CSC’s Symphonic Choir was honored to take part in the Durham Symphony Orchestra’s program on February 14, entitled Voices of the Unarmed: Justice, Love, Resilience.

The program was conceived by DSO Director William Henry Curry and board member Jesse Rosen and premiered the work of Herman Whitfield III, a young Black composer who died in police custody.

In addition, the CSC choir and NC Central Kizazi Alumni Chorale performed Joel Thompson’s Seven Last Words of the Unarmed, a poignant lament for the lives of unarmed Black men lost to police violence. We were thrilled to have the composer attend the event and hear our performance.

The event attracted strong media interest and was featured in two front-page articles in Triangle newspapers:

From the News & Observer: “A masterpiece.’ Durham orchestra to perform piece by composer who died in police custody”

From IndyWeek: “New Durham Symphony Orchestra Program Is a Tribute to Grief, Resilience, and the Last Words of the Unarmed”

The Feb. 14 program, held in the 1000-seat Carolina Theater, was sold out. Here are some of the comments sent to DSO by attendees:

“It was an absolute pleasure to watch Voices of the Unarmed come to life on Friday night. All around me, people were moved—to tears, to raucous applause, to exclamations of the power of the music.”

‘What a powerful, profoundly moving and timely concert last night. Bravo to all! Easily one of the DSO’s best. The audience around us was fully engaged and totally ‘with it’ throughout. The singers and Jason McKinney were phenomenal. Many many many congrats!”

“Stunning. A triumph”.

“Superb, outstanding, breathtaking.”

Equally gratifying to us was the note we received from Maestro Curry after our performance:

“A classical music concert with five standing ovations is unprecedented in my lifetime of performing and concert-going. On ” 7 Last Words” your focus and musicality were impressive and I’m sure you would agree with me that you out-did yourself. The concert was one of the highlights of my entire career. I am grateful and 2 days later I am still smiling.”

Thank you, Maestro Curry and Durham Symphony Orchestra, for inviting us to be part of this wonderful program.