JAVS Summer 2021

Gordon and her team kept the focus on the community alive in social media. Their annual Call for Creatives continued and the deadline was extended. Videos and posts from earlier concerts and events were shared to keep the connection to their audience alive. But perhaps the most remarkable, generous, and unusual outreach in the pandemic came in the form of the Black Composer Miniature Challenge, issued as a call for scores over a one-month period in April 2020. Eighteen compositions were submitted by composers and immediately recorded by Gordon and Green. Featuring the viola, each composition was premiered on Instagram on successive Fridays at noon. The pieces vary remarkably in tonal language, instrumentation (for either viola solo, viola and piano, or viola with fixed media or voice) and style. The only stipulations were that the composer identify as Black or part of the African diaspora and that the pieces be between 30 and 60 seconds in length. The project took on a life of its own as listeners eagerly awaited each new debut. Though the project was borne out of the desire to make something beautiful amidst the pandemic, the body of works that were submitted will far outlast the difficult time in which it was conceived. In May 2021, COOS released a digital anthology of all eighteen works. As a testament to what can be done with creativity and love no matter the circumstances, the collection is exceptional. But beyond that, it is a thrilling and beautifully varied collection of offerings by Black and African diasporic composers for our beloved instrument. Of the project, Gordon comments that “The Black Composer Miniature Challenge project was as much about supporting and building community as it was about sharing the work and artistry of African diasporic composers with our audiences. It helped keep creative spirits alive at a time when dual pandemics made that a constant struggle. Our Anthology is our way to commemorate each other’s unique artistry and resilience while continuing to build community, awareness and opportunity with one another.” The collection is currently available for purchase on the COOS website and is the first, it is hoped, of many publications of music that COOS has midwifed into being through their mission to explore Black heritage and culture.

Looking into the future, Gordon and the dedicated staff at COOS are at work on a long-term vision that looks to the ongoing work of breaking down barriers and creating more access and opportunities for Black composers, performers, and artists of all kinds both locally and in the wider community of musicians. There is interest in creating a recording arm under the auspices of COOS as well. Ashleigh Gordon is also, of course, a violist. As a supporter of and fierce performer on our beloved instrument, as well as a tireless advocate for the voices and work of Black creatives, she has hopes for the American Viola Society. As the classical music world struggles to find its place on the right side of history, she hopes that the AVS will continue to fight for and promote issues of inclusion and diversity, and not only in a year in which the temperature went up for all of us in terms of recognizing racial injustice and inequity. We can continue to promote, create and enhance such needed resources as the American Viola Society’s Underrepresented Composers Database. At every conference and festival we can feature the works of such composers, and not just in one fifty-minute program, but in panel discussions and multiple performance opportunities for BIPOC performers and composers throughout. And we can continue to program in our own performances and in the works that we teach our students, music from the amazingly diverse universe of music by Black composers, both past and present. Ashleigh Gordon is a powerful advocate for the cause which we all share, of learning about and sharing beautiful music by the diverse voices within classical music. And she’s here to stay. Martha Carapetyan is a violist, teacher and writer living in Austin, Texas. She is a member of the Austin Symphony Orchestra and an avid chamber musician. During the pandemic, she discovered the joy of playing duet concerts on her porch for her neighbors and is looking forward to many more in the years to come!

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 37, 2021 Online Issue

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