looking back

ANTHEM FOR GO

Commissioned and performed by the National Symphony Orchestra

Anthem for GO in 2022 was commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra Cartography Project and premiered at Kennedy Center in the spring of 2022.

“Within Anthem for GO is an expansion on a theme that for me has embodied the spirit of overcoming obstacles, listening to that burning desire for something more — something better. This piece is a tribute to both our heartbreak and resilience, our tears inspiring the conviction to move forward, and our desire to break down those systems that divide us. It’s about our blind determination to push for something better for ourselves, our communities, and our shared place on this miraculous planet. This is an anthem for that brilliant fire that lives in us all.”

bear

As I rise,

See the fall

In my stride Only grow

From the crawl In my hide.

With the teeth

Gagging back, Grimace wide

Little Bear

Bounding up,

With the whites In her eyes –

Bigger rock Up above:

“Gotta knack For the climb.”

— Jessica Mays

Commissioned by the Castle of Our Skins concert series and their 2018 program themed around black feminism and female empowerment.

elegy

Performed by the BlackBox Ensemble Leonard Bopp, Conductor

_{Dedicated to the memory of my grandmother.}

Purchase the Blackbox Ensemble album Elegy HERE