The past is still present.
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In addition to the operas of the 1619 cycle, there are a series of accompanying orchestral, chamber, choral, and other non-opera compositions that also amplify and expand on the themes found in the opera cycle. The first two of these works are commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra: a four-movement orchestral work, two movements of which will premiere in 2026 in New York City, and a smaller youth orchestra version of the first movement, The Great Silence, will premiere in 2024. Both compositions will be published by Boosey and Hawkes. 

1. We Hold These Truths to Be Self-Evident

We Hold These Truths to Be Self-Evident is a four movement composition commissioned by and for the American Composers Orchestra. The composition is the first in a series of orchestral, choral, and chamber works which, while tied to the various themes of his eight-opera 1619 cycle, will also represent distinct, independent addendums and companions to the operas. We Hold These Truths to Be Self-Evident highlights the various ideas of freedom for Black Americans and how the desire of ‘what could be’ is actualized as resistance to the strictures of Black life within the country’s systemic inequalities and inequities. The work’s theme of freedom is an expansion of the focus of the Reconstruction opera, the second one in the 1619 cycle, but is not directly related to the opera.

“The Great Silence,” the first movement, is inspired by Black-owned leisure spaces of the late 19th century through the 1970s, and how Black Americans would gather within nature to “not only be healed of the detrimental effects of city life” but “would also experience a soothing balm for the wounds of life under segregation.” “Stealing Away,” the second movement, is inspired by those places internal and external where one goes to understand the larger world and themselves in it. For the composition the ACO is helping me with a call for stories to help in the creation of the composition. I am looking for stories, anecdotes, remembrances, photographs, memorabilia, etc. about various get away places/cities/resorts you and/or family visited or places within your community (parks/neighborhoods/yard/porch that provided a relaxing respite away from normal day-to-day life. More details and how to submit go to https://www.americancomposers.org/earshot-composer-incubator/call-for-submissions-new-work-by-joe-philips-jr 
Header 📸: ​Oak Bluffs_1950s_Ouida Taylor from NMAAHC-2014_112_140_001