of the people bought and sold by university founders during the slave trade years
About the Album
"What does it mean if your body was never free?
What happens to thesoul of the slave if the shackles release?"
– Marco Pavé
Carlos Simon presents a multi-genre work, 'Requiem for the Enslaved'; a musical tribute to commemorate the stories of 272 enslaved men, women and children sold in 1838 by Georgetown University. Described as a 'rap opera', Carlos infuses his original compositions with African American spirituals and familiar Catholic liturgical melodies. Performed by the Hub New Music ensemble with Carlos at the piano, featuring and spoken word and hip hop artist Marvo Pave, and trumpeter MK Zulu. The album also includes 3 reflective bonus tracks based on their melodies featured in the Requiem.
Track List
1 I. invocation
2 II. lord have mercy (let us go)
3 kyrie
4 interlude (Issac ran away)
5 to be in that number
6 III. we all found heaven
7 IV. grant them rest
8 interlude (i got shoes)
9 remember me (spoken word interlude)
10 V. remember me
11 light everlasting interlude
12 VI. light everlasting
13 VII. deliver me
14 VIII. gloria
15 IX. shine upon them
16 X. in paradisium (into paradise)
17 light everlasting (solo piano version)
18 in paradisium (instrumental version)
19 we all found heaven (instrumental version)
Liner Notes
Sprinkled throughout the soil of Georgetown are the remains of what archeologists believe to be enslaved and freed Africans. Overrun burial sites are unearthed afresh with the acceleration of construction groundbreakings in Washington, DC – their teeth, skulls, and limbs have been found in the walls of historic homes.
Unbeknownst to many, Georgetown is nestled in the historically African American port section of the city. And one of the last standing institutions is a site on the Underground Railroad, an African American congregation called Mount Zion United Methodist Church.
Founded by 125 Black parishioners in 1816, Mt. Zion symbolizes a reckoning that has yet to be resolved. Since its founding, the congregants have offered education to African Americans and fought to maintain ownership of its historic buildings including a parsonage, a heritage center housed in a cottage, and two African American cemeteries: The Mount Zion and Female Union Band Cemeteries. It was there, among the dead in the Mt. Zion burial vault, that fugitive slaves would hide until it was safe for them to escape on the Underground Railroad. Indeed, the dead have a pact with the living both to guide safe passage and to bury the deceased so they may rest in peace. And yet, just beyond that holy ground are the unlayed dead.
The unrest of those dry bones and unquieted spirits in the ancestral lands of enslaved Africans is the gentrified landscape from which Georgetown University emerged into conversations about reparation. In 2016, Georgetown University divulged where the “bodies were buried” in its financial history as a beneficiary of chattel slavery. Founded as a Catholic institution, Georgetown University did not harbor fugitive slaves, but rather, purchased and sold the enslaved instead. In 2020, the majority of the Georgetown University student body voted in favor of establishing a reparations fund. The proceeds are designated for the descendants of 272 enslaved people who were sold by the Maryland Jesuits in 1838 for the price of $115,000 to rescue the university from bankruptcy. They were purchased to work on a savage Louisiana cotton plantation. To be sure, the United States of America and its founding corporations owe an accruing debt to the enslaved Africans who were brought by force to its shores through the transatlantic slave trade.
Carlos Simon arrived at the faculty of Georgetown University as a professor of composition, and sensing the signs of the times, he was inspired to respond with music befitting the moment. Offering honor, where honor is due to the enslaved, Carlos Simon’s Requiem for the Enslaved (2020) is commissioned by Georgetown University with support from the President’s Office and the committee for Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation with support from the Department of Performing Arts. After visiting that Louisiana Plantation and doing historical research, Simon infused the music of the Catholic Church and Negro Spirituals into an original composition. Undoubtedly a passion project for Simon, this work is set in the structure of a liturgical mass for the dead. Requiem for the Enslaved is a striking new multi-genre 50-minute original composition that explores the sacred and historical ideology revealed in the sale of those enslaved by Jesuits.
A composer raised in the Pentecostal Christian tradition, Simon draws from both his gospel music heritage cultivated in the academy of the Black church and his training in Western composition developed in U.S. conservatory. He taps into a robust gospel heritage in which composers such as James Hall have borrowed from the Catholic mass motifs of the Gregorian chant. Other composers have centralized gospel music idioms in the mass through the works of Robert Ray and Damien Sneed. Simon comingles those chants with references to “When the Saints Go Marching In” a hymn tune one might hear played by a second line funeral procession in New Orleans.
As a composer formed in Western written traditions, Simon also continues a long tradition of composers of African descent who have tackled the mass form in multi-genre techniques: Mary Lou Williams, David Baker, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor of England, Philip McIntyre, Lena McLin, Florence B. Price, Kim R. Harris, George Walker, Kevin Allen, and José Mauricio Nunes Garcia of Brazil, to name some.
Brilliantly, Carlos Simon packs the requiem with overlapping, multi-cultural meaning. Adapting the ten-movement requiem form, Requiem for the Enslaved unfolds in the following order: invocation; lord have mercy (let us go); interlude (Isaac ran away); we all found heaven; grant them rest; remember me; light everlasting; deliver me; gloria; and in paradisium (into paradise) ashe ́, shine upon them.
Simon features spoken word by rapper Marco Pavé, drawing from the West African griot and jali legacy of storytelling. His poetry is interwoven with the classical chamber ensemble, jazz trumpet, piano, and sample sounds from a church congregation. Also, the recording features the pioneering Boston-based new music ensemble “Hub New Music” with trumpeter Jared Bailey and spoken word artist Marco Pavé alongside Carlos Simon on piano. In addition, the album includes 3 reflective bonus tracks based on melodies featured in the requiem complete with music videos from the sessions – 1 solo piano track plus 2 duets with piano and trumpet. A significant symbol Simon uses to elide sonic worlds is through the sounding of the bell. At Georgetown, the bell signals the progression of the day By contrast, on the plantation, small bells were attached to instruments of torture to prevent the enslaved from escaping. The slave bell tower was for surveillance. The sound cued tasks such as mealtime, work, and to organize uprisings.
Requiem for the Enslaved is an unforgettable commemoration, marking eternal rest granted to the souls of these enslaved people and finally endowing their descendants with the sounds of restorative justice sonically sermonized by one of their darker brothers.
Carlos Simon, MM, DMA
- Orchestrator/Arranger
Dr. Carlos Simon is a native of Atlanta, Georgia whose music ranges from concert music for large and small ensembles to film scores, with influences of jazz, gospel, and neo-romanticism.
Simon was named as one of the recipients for the 2021 Sphinx Medal of Excellence. The Sphinx Medal of Excellence is the highest honor bestowed by the Sphinx Organization, recognizing extraordinary classical Black and Latinx musicians. Sphinx annually awards the Medals of Excellence to three artists who, early in their career, demonstrate artistic excellence, outstanding work ethic, a spirit of determination, and an ongoing commitment to leadership and their communities.
Simon’s latest album, MY ANCESTOR’S GIFT, was released on the Navona Records label in April 2018. Described as an “overall driving force” (Review Graveyard) and featured on Apple Music’s “Albums to Watch,” MY ANCESTOR’S GIFT incorporates spoken word and historic recordings to craft a multifaceted program of musical works that are inspired as much by the past as they are the present.
As a part of the Sundance Institute, Simon was named as a Sundance/Time Warner Composer Fellow in 2018, which was held at the historic Skywalker Ranch. His string quartet, Elegy, honoring the lives of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Eric Garner, was recently performed at the Kennedy Center for the Mason Bates JFK Jukebox Series. With support from the US Embassy in Tokyo and US/Japan Foundation, Simon traveled with the Asia/America New Music Institute (AANMI) on a two-week tour of Japan in 2018, performing concerts in some of the most sacred temples and concert spaces in Japan including Suntory Hall in Tokyo. Other recent accolades include being named a Composer Fellow at the Cabrillo Festival for Contemporary Music, winning the Underwood Emerging Composer Commission from the American Composers Orchestra in 2016, the prestigious Marvin Hamlisch Film Scoring Award in 2015, and the Presser Award from the Theodore Presser Foundation in 2015.
Recent commissions have come from the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera, Philadelphia Orchestra, Washington National Opera, Reno Philharmonic, the American Composers Orchestra, Arizona State University Symphony Orchestra, Irving Klein String Competition, Morehouse College celebrating its 150th founding anniversary, the University of Michigan Symphony Band celebrating the university’s 200th anniversary, Albany Symphony’s Dogs of Desire (American Music Festival) as well as serving as the young composer-in-residence with the Detroit Chamber String and Winds in 2016. Simon’s music has been performed by Tony Arnold, the Third Angle New Music Ensemble, Hub New Music Ensemble, the Asian/American New Music Institute, the Flint Symphony, the Color of Music Festival, University of North Texas Symphony Band, University of Miami Symphony Band, Georgia State University Wind Ensemble and many other professional performance organizations. His piece, Let America Be America Again (text by Langston Hughes) is scheduled to be featured in an upcoming PBS documentary chronicling the inaugural Gabriela Lena Frank Academy of Music. He has served as a member of the music faculty at Spelman College and Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia and now serves as Assistant Professor at Georgetown University.
Acting as music director and keyboardist for GRAMMY Award winner Jennifer Holliday, Simon has performed with the Boston Pops Symphony, Jackson Symphony, and St. Louis Symphony. He has toured internationally with soul GRAMMY-nominated artist, Angie Stone, and performed throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Simon earned his doctorate degree at the University of Michigan, where he studied with Michael Daugherty and Evan Chambers. He has also received degrees from Georgia State University and Morehouse College. Additionally, he studied in Baden, Austria at the Hollywood Music Workshop with Conrad Pope and at New York University’s Film Scoring Summer Workshop.
He is a member of many music organizations including ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers), where he was honored as one of the “Composers to Watch” in 2015 and will take part in the ASCAP Film Music Workshop in Los Angeles, California in 2019. Simon is also an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Music Sinfonia Fraternity and a member of the National Association of Negro Musicians, Society of Composers International, and Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honor Society. His compositions have been published by the Gregorian Institute of America (GIA) Publications and Hal Leonard Publications.
Carlos Simon’s professional webpage
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https://www.navonarecords.com/artists/carlos-simon/Carlos Simon
"Stylistically rich."
Carlos Simon is a versatile composer and arranger who combines the influences of jazz, gospel, and neo- romanticism.
His most recent accolades include winning the Underwood Emerging Composer Commission from the American Composers Orchestra in 2016, the prestigious Marvin Hamlisch Film Scoring Award in 2015, and the Presser Award from the Theodore Presser Foundation in 2015. Morehouse College commissioned Simon to celebrate its 150th founding anniversary in 2017.In addition during its 2015–2016 season, Simon was honored to received a commission by the University of Michigan Symphony band celebrating the university’s 200th anniversary. He now serves as a member of the music faculty at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia.
Simon’s music has been performed the Third Angle New Music Ensemble, Hub New Music Ensemble, the Asian/ American New Music Institute, the University of Michigan Symphony Band, American Composers Orchestra, Flint Symphony and many other performance organizations. During its 2015–2016 season, the Detroit Chamber String and Winds also named Simon as its young composer-in-residence. He now serves as a member of the music faculty at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia.
Acting as music director and keyboardist for GRAMMY Award winner Jennifer Holliday, Simon has performed with the Boston Pops Symphony, Jackson Symphony, and St. Louis Symphony. He has toured internationally with soul GRAMMY-nominated artist, Angie Stone, and performed throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Simon earned his doctorate degree at the University of Michigan, where he studied with Michael Daugherty and Evan Chambers. He has also received degrees from Georgia State University and Morehouse College.
Carlos Simon, Jr. is a member of many music organizations including ASCAP, where he was honored as one of the “Composers to Watch” in 2015. He is also an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Music Sinfonia Fraternity and a member of the National Association of Negro Musicians, Society of Composers International, and Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honor Society. His compositions have been published by the Gregorian Institute of America (GIA) Publications and Hal Leonard Publications.
https://www.kennedy-center.org/our-story/kc50/artists/carlos-simon/
Carlos Simon—Kennedy Center Composer-in-Residence
Composer and arranger Carlos Simon joins the Kennedy Center in 2021–2022 as its new Composer-in-Residence. During his three-year residency, Simon will compose and present music across artistic genres, act as the Kennedy Center’s leading ambassador for new music, and participate in ongoing Kennedy Center education, social impact, community engagement, and major institutional initiatives. To celebrate his appointment, the NSO recorded a concert of Simon’s works for the Center’s Digital Stage+ platform. The Orchestra will also play his Tales - A Folklore Symphony, March 3-5, 2022. Together with Kennedy Center Vice President and Artistic Director of Social Impact Marc Bamuthi Joseph, he has composed the opera it all falls down as part of Written in Stone for Washington National Opera, making its world premiere March 5-25, 2022.
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The Music of Carlos Simon | National Symphony Orchestra
NSO Principal Pops Conductor Steven Reineke leads the National Symphony Orchestra in a program of Carlos Simon's works, featuring commentary by Simon. Rehanna Thelwell of Washington National Opera's Cafritz Young Artists narrates Simon's piece Portrait of a Queen.
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Based on the book, I Really Like Slop!, and with libretto by Mo Willems, Carlos Simon’s 20-minute opera for young audiences premiered in 2021 with performances around the Washington, DC area on WNO’s Pop-Up Opera Truck.
More information at kennedy-center.org/slopera
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NSO Principal Pops Conductor Steven Reineke leads the National Symphony Orchestra in a program of Carlos Simon's works, featuring commentary by Simon. Rehanna Thelwell of Washington National Opera's Cafritz Young Artists narrates Simon's piece Portrait of a Queen.
2/2
Based on the book, I Really Like Slop!, and with libretto by Mo Willems, Carlos Simon’s 20-minute opera for young audiences premiered in 2021 with performances around the Washington, DC area on WNO’s Pop-Up Opera Truck.
More information at kennedy-center.org/slopera
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About Carlos Simon
Carlos Simon is a multi-faceted and highly sought-after composer whose music ranges from concert music for large and small ensembles to film scores with influences of jazz, gospel, and neo-romanticism. Recently announced as Composer-in-Residence at the Kennedy Center, Carlos’s commissioning highlights include premiere works with New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Washington National Opera. The Philadelphia Enquirer described his music as “perfectly engaging and propulsive.” Simon’s latest album, My Ancestor’s Gift, which was released in April 2018 on Navona Records, epitomises Simon’s work by incorporating spoken word and historic recordings alongside traditional classical music, crafting a multi-faceted record that speaks to audiences past and future. In 2017, Carlos Simon joined the inaugural class of the Gabriela Lena Frank Academy of Music. He then went on to be named a Sundance/Time Warner Composer Fellow in 2018, seeing him work at the legendary Skywalker Ranch, and he was a recipient of the Sphinx Medal of Excellence in 2021.
Related Events
March 3-5, 2022
Noseda Conducts a new Carlos Simon work
Under the direction of Gianandrea Noseda, the National Symphony Orchestra presents the NSO premiere of Tales - A Folklore Symphony by Composer-in-Residence Carlos Simon. Also on the program, two-time Grammy Award®-winning violinist James Ehnes plays Beethoven’s famous Violin Concerto.
March 5-25, 2022
Written in Stone
In four unmissable world premieres, creative teams Jason Moran and Alicia Hall Moran, Huang Ruo and David Henry Hwang, Kamala Sankaram and A.M. Homes, and Carlos Simon and Marc Bamuthi Joseph present intimate and interwoven stories that celebrate diversity and acknowledge the struggles of today’s America.
it all falls down
Music by Carlos Simon
Libretto by Marc Bamuthi Joseph
In this story of love and reconciliation, a father and son meet on opposite sides of a rally about same-sex marriage outside of the Supreme Court.
“This story is one that comes directly out of the Black American
Church experience. Historically, this monument has been a safe haven for
many in the African American community. It is a place to call ‘home’
and a village where one can be true to one’s culture without judgement.
it all falls down tells a different narrative of what happens when
certain groups within the tribe are isolated. Musically, I use
gospel-influenced idioms to reflect the music of the church with strong
lyrical writing to emphasize the emotional content of each of the
characters.”
—Carlos Simon
https://soundcloud.com/simoncarlos1
https://www.15questions.net/interview/fifteen-questions-interview-carlos-simon/page-1/
Part 1
Name: Carlos Simon
Nationality: American
Occupation: Composer
Musical Recommendations: Snarky Puppy, Emily King
Recent Events:
Carl Simon was awarded the 2016 Underwood Commission by the American
Composers Orchestra after participating in the 25th Annual Underwood New
Music Readings in June 2016.
Website: If you enjoyed this interview with Carlos Simon, you can find more information about him on his website.
When did you start composing - and what or who were your early passions and influences?
My father began pastoring a small congregation church in Atlanta in 1996. It was so small that there was no one to play piano on Sundays. At age 10, my parents enlisted me to play on Sundays and I began taking lessons. My teacher taught me how to learn songs “by ear” which is learning the music simply by listening and identifying chords. It was an unorthodox way of teaching because most teachers start with reading and technique, but looking back, this type of training helped me to hear and listen to music completely different from other musicians. It wasn’t long after that I started writing and teaching songs to the congregation. My early are linked to my family’s involvement in church.
For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and the transition towards your own voice?
I grew up listening and playing Gospel music. In fact, my parents
only allowed my siblings to listen to Gospel music; anything else was
forbidden. My uncles, who were church musicians, were my heroes! They
lived in Virginia and had been performing in their father’s church at an
early age. My family and I would take trips there during the holidays
and I would try to soak up as much musical knowledge as I could— Asking
questions, recording them playing (with my tape machine), and watching
them play. I would take what they taught me and try to emulate it, not
only in my playing, but also in my short compositions.
Gospel music,
like Jazz, is an improvisatory genre. You learn to feel the music, hear
what others are doing and respond to that musically. Improvisation has
allowed me to think freely and confidently about my musical ideas. It is
very easy to criticize one’s ideas and become paralyzed creatively by
filtering too much. The idea of accepting whatever ideas come has really
helped me to develop as an artist.
What were some of the most important creative challenges when starting out as a composer and how have they changed over time?
One of the most difficult challenges for me was being afraid that people were not enjoying my music. I spent so much time writing music that I thought others would enjoy, but rarely really enjoying the music myself. It was paralyzing. I realized that out of all the music that I wrote, I was only proud of one third of those works. Thinking retrospectively, what was different about those pieces was that they in some way resonated with my ideals and influences as a person. I strongly believe that the art a person creates is influenced by their beliefs, ideals and influences.
Tell us about your studio/work space, please. What were criteria when setting it up and how does this environment influence the creative process? How important, relatively speaking, are factors like mood, ergonomics, haptics and technology for you?
My workspace has been something that has evolved with me as a composer over time. I think it shows all of my stages as a creative artist. I’ve always been a “tech geek” so I have a lot of electronic gear that I have collected over the years. The center piece of my studio is my Mac desktop computer, which houses a variety of programs that give me the freedom to create freely. I use Logic Pro X to improvise and record ideas and if there are ideas that I like then I will refine them in Sibelius or Finale. Like any composer, I like my creative flow to be as streamlined as possible so those two programs have been mainstays in my work flow.
Could you take me through the process of composing on the basis of one of your pieces that's particularly dear to you, please? What do you start with when working on a new piece, for example, how do you form your creative decisions and how do you refine them?
I start with a concept that I try to understand completely and have an emotional/personal connection with it. Once that connection happens, I usually like to draw or map out the piece on paper using adjectives, a variety of scribblings representing feelings and an overall arch of the piece. This gives me a map or blueprint to follow. Doing this gives me a general idea of how I want the music to sound like, which will lead to improvising until I have several ideas to refine later. Feeling and emotion plays an integral part in the process. If I can feel a certain emotion while hearing my ideas then I believe someone else will too.
What, if anything, do you personally draw from the cosmos of electronic music and digital production tools that is inspiring for your daily practise? In how far do you see the potential for a mutual creative pollination between the two?
I think the 21st century composer has be technologically savvy in some way. Technology has really helped composers in creating new sounds. At the very basis, that’s what composers are: sound artists. Whether I am composing an electronic piece or an acoustic composition, my process almost always involves some electronic component. It’s not completely necessary but it having the skills for digital production has influenced my writing immensely.
How do you see the relationship between timbre and composition?
Color and texture are important. So I like to have an understanding of how to control timbre because it’s the backbone of any composition.
Time is a variable only seldomly discussed within the context of contemporary composition. Can you tell me a bit about your perspective on time in relation to a composition and what role it plays in your work?
I like to keep the listener engaged. That sometimes means having the piece to be the best length for the piece. It really depends on what I want to say with the piece.
What do improvisation and composition mean to you and what, to you, are their respective merits?
Improvisation for me is spontaneous composition. I use improvisation at the beginning of the process. It’s a way of freeing my ideas and being confident in the process.
Do you feel it important that an audience is able to deduct the processes and ideas behind a work purely on the basis of the music? If so, how do you make them transparent?
I would like audiences to understand what they are hearing by feeling. Although it is pretty cool to have someone notice small details or even recognize something I didn’t notice myself. I love when people can have their own interpretation of what is happening.
With more and more musicians creating than ever and more and more of these creations being released, what does this mean for you as an artist in terms of originality? What are some of the areas where you currently see the greatest potential for originality and who are some of the artists and communities that you find inspiring in this regard?
It’s more of an opportunity to learn and be exposed to what other people are doing. I love hearing and learning about new music, whatever the genre. We are all a part of an artistic collective. What is originality? It all comes from somewhere. The best we can do is to stay relevant by being socially conscious. There are a lot of great artists whose music reflect our time: John Luther Adams, Stevie Wonder, Joel Thompson to name a few.
How would you define the term “interpretation”? How important is it for you to closely work together with the artists performing your work?
Interpretation is translation of markings on a page to something that is transcendental. I try not to get to involved with interpretation of a performance. It’s important for me to let the performer execute what I have written. Collaboration with a performer during the compositional process would have helped to make my intentions as clear as possible on the page. I come from a background where individual interpretation is accepted so I welcome it with my music.
The effect of a piece doesn't merely depend on the performance of the musicians, but also on the place it is performed at. How do you see the relationship between location and sound? In how far do you feel the current system of concert halls is still the right one for your music – or for contemporary music in general?
I love the notion that my music could be performed in as many venues as possible. In fact, I would like to reach as many people as I can through music. I really don’t have a preference where it is performed.
What's your view on the role and function of music as well as the (e.g. political/social/creative) tasks of composers today - and how do you try to meet these goals in your work?
The goal of an artist is to be a voice for the present day society. My goal has been to have my music reflect the ideas and events of the time and hopefully make someone better.
Do you have a musical vision that you haven't been able to realise for technical or financial reasons – or an idea of what music itself could be beyond its current form?
I want to continue to create awesome music for awesome musicians and hopefully make someone better for it.
"It is very easy to criticize one’s ideas and become paralyzed creatively by filtering too much"
Video
Generations - Carlos Oliver Simon (2014)
I. Sow Good Seeds
II. The Last Days
III. Follow the Plan computer generated sounds
Program Notes
My patriarchal heritage shows three generations of preachers. My great grand father, Bishop Henry C. Brooks, who began preaching in 1925, my grandfather, Bishop Charles W. Hairston in 1968 and my father Bishop Carlos O. Simon, Sr. in 1994. I chose to use audio clips from past sermons after discovering old LP and several old cassette tapes of sermons from my great grandfather and grandfather. I strove to use musical elements that would enhance the message of each proclamation while giving a personal insight to each man. Sow Good Seeds features several sounds that give the impression of something blooming or growing. The Last Days includes a processed Fender Rhodes which my grandfather bought in 1968 at the opening of his church and willed to me at his death in 2010. An ominous bed of dark textures are utilized to create “perilous times”. I used the Hammond organ interspersed throughout Follow the Plan to create a realistic experience of actually being in a worship service. There is a three note (or sometimes chord) motif that appears several times throughout both movements that represent the passion for each one’s vocation. The goal of this work is recreate the moment at which the sermon was given and to display a musical and cultural heritage that should be celebrated. -Carlos Oliver Simon Jr. CSJr. © 2014
https://icareifyoulisten.com/2022/08/carlos-simon-sparks-conversations-social-justice-music/
Carlos Simon Sparks Conversations About Social Justice Through Music
For composer Carlos Simon, music is a place where communities can come together. “I want people to be inspired,” he says about his compositions over Zoom. But he also sees music as an opportunity for artists to initiate conversations about social issues and the things that are happening in our world. “Every community is not treated fairly, and there’s a plethora of injustices in several communities, and so [I’m] using music to talk about these things, talk about the history of these things,” he says.
Just a few days before our call in late July, the New York Philharmonic gave the world premiere performance of Profiles, which meditates on the work of visual artist Romare Bearden — an experience Simon describes as a “bucket list” item. Much of Simon’s music tells stories about the history and lives of Black Americans, building from his own life and interests and broadening outward. “I’m always wanting to use music as a platform for discussions and ultimately, change,” he says. Profiles, for example, emulates Bearden’s colorful paintings of the vibrant culture in Harlem by using a bevy of musical textures. Other pieces like 2020’s Warmth from Other Suns, a pensive string quartet inspired by Isabel Wilkerson’s book, tells the story of the Great Migration of African-Americans from the rural south to the northeast, midwest, and urban west.
Carlos Simon–Photo by Terrance Ragland
Simon’s musical life has been busy over the past couple of years: He’s the Kennedy Center’s Composer-in-Residence, a 2021 Sphinx Medal of Excellence winner, and an assistant professor of music at Georgetown. This coming season, he’s set to have performances in the United States and abroad, from new works for the Minnesota Orchestra to premieres by the London Symphony Orchestra to concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. When we spoke, he was in London visiting his management team for the first time in-person since signing with them. He was also meeting his new label, Decca Classical, and recording a music video for his recent album, Requiem for the Enslaved.
Simon’s introduction to music making came at his father’s Black Pentecostal church in his hometown of Atlanta. There, he played piano and organ, improvising music every Sunday and writing for the church’s choir. Later on, he fell in love with the sound of the orchestra while watching films, hearing the colorful, dramatic music of composers like John Williams. That led him to music written by composers like Ludwig van Beethoven and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and to music by African-American composers like Margaret Bonds, who blazed a trail and showed him he could become a composer, too. “It gave me a sense of direction, knowing that someone else had done it before and showing other composers that they did it,” he says.
Simon’s interest in building community also stems from his family. His parents, who have been married for over 30 years and love to bike together, have spent their lives as leaders. “It’s always been about other people in the community in my family,” Simon says.
These influences coalesce in Simon’s recent projects. Requiem for the Enslaved tells the story of the 272 enslaved people owned and sold by Georgetown University to keep the school afloat. The requiem brings together elements of Western classical and Black music driven by vibrant instrumentals and dynamic texts written by Marco Pavé that interweave in forlorn whispers and exuberant shouts. He was inspired to write the piece when he joined Georgetown’s faculty. At the time, he wanted to learn more about the school’s history and connections to slavery. After getting approval and support to write the piece, he traveled to Maringouin, Louisiana, the town that the university had sold many people to, and spoke with their descendants, spending a week soaking up the place.
Simon often embeds himself in the communities he writes about when he’s researching a new piece. He recently took two trips to Minneapolis for a commission he’s working on for the Minnesota Orchestra, Brea(d)th. He’s writing the piece with librettist Marc Bamuthi Joseph, and they have been intentional about inviting the Minneapolis arts community to be involved in the process. “It’s important, I think, especially if you’re not from the area, you don’t know a whole lot about it, it’s good to travel and be a part of it,” he says.
We don’t want to talk just about the moment and document that moment…We want to talk about the resolution and the antidote.
Brea(d)th, which will be premiered in 2023, initially came about to honor George Floyd. After many discussions, Simon and Joseph decided they wanted to write a piece that addresses systemic racism as a whole — and the work being done towards healing and racial equity. To write Brea(d)th, they’ve made an effort to try to build a connection between the local arts community and the orchestra. In the end, for Simon, it’s as much about having the community’s blessing and sharing the process with them as it is about the final musical product.
By spending time in local areas like George Floyd Square, Simon and Joseph have gotten to know Floyd’s aunt and learned details about Floyd “you won’t hear on CNN.” During these trips, people drove by and waved, or stopped to say hello to Floyd’s aunt as they all chatted together. Being there, Simon was able to experience the community’s social fabric. “How helpful that was, to just be in that space,” he says. “It felt like family, and something my family would do.”
Carlos Simon–Photo by Terrance Ragland
Simon has chosen to write pieces that speak about police brutality on Black bodies before, like his 2015 breakout work, Elegy: A Cry from the Grave, a reflective small ensemble piece that is dedicated to Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner. For Brea(d)th, he wanted to find something new to add to the conversation. “We don’t want to talk just about the moment and document that moment,” he says. “We want to talk about the resolution and the antidote.”
As Simon reflects on his recent work and what he’s looking forward to this fall — a London Symphony premiere of his 2017 dissertation piece, Portrait of a Queen, stands out — he comes back to his early experiences with community and music. Those church services he played showed him music’s strength, how one extraneous note or subtle shift in dynamic or tempo change could lead a listener to feel something deeper. “Music has that ability to go straight to the core of something,” he says. “I just hope to do that through my music that I write now.”
I CARE IF YOU LISTEN is an editorially-independent program of the American Composers Forum, funded with generous donor and institutional support. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author and may not represent the views of ICIYL or ACF.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Vanessa Ague (she/her) is a violinist and writer who runs the
experimental music blog, The Road to Sound, and writes for Bandcamp
Daily, The Wire, Pitchfork, and the Quietus, among others. She is a
recent graduate of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at
CUNY.
Classical composer Carlos Simon uses music to express frustration and anger, giving way to hope
One of his works, ‘An Elegy: A Cry from the Grave,’ will be a part of San Diego Symphony’s upcoming virtual concert
In 2015, rising classical composer Carlos Simon wrote “An Elegy: A Cry from the Grave.” He dedicated it to Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Michael Brown and “others murdered wrongfully by an oppressive power.” Simon’s reaction to the killings was a powerful musical mix of frustration, anger and fear.
“Here was a young man who could have been me — or any Black man in America,” Simon said in a recent phone interview. “Murdered in cold blood. I could physically feel the fear.
“Music is a physical, tactile thing, releasing that energy out. I went to the keyboard and improvised. I didn’t think; I just let my feelings go. It’s therapy for me.”
“Elegy” appeared on Simon’s 2018 CD, “My Ancestor’s Gift,” which incorporates spoken word and historic recordings with his original compositions. He wrote “Elegy” as a string quartet.
It’s one of three pieces to be featured in the San Diego Symphony virtual concert Friday. Unsurprisingly, “Elegy” has been performed more often since the May 2020 killing of George Floyd dramatically heightened the awareness of police violence and the Black Lives Matter movement.
“The interest in ‘Elegy’ has grown exponentially,” Simon said from his Maryland home near Georgetown University, where he’s assistant professor in the performing arts department. During the pandemic, Simon has been working from home with his wife, pianist Leah Claiborne.
“These issues have come to light and sparked questions, not only in the music world but where people of color are marginalized,” he said. “‘Elegy’ is a representation of that. So, I have seen quite an increase in inquiries for the piece.”
Earlier this year, Simon won the prestigious Sphinx Medal of Excellence, which promotes Black and Latinx musicians on the classical concert stage.
The San Diego Symphony has programmed more pieces by living composers than many other big orchestras. But it’s still unusual for an established orchestra to present such an overtly political, contemporary work.
The symphony’s principal bass, Jeremy Kurtz-Harris, performed Simon’s “Between Worlds” in its virtual concert honoring Black composers in September. Kurtz-Harris will be part of the quartet presenting “Elegy” here.
“I was impressed the symphony decided to program ‘Elegy’,” Kurtz-Harris said. “Art of any sort is most powerful when it is reflecting the full human experience. And sometimes, if we allow ourselves to really look at that reflection, it inspires and urges us to work towards being a part of a different and better future.”
Musical pulpit
Simon grew up in a small city next to Atlanta. His entire family, which boasts four generations of preachers, sang or played music in the church.
“If you’ve been to an African-American Pentecostal church, you know people are free to worship however they want to,” said Simon, now in his mid-30s. “I’ve embedded my upbringing and background into my music, whether it’s improvising or purposely putting in certain idioms of gospel and jazz. I’m always drawing from that background.
“I’m not a preacher, though. I like to say that music is my pulpit.”
During his 20s, Simon was keyboardist and music director for two award-winning singers: R&B vocalist Angie Stone and Broadway star Jennifer Holliday. Each stint lasted about three years.
He learned a lot working with each. While Stone was “hard” on him, Simon recalled, she helped him learn to connect emotions to the music he was playing.
Touring with Holliday required working with all-White orchestras.
“Here I was, a young Black director, telling them what to do,” Simon said. “Jennifer’s trust meant a lot. Now, when I speak to orchestras about my music, I do it in a way that demonstrates confidence.”
San Diego Symphony violinist Yumi Cho, who will perform in the “Elegy”quartet Friday, regards Simon as a unique voice.
“He uses a variety of musical elements which set him apart from other composers,” Cho noted. “He distributes the melody in all voices of the ensemble and constantly shifts the underlying harmony. His ability to interlock the melodic and harmonic structure of his piece sets the tone which brings his music to life.”
Simon is delighted to see “Elegy” performed Friday alongside Mozart’s Serenade No. 12 for Winds and Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings. The program notes include Simon’s written dedication to the slain Black men.
“I’m proud to protest,” Simon said. “Each of us have to do our part with our own particular gift. My gift is music. There’s hope, I like to believe. It’s about what people do after they hear my music — how they respond to it.
“In ‘Elegy,’ the instruments give a sense of the emotional context. The cello is closest to the human voice, so there’s a long solo in the piece. Instruments create certain colors, textures and emotions. Trayvon and Michael are crying out.”
Carlos Simon
About this Artist
Having grown up in Atlanta, with a long lineage of preachers and connections to gospel music to inspire him, Carlos Simon proves that a well-composed song can indeed be a sermon. His compositions span genres—jazz, gospel, and contemporary classical music are noticeable influences—and can be found everywhere from film scores to concert music.
A “young composer on the rise, with an ear for social justice” (NPR), Simon is the current Composer-in-Residence for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and frequently writes for the National Symphony Orchestra and Washington National Opera, with the 2022/23 season seeing premieres with Boston Symphony Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Brooklyn Art Song Society and Minnesota Orchestra—a large-scale tribute to George Floyd and the ongoing movement for racial justice.
These follow recent other commissions from the likes of New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic, and performances from Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, and American Ballet Theatre.
Simon’s latest album, Requiem for the Enslaved, is a multi-genre musical tribute to commemorate the stories of the 272 enslaved men, women, and children sold in 1838 by Georgetown University. Released by Decca in June 2022, this work sees Simon infuse his original compositions with African American spirituals and familiar Catholic liturgical melodies, performed by Hub New Music Ensemble, Marco Pavé, and MK Zulu.
Acting as music director and keyboardist for Grammy Award-winner Jennifer Holliday, Simon has performed with the Boston Pops Symphony, Jackson Symphony, and St. Louis Symphony. He has also toured internationally with soul Grammy-nominated artist Angie Stone and performed throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Simon earned his doctorate degree at the University of Michigan, where he studied with Michael Daugherty and Evan Chambers. He has also received degrees from Georgia State University and Morehouse College. He is an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Music Sinfonia Fraternity and a member of the National Association of Negro Musicians, Society of Composers International, and Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honor Society. He has served as a member of the music faculty at Spelman College and Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, and now serves as Assistant Professor at Georgetown University. Simon was also a recipient of the 2021 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, the highest honor bestowed by the Sphinx Organization to recognize extraordinary classical Black and Latinx musicians, and he was named a Sundance/Time Warner Composer Fellow for his work for film and moving image.
Spirit of Georgetown
Title: Award-Winning Composer Honors 272 Enslaved People Through Hip Hop and Liturgical Work
Carlos Simon is an award-winning composer and musician. He’s the composer-in-residence at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and has written concert music and film scores. He’s toured internationally and performed with U.S. symphonies such as the Boston Pops alongside a Grammy-Award winner. In 2018, his album, “My Ancestor’s Gift,” was featured on Apple Music’s “Albums to Watch,” and in 2021, he received the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, an award that recognizes outstanding classical Black and Latinx musicians.
Throughout his career, the Georgetown music professor has been consistently drawn to one theme: social justice.
“As a composer, I want to use music as a platform to talk about issues of our time. The projects I’m drawn to have always been about telling the stories of people who aren’t often heard or are misrepresented or marginalized.”
–Carlos Simon
His latest work, “Requiem for the Enslaved,” continues his lifelong passion.
In 2020, Simon joined Georgetown’s Department of Performing Arts as an assistant professor. During his interview process, he learned about the history of the GU272, when the Maryland Province of the Jesuits, who ran Georgetown at the time, sold 272 men, women and children in 1838 – one of the largest sales of human beings in U.S. history. He was determined to honor the lives of those who were enslaved and their more than 8,000 Descendants.
Simon visited the Georgetown Slavery Archive where the original Bill of Sale notes the names of the men, women and children who were sold. He visited the site of a former plantation in Maringouin, Louisiana, and met with members of the Descendent community to hear their stories. As the pandemic set in, Simon spent time in his Maryland studio turning over these encounters, processing his emotions. He began composing.
Simon’s “Requiem for the Enslaved” debuted at the Library of Congress on Nov. 5, 2021. It infuses African American spirituals into a Catholic liturgical musical form and is performed by the Hub New Music ensemble and spoken word artist and Georgetown Hip Hop Artist in Residence Marco Pavé. Simon plays the piano and is accompanied by trumpeter Jared Bailey.
“I wanted to show that music has the power of equalizing things. We’re all humans. We’re all made by God,” Simon says. “This work takes the form of a spiritual experience, and I wanted to make clear that we’re honoring the enslaved.”
Learn more about Georgetown’s long-term and ongoing process to more deeply understand and respond to the university’s role in the injustice of slavery and the legacies of enslavement and segregation in our nation.
