ABOUT THE CONCERT
Chamber Music Detroit is thrilled to welcome D-Composed to our stage for their Black Artist Black Composer (BABC) series debut on October 24th. This Chicago-based, all-Black chamber music collective acts as a creative incubator and storyteller, intentionally centering and celebrating the full spectrum of Black culture through the works of Black creators. By bringing performances directly into everyday community spaces, the ensemble actively dismantles traditional barriers to classical music and bridges past and present traditions.

Their dynamic program spans generations and styles, featuring compelling works like Jessie Montgomery’s Breakaway and Source Code, Tomeka Reid's Prospective Dwellers, Shelley Washington's Middleground, and Damien Geter's Neo-Soul. The evening also honors foundational musical legacies with Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s String Quartet No. 1 "Calvary" and a special performance of Miles Davis's Flamenco Sketches, arranged by Seth Pae.

PROGRAM
JESSIE MONTGOMERY | Breakaway
TOMEKA REID | Prospective Dwellers
MILES DAVIS, ARR. SETH PAE | Flamenco Sketches
SHELLEY WASHINGTON | Middleground
DAMIEN GETER | Neo-Soul
JESSIE MONTGOMERY | Source Code
COLERIDGE TAYLOR PERKINSON | String Quartet No. 1, "Calvary"

SNEAK PEEK

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

A 3Arts Make A Wave award recipient, Zarraga performs a wide variety of genres and has performed concerts of gospel, hip-hop,  jazz, and classical music. She is a proud member of D-Composed, an all-Black chamber music collective celebrating the works of Black artists.

She has collaborated with acclaimed artists and creatives such as Jamila Woods, Kris Bowers, Silkroad Ensemble, Jlin, Tricia Hersey, Cheryl Lynne Bruce, Pamela Z, Nathalie Joachim, Pauli the PSM, Angel Bat Dawid, and Plinio Fernandes. She has created original compositions and arrangements for D-Composed and enjoys curating new, community focused projects.  She is also the founding violinist of Black Moon Trio, where she collaborated with artists such as poet/author Michael Tyler and author Robin Wall Kimmerer. Black Moon Trio also released two albums to critical acclaim, Principal and Flourish.

Zarraga has enjoyed performing across Europe, South America, and the Caribbean and in venues such as the Chicago Theater, Kaufman Music Center, Sala São Paulo, Wilbur Theater, and Harris Theater. As a teaching artist, she has led workshops and panels on community engagement, representation in classical music, and composition, and she has been in residence and led masterclasses at the Jacobs School of Music, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Connecticut SummerFest, University of Louisville, Centre College, and Denison University. Khelsey is also a mentor for the Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative.

In the Spring of 2023, Brumfield became a member of D-Composed; an all black chamber collective that aims to celebrate blackness through the lens of classical musicians. Brumfield currently serves various communities as a teaching artist, most notably with A Touch of Classical Plus out of the South Shore and Hyde Park Communities. As a member of the Music Teachers of Hyde Park, she has taught string ensembles, private students, string orchestra, and music theory classes.

Brumfield mainly focuses on her work as a freelance artist and has had many opportunities to perform and record with a variety of musicians, including: Sudan Archives, Adrian Younge, Chance the Rapper, Jamila Woods, Arthur Verocai, Sigur Rós, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Nas, and Josh Groban. Recently, Brumfield had the privilege to perform with Christina Aguilera for the Obamas at the opening of the Obama Presidential Center.

As an active contributor to the dynamic musical ecosystem of Chicago, Farquharson is a violist for the Chicago-based chamber ensembles D-Composed Chicago and Crossing Borders Music. In these ensembles, Farquharson has performed to critical acclaim both nationally and internationally as well.

On top of these ensembles, Farquharson can be heard around the city performing and subbing with renowned orchestras such as the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Grant Park Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Philharmonic, Chicago Sinfonietta, and occasionally as the Principal Violist of the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra. Outside of Chicago, Wilfred has also performed with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, served as guest Assistant Principal for the Augusta Symphony Orchestra, and many recording orchestras including the Re-Collective and Matt Jones Orchestras.

Furthermore, Farquharson has performed and recorded for some of Pop’s and Classical Music’s biggest artists. Some of these artists are Ms. Lauryn Hill, Silkroad Ensemble, Not for Radio,  John Legend, Jessie Montgomery, Rachel Barton-Pine, Sudan Archives, Chance the Rapper, Jamila Woods, DRAMA, Andra Day, Robert Glasper, Burna Boy, Arthur Verocai, and Carlos Simon. Recently, Farquharson performed as part of Stevie Wonder’s Sing A Song To Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart Tour throughout the Midwest. 

Beyond his performance endeavors Farquharson has an ardent dedication to nurturing and educating aspiring violists and budding artists. He proudly held a faculty position at the esteemed Merit School of Music Pfaelzer Conservatory of Music from 2022-2024 and currently serves as a mentor for the Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative. He also proudly contributed as an advisory board member for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s African American Network from 2022-2023. Having been honored as a Premier Young Artist awardee, he obtained his bachelor's degree from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University and graduated with honors from the University of Southern California for his graduate studies at the Thornton School of Music.

Television and film appearances include the movie, “Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” and episodes of “Empire”. Whittington remotely recorded the cello solo for Rhiannon Giddens’ “Cry No More” arranged by composer Michael Abels. She received her Bachelor’s Degree from New England Conservatory and her Master’s Degree in Cello Performance from The Juilliard School. Whittington has studied with Laurence Lesser, Joel Krosnick, and Hans Jørgen Jensen.

Due to the possibility of unforeseen circumstances, program and artists are subject to change.

ABOUT THE CONCERT
Chamber Music Detroit is proud to present Puncture the Noise, a groundbreaking performance by Detroit-born, New York-based violinist Jannina Norpoth as part of our Black Artists Black Composers series.

This program challenges traditional boundaries with works that “Puncture the Noise” - exploring stories of liberation and resilience through mental, physical, historical or ancestral hardship. Norpoth’s reimagined vision of "American Classical Music" goes beyond creating space for historically marginalized voices to celebrating the diaspora blending classical technique with jazz, hip-hop, rock, and improvisation. By fusing genres and centering human connection, Puncture the Noise offers a vibrant, deeply resonant glimpse into the future of classical music.

Featuring works by Jessie Montgomery, Jonathan Bailey Holland, Daniel Bernard Roumain and a world-premiere by EMMY Award-winning composer Jasmine Barnes, this program will also include guest artist alumni from the Fortissima Program, and The Sphinx Competition.

SNEAK PEAK

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Her string quartet, PUBLIQuartet, is recognized for unique and genre inclusive programming, earning them the 2019 Visionary Artist Award from Chamber Music America, 2015 Adventurous Programming Award from ASCAP and Chamber Music America and New Music/ New Places Prize at the 2013 Concert Artist's Guild Competition.

Deemed "Leader's of the New School" by Symphony Magazine and "Independent Minded" by The New Yorker, PUBLIQuartet has served as an ensemble in residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and National Sawdust, performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Detroit Jazz Festival and The Colbert Report, creating Requiem for Debate a live improvised sound track for the third Presidential Debate. Compositions from their programming concept MIND | THE | GAP: which melds musical genre's through improvisation were dubbed "ingenious hybrids" by Strad Magazine. PUBLIQuartet was recently featured as Keynote Speakers for Carnegie Hall’s educational conference PlayUSA for which they composed and performed a newly commissioned work written for the event.

A versatile musician, Ms. Norpoth performs and writes alongside her husband bassist/guitarist/songwriter John-Paul Norpoth in the folk/rock group HOLLANDS. Praised for their multi-faceted sound, HOLLANDS has been described as "provocative poetry sung over instrumentals laid out with such compositional intent" by Relix Magazine and  "a is cherry mix of folk punk and free noise ... breezy melodies and whimsical cuteness" by Christopher Weingarten of the Village Voice. HOLLANDS has released two EPs; their recent LP debut was profiled by BBC as "pulsing indie pop that really puts a spring in your step ... mixing fun, folk, rock and elements of classical." In 2016 HOLLANDS, PUBLIQuartet and artist Amy Khoshbin created The Scheherazade Project (TSP), a multimedia song cycle inspired by the stories of One Thousands and One Nights. TSP was awarded a Sphinx MPower grant for it’s creation and received its debut at National Sawdust as part of the NYC Electro-Acoustic Music Festival and The New York Philharmonic’s Biennial Celebration, with support from MAC Cosmetics and DPA Microphones. 

Ms. Norpoth has performed internationally, including appearances at the Women of the World Festival at The Apollo Theater, Detroit Art X Festival, Montreux Detroit Jazz Festival, Mostly Mozart Festival, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Saturday Night Live, VH1’s Save the Music, IFC's Dinner with the Band, and Ecstatic Music Festival at Merkin Hall. As a soloist she has performed with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Bloomfield Symphony, Casalmaggiore International Chamber Ensemble, Ensemble 212, and Bachanalia Chamber Orchestra. Most recently during COVID-19 she has been a featured virtual performer for digital performances from The Kennedy Center, The Library of Congress and Living Music with Nadia Sirota.

She has been a featured performer alongside such acclaimed musicians as James Carter, Nadia Sirota, Regina Carter, Itzhak Perlman, Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR), Helga Davis, Marcus Belgrave, Dave Young, Mike Garson, A. Spencer Barefield, Jay - Z, Beyoncé,  Anita Baker,  Sheila E., Boys II Men, Dionne Warwick, My Brightest Diamond, Alexi Murdoch, and many others.

Praised by Strad Magazine for her ability to write a transcription “so natural sounding that it could have been the composer's original version." Ms. Norpoth is a sought after arranger both in the classical and non-classical worlds. Recent commissions include the LA Phil, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, The Knights, St. Louis Symphony, Sphinx Virtuosi, Trinity Wall Street and  the Volcano Theatre Company’s new adaptation of Scott Joplin’s “Treemonisha”.   As an arranger she has written and arranged strings for Keyshia Cole, Keri Hilson, Kat DeLuna, Black Dahlia Murder, Akron Family, John Legend, and Never Shout Never. Her recording credits include Keyshia Cole's Woman to Woman, Keri Hilson's No Boys Allowed, Black Dahlia Murder's Everblack and Ritual, Akron Family's Set em' Wild / Set em' Free, Sphinx Virtuosi Live in Concert, Bob Stewart's Connections - Mind the Gap and with her ensembles HOLLANDS and PUBLIQuartet. She may also be heard as a member of the "Hustla' Symphony Orchestra" on the bonus tracks for Jay-Z's live concert release on his 2006 Def Jam release, Kingdom Come. As a studio arranger and performer she has worked under grammy-winning producers Jerry "Wonda" Duplessis and Bryce Goggin.

Ms. Norpoth lives in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, with her husband John-Paul and their puggle Vegas. Upcoming projects include the world premiere of a new adaptation of Scott Joplin’s Opera Treemonisha, at the Luminato Festival this coming June.

Due to the possibility of unforeseen circumstances, program and artists are subject to change.

ABOUT THE CONCERT
Chamber Music Detroit is thrilled to welcome Detroit Symphony Orchestra cellist Cole Randolph to the Black Artists Black Composers Series. A native of Washington, D.C. who has performed at the White House and the Kennedy Center, Randolph famously balanced his cello studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with degrees in mathematics and economics before earning a permanent chair in the DSO cello section in 2021.

For this performance, Randolph brings his characteristic technical precision and expressive depth to a brilliant, vast, and structurally demanding program. The recital anchors itself in two profound multi-movement pillars: Adolphus Hailstork’s magisterial Sonata for Solo Cello (24 minutes) and T.J. Anderson’s evocative Spirit Songs (20 minutes), alongside the rigorous Sonata for Solo Cello by Anthony Randolph. Balancing these sweeping, grand-scale narratives are brief, poignant snapshots of modern brilliance, including Carlos Simon’s meditative Silence and Tomeka Reid’s kinetic Volplaning. Seamlessly shifting from lone virtuosity to collaborative dialogue, the program culminates in an intimate, yet-to-be-disclosed duet for viola and cello, perfectly capturing both the expansive scale and intimate nuances of Randolph’s exceptional artistry.

SNEAK PEEK

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Randolph studied cello under Uri Vardi and has performed in masterclasses for various artists including Alban Gerhardt, Clive Greensmith, and Timothy Eddy. Throughout his collegiate studies, Randolph participated in a myriad of musical and non-musical activities. In the summer of 2016, he had the unique opportunity to participate in the Leadership Alliance program at the University of Chicago, conducting mathematics research under the supervision of Dr. Benson Farb. Randolph presented his findings at two research symposia in Illinois and Connecticut.