Awaken the Sleeper

Joel Thompson
To Awaken the Sleeper (New England Premiere)

Dmitri Shostakovich
Symphony No. 11, “The Year 1905”

The NHSO’s residency at SCSU opens with Alasdair Neale conducting two powerful works offering mediation and action for the challenges of our current times. Composer-in-Residence Joel Thompson narrates the New England premiere of his setting of texts by iconic author James Baldwin in “To Awaken the Sleeper” and the NHSO plays Shostakovich’s ode to musical resistance with Symphony No. 11, “The Year 1905.”

Joel Thompson says, “Given the sort of turmoil as it relates to race in our society, Baldwin’s writings were sort of a beacon for me, a source of comfort a way for me to focus my craft… In the world of classical music in which my identity is historically marginalized, having a space here, where I can speak and be heard is very important, and Baldwin faced similar obstacles.”

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