Premiere of Soul Force for orchestra

"The Dream Unfinished is a gathering of orchestral musicians, and nationally prominent artists and figures, who will join the chorus of calls for civil rights, social justice, and an end to systemic racism. With fiscal sponsorship from arts-and-humanitarian-aid organization Beats, Rhymes, & Relief, proceeds from the concert will go to the Center for Constitutional Rights, Justice League NYC, the National Coalition of Law Enforcement Officers for Justice, and MusicKitchen-Food for the Soul. The concert will be held at Centennial Memorial Temple, located steps away from Union Square, and take place on July 17, a year following the death of Eric Garner, who was one in a string of deaths of unarmed African-American men which exploded onto the news in 2014. Speakers include the Center for Constitutional Rights’ director Vince Warren, Broadway performer Tanya Birl, MSN National Correspondent Joy Reid, and activist Erica Garner.

With an orchestra comprised of musicians from every borough of New York, under the direction of James Blachly and featuring guest artist Grammy-award winning conductor John McLaughlin Williams,we intend the concert to be a space for people of all backgrounds to gather, to show that this systemic discrimination of black lives matters to people of all colors and classes.

Featuring the music of William Grant Still, Leonard Bernstein, and a world premiere by Jessie Montgomery.

The title of our concert comes from Plain-Chant for America, a poem written by Katherine Garrison Chapin Biddle—wife of Francis Biddle, attorney-general during the Nuremberg trials— and orchestrated by African-American composer William Grant Still. Plain-Chant for America opens with the text:

For the dream unfinished out of which we came We stand together."

For more information, visit http://thedreamunfinished.peatix.com/