morning heights – Eighty-five years after composing an oration on freedom from slavery, and 79 years after his death, the black composer R. ,” in celebration of Juneteenth Riverside Church.
Dett was a Harlem Renaissance composer and predecessor of enslaved Americans who fled to Canada via the Underground Railroad.
His speech, “The Moses Order” first appeared on the radio in 1937, but the broadcast did not go as planned.
“He was probably one of the first black composers to broadcast a classic master piece on radio,” says Liz Player, executive director and founding artist of the Harlem Chamber Players. “It was broadcast nationwide, but somehow, it was cut abruptly in about three-quarters of the way. There is no record of why, although many people think there may have been some racial objections to that broadcast.”
The Harlem Chamber players is a multiethnic group of classically trained musicians dedicated to providing affordable, accessible music to Harlem and beyond. Given this task, when presented with the opportunity to fully perform Dett’s piece, correcting the error almost a century later, the player took the opportunity.
“For this production, we have over 100 instrumentalists, a 75-member choir, a 60-piece orchestra, and five meth opera soloists,” said Blair.
The player brought in award-winning artist, instrumentalist, composer, and conductor Damien Snead, founder of Chorale Le Chateau, to be Music Director for this one-of-a-kind performance.
“Globally, it is time to allow the universal language of music to unite us,” Snead said. “People will have the experience of musical ecstasy. They will be transcendentally transported to a place of euphoric excitement. They will hear some of the most wonderful musicians on this side of the Milky Way.”
Tenor Chauncey Packer, who takes on the role of Moses, the great liberator of the ancient Israelites, finds motive and commonality in themes of freedom and redemption, especially during Gwentith, which commemorates when enslaved Americans finally discover they are free after the Civil War.
“I went through a series of emotions, but it’s a pleasure and a responsibility to do the piece. So my weight was balanced with that,” Packer says.
Although the premiere was planned two years ago, on the 150th anniversary of Juneteenth, COVID-19 derailed those plans like so many others over the past three years. But the delay added a layer of connection between the ancient allegory and the contemporary influences of its themes.
“The biblical story of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt after a series of epidemics will resonate with many people because we are still going through this epidemic,” says Blair. “I lost my dad during the pandemic to COVID. So it just means everything to be able to provide opportunities for black people who have been underrepresented in classical music, to see this come to life, in Uptown, in our neighborhoods.”
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