Join us on March 8 for Fallen Petals & Planting Seeds, an event featuring a live performance of Fallen Petals of Nameless Flowers, a work of music and spoken word commissioned in 2021 by Chamber Music Detroit with support from the National Endowment for the Arts. Learn how the work was created by Jeff Scott (composer), Robert Laidler (author of the poetic text), and Bryan Jones, who facilitated conversations between the author and four former Michigan Juvenile Lifers whose stories provided a rich source of material for the work. Hear a full live performance of Fallen Petals of Nameless Flowers - by Imani Winds, cellist Seth Parker Woods, pianist Cory Smythe, and actor Michael Braugher - and witness its raw, gritty, unabashed look at the lived experiences of these four Michigan children in their decades-long journey to adulthood within the prison system. Finally, explore with a panel of dedicated individuals, led by renowned attorney Deborah LaBelle, how the life and death decisions made about young people in Michigan are shaping the cause of youthful justice in Michigan and around the nation. As we present this powerful piece again, join us in realizing how far we have come and how far there is still to go. Don't miss this unique opportunity to witness a captivating performance of this moving work and engage in a thought-provoking conversation about what greater understanding can mean for justice in America.
Schedule
Creative Panel (how the work was created) - 20min
Performance of Fallen Petals of Nameless Flowers - 30min
Let’s Get To Work Panel led by Deborah LaBelle (how far we have come and how far there is still to go) - 30min
ABOUT FALLEN PETALS OF NAMELESS FLOWERS
”In a shadowed corner of the American judicial system, the application of mandatory sentences of life without the possibility of parole has fallen upon very young offenders, disproportionately so upon young men of color. Against a backdrop of legal systems in Michigan and elsewhere still taking halting steps toward righting this wrong, Fallen Petals of Nameless Flowers combines personal accounts of formerly incarcerated individuals, original poetry by Robert Laidler, and an original music score by Jeff Scott to shine a brighter light on the human side of this issue.
The metaphors of flowers as men and petals as arms are used dramatically in the poetry, as well as the personal stories. This and the colorful instrumentation of the ensemble made for rich source material and composition tools for the score. It is the composer’s hope that this work will help to create a safe space for further discussion, action, and empathy.”
- Jeff Scott, composer
World-Premiere
Fallen Petals & Nameless Flowers
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
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Brandon Patrick George, FLUTE
Mekhi Gladden, OBOE
Kevin Newton, FRENCH HORN
Mark Dover, CLARINET
Monica Ellis, BASSOON
Celebrating over two decades of music making, the Grammy-nominated Imani Winds has led both a revolution and evolution of the wind quintet through its dynamic playing, adventurous programming, imaginative collaborations and outreach endeavors that have inspired audiences of all ages and backgrounds.The ensemble’s playlist embraces traditional chamber music repertoire, and as a 21st century group, Imani Winds is devoutly committed to expanding the wind quintet repertoire by commissioning music from new voices that reflect historical events and the times in which we currently live.
Imani Winds regularly performs in prominent international concert venues, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Walt Disney Hall and the Kimmel Center. Their touring schedule has taken them throughout the Asian continent, Brazil, Australia, England, New Zealand and across Europe.
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Jeff Scott is a French hornist, composer and educator. As a composer, he says, “I create works that I call ‘Urban Classical Music.’ It's rooted in European traditions and informed by my African American culture. It is also unapologetically influenced by the cultural experiences of my diverse, urban environment upbringing. My mission is to broaden the scope of American music theory and composition, with the intention of introducing performers, teachers, students and audiences to the richness and value of our very own, American music.”
Jeff Scott offered the following commentary about Fallen Petals of Nameless Flowers: “In a shadowed corner of the American judicial system, the application of mandatory sentences of life without the possibility of parole has fallen upon very young offenders, disproportionately so upon young men of color. Against a backdrop of legal systems in Michigan and elsewhere still taking halting steps toward righting this wrong, Fallen Petals of Nameless Flowers combines personal accounts of formerly incarcerated individuals, original poetry by Robert Laidler, and an original music score by Jeff Scott to shine a brighter light on the human side of this issue.
The metaphors of flowers as men and petals as arms are used dramatically in the poetry, as well as the personal stories. This and the colorful instrumentation of the ensemble made for rich source material and composition tools for the score. It is the composer’s hope that this work will help to create a safe space for further discussion, action, and empathy.”
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Robert Laidler is an African American poet born in Detroit. He is a graduate of Oakland University and received a Master of Arts degree at Wayne State University, where he was the inaugural Daniel Keyes Fellow in poetry. Robert has taught creative writing in Lapeer County Correctional Facility, and he has also worked with InsideOut Detroit teaching poetry to youth in the Detroit Public School system. He has won awards in poetry for individual poems, and collections: He is an AWP travel award winner, a winner of the John Clare award in poetry, a Tompkins award winner, and a Thomas R. Jasina Endowed scholarship in English recipient, as well as a most recent winner of the Meader family Hopwood award in poetry collections. He is currently an Master’s in Fine Arts candidate in poetry at the Helen Zell Writers' Program at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor.
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Recipient of the 2022 Chamber Music America Michael Jaffee Visionary Award and hailed by The Guardian as “a cellist of power and grace” who possesses “mature artistry and willingness to go to the brink,” cellist Seth Parker Woods has established a reputation as a versatile artist straddling several genres. In addition to solo performances, he has appeared with the Ictus Ensemble (Brussels, BE), Ensemble L’Arsenale (IT), zone Experimental (CH), Basel Sinfonietta (CH), Ensemble LPR, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and the Atlanta and Seattle Symphony Orchestras. A fierce advocate for contemporary arts, Woods has collaborated and worked with a wide range of artists ranging from the likes of Louis Andriessen, Elliott Carter, Heinz Holliger, to Peter Gabriel, Sting, Lou Reed and Dame Shirley Bassey, among many others.
Woods’ 2021-22 season will include debuts at The Britt Festival, 92nd Street Y, Harbourfront Theatre, Ojai Festival, Washington Performing Arts, The Strathmore and Harvard. He will perform concertos by Rebecca Saunders and Tyshawn Sorey, and chamber music with violinist Hilary Hahn and pianist Andreas Haefliger. Woods will serve as Artist in Residence at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and Northwestern University - Center for New Music.
In recent years, Woods has appeared in concert at the Royal Albert Hall—BBC Proms, Snape Maltings Festival, the Ghent Festival, Musée d’art Moderne et Contemporain, Le Poisson Rouge and the Bohemian National Hall, among others. His debut solo album, asinglewordisnotenough (Confront Recordings-London), has garnered great acclaim since its release in November 2016 and has been profiled in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, LA Times, The Guardian, 5against4, I Care If You Listen, Musical America, Seattle Times, and Strings Magazine, amongst others.
In the 2021-22 season, Woods joins the faculty at the University at Buffalo as a Distinguished Visiting Scholar and Visiting Professor. He previously served on the music faculties of the University of Chicago, Dartmouth College and the Chicago Academy of the Arts. He holds degrees from Brooklyn College, Musik Academie der Stadt Basel, and a PhD from the University of Huddersfield. During the 2020-21 season he was an Artist in Residence with the Kaufman Music Center, and from 2018-2020 he served as Artist in Residence with Seattle Symphony and Creative Consultant for the interactive concert hall, Octave 9: Raisbeck Music Center.
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Pianist Cory Smythe has worked closely with pioneering artists in new, improvisatory, and classical music, including saxophonist-composer Ingrid Laubrock, violinist Hilary Hahn, and multidisciplinary composers from Anthony Braxton to Zosha Di Castri. His own music “dissolves the lines between composition and improvisation with rigor” (Chicago Reader), and his first record was praised by Jason Moran as “hands down one of the best solo recordings I’ve ever heard.”
Smythe has been featured at the Newport Jazz, Wien Modern, Trondheim Chamber Music, Nordic Music Days, Approximation, Concorso Busoni, and Darmstadt festivals, as well as at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart festival, where he was recently invited to premiere new work created in collaboration with Peter Evans and Craig Taborn. He has received commissions from Milwaukee’s Present Music, the Banff Centre for the Arts, the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, the International Contemporary Ensemble, of which he is a longtime member, and the Shifting Foundation.
Smythe received a Grammy award for his work with Ms. Hahn and plays regularly in the critically acclaimed Tyshawn Sorey Trio.
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Bryan Jones is familiar to Chamber Music Detroit patrons as our Box Office Manager. In addition to serving in an administrative capacity, Bryan played a crucial role in the genesis of “Fallen Petals of Nameless Flowers,” as he was able to offer his unique perspective and knowledge of the criminal justice system because of his personal life experiences. Bryan’s story is filled with tragedy, loss, and suffering the devastating consequences of breaking the law as a child and young man. His mother died when he was three; later he was to lose two siblings and his father. As a teenager he became a ward of the state, and by age twenty he was sent to prison for armed robbery and served 31 years. But instead of becoming embittered, Bryan worked hard, taking college courses, learning keyboard and music theory and improving his administrative skills. He eventually became the Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent of Michigan State Industries, which runs three large factories serving the State, and held that and other positions of responsibility until his release from prison in 2018.
Through his knowledge of the prison system and his contacts with several inmates he came to know well, Bryan helped identify and work with the individuals whose stories are the basis for the text of Jeff Scott’s new work. Today, Bryan continues to work for Chamber Music Detroit, is an apprentice electrician, takes long-distance bicycle trips in his spare time, and is serving as a teaching assistant for a sociology course at University of Michigan Dearborn this semester.
Deborah LaBelle, attorney
An attorney and writer whose advocacy focuses on the human rights of people in detention, the intersection of race and gender, and the rights of children in the criminal justice and education systems in the United States. In addition to her private practice, Ms. LaBelle is the Director of the Juvenile Life Without Parole Initiative for the ACLU of Michigan and Coordinator of Michigan’s Juvenile Mitigation Access Committee. She has been lead counsel in over a dozen class actions that have successfully challenged policies affecting the treatment and sentencing of incarcerated men, women and children, utilizing a human rights framework. She has represented clients before the United States Supreme Court and in international forums with an integrated model for reform utilizing concurrent litigation, documentation and advocacy strategies.
Michael Braugher, narrator
A recent graduate of the Juilliard School, where he received the John Houseman Award for Excellence in Classical Theater. TV: The Gilded Age. Broadway: To Kill a Mockingbird. Off-Broadway: Romeo y Julieta. Guthrie Theater: Hamlet. Williamstown Theatre Festival: Artney Jackson, Son Come Home.
