“Launched earlier this month, [the] Kennedy Center’s … Cartography Project aims to open the conversation about the future of anti-racism, using music as a tool for healing,” reads an unsigned article in Wednesday’s (2/16) Violin Channel. “The initiative is in collaboration with the National Symphony Orchestra and Washington National Opera and was created by Kennedy Center’s Artistic Director & VP of Social Impact Marc Bamuthi Joseph. It will see to the commissioning of composers and librettists from around the United States, supporting works that respond to an act of violence against the Black community in their own region…. The first installment includes eight new commissions that will receive live world premiere performances from WNO singers and members of the NSO and WNO Orchestra … on March 15 and 16…. The music will be accompanied by excerpts from a ten-part docuseries to contextualize each new work…. ‘The NSO and WNO … saw this project as an opportunity to address a long struggle with diversity on- and off-stage in our field,’ [NSO Executive Director Gary Ginstling] said. ‘Additionally, we see this as a springboard for other organizations in the field.’ ” Composers on the March program include Carlos Simon, Jessica Mays, Nathaniel Heyder, Derek Douglas Carter, B.E. Boykin, Jasmine Barnes, Liz Gre, and Jens Ibsen.
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