The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University presents Polyaspora, a five-day festival centering Black and Brazilian perspectives in contemporary music, at the Hopkins Bloomberg Center in Washington, D.C. this September. The festival is curated by Associate Professor and Chair of Composition Felipe Lara, a 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Music finalist, and Columbia University Professor George Lewis, Artistic Director of the globally renowned and New York City-based International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE). ICE serves as the festival’s guest performers and educators. Polyaspora’s four free concerts (including one on Peabody’s Baltimore campus) spotlight composers such as Leila Adu-Gilmore, Michelle Agnes, Marcos Balter, Arthur Kampela, Andile Khumalo, Nicole Mitchell, Jeffrey Mumford, Tebogo Monnakgotla, Jalalu-Kalvert Nelson, Jocy de Oliveira, Igor Santos, as well as new works written by Peabody Conservatory students. Polyaspora, which convenes September 23 and offers concerts each evening from September 24 through 27, is supported by Lara’s inaugural Johns Hopkins Nexus Award and is free and open to the public.

Programs

COMPOSING WHILE BLACK – Afrodiasporic New Music Today

In tandem with the publication of the bilingual English/German edited volume bearing the same name, edited by Harald Kisiedu and George E. Lewis, this program presents sonically audacious new music by Nicole Mitchell, Jeffrey Mumford, Andile Khumalo, Leila Adu-Gilmore, Jalalu-Kalvert Nelson, and Tebogo Monnakgotla.

ANTROPOFAGIA – Brazilian Perspectives

This program features today’s leading musical voices of the Brazilian diaspora and explores the complexities and intersections of identity, race, history and cultural ethos from within a Brazilian framing. Includes works by Felipe Lara, Jocy de Oliveira, Igor Santos, Marcos Balter, Arthur Kampela, and Michelle Agnes. Pre-Concert Talk with Dr. Alejandro L. Madrid from Harvard University.

THE FUTURE IS NOW I & II

Each of these programs features seven newly composed premieres by Peabody Conservatory students, scored for solo instruments and chamber ensembles.

Additional activities include two workshops on open scores led by ICE members and open rehearsals for Peabody students.