Sound Off Presents "Yet Unheard" + More: Feb 12, 2023 Show Fundraiser!
We are presenting our first-ever orchestral concert, highlighting Courtney Bryan's "Yet Unheard", a powerful cantata commemorating the life of Sandra Bland.
Inspired by the work of abolitionist leaders such as Dr. Angela Davis, Dr. Cornel West, and Ruth Wilson Gilmore, as well as the rise of organizations such as The Bail Project and the Marshall Project, Sound Off: Music for Bail seeks to break the silence around the prison-industrial complex with an unexpected weapon: Western classical music.
We are in the middle of our third season of work, and after premieres of new works and performances of historical pieces by composers of historically marginalized backgrounds, providing a pathway to funding and public recognition of justice-oriented organizations and individuals, and empowering abolitionist musicians to action, we are proud to be taking on our largest project yet this February 12th, 2023, 7:30 PM at Playwrights Horizons Downtown (Moss Theater, 440 Lafayette Street, New York, NY).
New Orleans native and award-winning composer Courtney Bryan wrote Yet Unheard, a cantata for solo voice, chorus, and orchestra, in the wake of the deeply suspicious 2015 death of Sandra Bland in pre-trial detention after being pulled over in Waller County, Texas. This musical response to a death caused by police violence, misogynoir, and the role of money in the US criminal justice system is deeply relevant to this day as we continue to see the effects of the status quo on all people within the United States, most insidiously upon divides of race, gender, orientation, and class.
Sound Off, led by conductor Christina Morris, will be centering Bryan's work and joining it with the spoken testimony of NYC-based community activist Jawanza James Williams, who serves as Director of Organizing at Voices of Community Activists & Leaders (VOCAL-NY). (VOCAL-NY) is a statewide grassroots membership organization that builds power among low-income people affected by HIV/AIDS, the drug war, mass incarceration, and homelessness in order to create healthy and just communities, and we are proud to have been associated with their work in the past through performances at VOCAL-NY actions. We will also be programming music before and after Yet Unheard and Jawanza's speech that offers more reflections on our joint past and future.
While in the past Sound Off has programmed only chamber music, we are grateful to have received financial support from the YoungArts Foundation and the Abolitionist Teaching Network, and to be in partnership with PROTESTRA and the Groupmuse Foundation's Planetary Music Movement to present a larger-scale performance. With that being said, our budget for this show tops out at above $8000; grant money and live ticket sales at our proposed price of $25 (keeping it accessible for low-income and working-class New Yorkers) will only cover about half of that. Several musicians, including Sound Off head Jay Julio, have pledged to donate their performance fees to ensure maximum impact. We are hoping that you believe in the power of our work, and that you might be willing to continue in the season of giving to ensure that the future looks ever brighter.
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
We are currently taking donations of both funds and work.
Money raised will be used to pay musician and speaker fees, rehearsal & performance venue rentals, sheet music rentals, A/V recording and livestream, and advertising.
If you are able to help in the following ways, we would be deeply grateful:
If you are able to perform at an advanced level on an orchestral instrument, are committed to the goals of abolition, and financially capable of & and interested in donating your time for a February 11th Saturday morning (9 AM-12 /1 PM) rehearsal and February 12th Sunday night dress rehearsal/show (5:30-9:30 PM), please contact us via our website.
If you have a large rehearsal space with piano that can accommodate a chamber orchestra, singers, and solo voice on February 11th Saturday morning from 9 AM-12/1 PM, please contact us via our website.
If you have A/V experience or equipment and would be willing to help document & livestream either our Saturday morning rehearsal or February 12th night show, please contact us via our website.
If you have press contacts or other ways of connecting individuals & organizations that may be interested in this concert or our work, please contact us via our website.
If you are financially capable of sponsoring tickets for those who would not be able to attend at our ticket price, please purchase a ticket (or multiple tickets) via our Groupmuse ticket link (forthcoming) and write down in the "message for host" that they are "sponsor tickets".
If you use social media, please share both our show and this fundraiser! We will have digital posters/banners available soon.
Rewards
February Program - Supporter Thank You!
Donate $10.00 or more
Amount is fully tax-deductible.
Thank you so much! For donations of $10-$49, your name will be listed in the programs for this February show as a "Supporter", unless you'd like to remain anonymous.
February & May Program - Supporter Thank You!
Donate $20.00 or more
Amount is fully tax-deductible.
Thank you so much! For donations of $20-$49, your name will be listed in the programs for both this February show and our next show in May as a "Supporter", unless you'd like to remain anonymous.
February Program - Amplifier Thank You!
Donate $50.00 or more
Amount is fully tax-deductible.
Thank you so much! For donations of $50-$99, your name will be listed in the programs for this February show as an "Amplifier", unless you'd like to remain anonymous.
February & May Program - Amplifier Thank You!
Donate $100.00 or more
Amount is fully tax-deductible.
Thank you so much! For donations of $100+, your name will be listed in the programs for both this February show and next show in May as an "Amplifier", unless you'd like to remain anonymous.
