AfriClassical: Ayanna Woods, Julian Otis, Olivia Harris

3429 West Diversey Avenue,Chicago IL 60647

28 August, 2021

Description

We're back with another night of the AfriClassical Series featuring music from Ayanna Woods, Julian Otis, and Olivia Harris. For tonight's event Ayanna Woods will bring together an ensemble to perform music from FORCE! An Opera (libretto by Anna Martine Whitehead). We'll also have a duo from Julian Otis and Olivia Harris, featuring structured improvisations and performances of graphic scores. Through the AfriClassical Series, Elastic Arts seeks to foreground the underrecognized achievements and challenges of African American composers and performers working in classical music. Series events feature works and performances by African American composers and performers. Then the artists are invited to share their perspectives and experiences from working in a markedly Eurocentric field, their take on the relationships between music of the African Diaspora and Western art music, as well as their ambitions for the future of their work, in dialogue with insightful interlocutors. This series is curated by Julian Otis, Adam Zanolini, and Olivia Harris. It is supported by a generous grant from the Paul M. Angell Foundation.