In November, the Strings of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO), in conjunction with Trilogy Opera Company, in Newark, presented selections from Michael Raphael’s oratorio “Emmet Till” in a special Zoom event that combined beautiful, heart-rending music, historically horrific photographs, and a very pointed and necessary panel discussion that framed the past, correlated it with the present, and made the case for creating change, that we need, to build a future that gives hope for equity for generations to come.
Maynor hosted a panel discussion with Bethany Baptist Church Senior Pastor Rev. Dr. Timothy Levi Adkins-Jones; retired Director of Human Resources for East Orange, Newark, and Milburn Public Schools Candace Wildy; Township of Irvington Municipal Judge and former Essex County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Keith Harvest; State of New Jersey Assistant Deputy Public Defender Frantz Massé; Zion Hill Baptist Church Senior Pastor Rev. Douglas Williams and NJSO President and CEO Gabriel van Aalst. Each person discussed a different aspect of making certain that culture is reflective of the communities that are served, and “change takes effort, and giving up control,” in the words of Gabriel van Aalst. He acknowledged Henry Lewis, NJSO’s music director, who, when appointed in 1968, was the first African-American music director of a major symphony orchestra. Van Aalst says that the time is now to move forward with big steps. Kevin Maynor is an active advocate for exposure of the community to all types of music while reinforcing all aspects of culture. It is his mission to make music connect to the heart as well as the brain.
Trilogy, as an opera company in Newark, began life as an idea for a one-off festival that found one was not enough. Performances on this evening featured Maynor as the archangel; Chantel Grant as Mamie Till, mother of Emmett; with Daniel Gunwa, David Gunwa and Kordell Tate Roberts, all of the Newark Boys Chorus, directed by Donald Morris, as Emmett. Hearing Mamie sing of the need to open the casket to show what had been done to her child gave a ruined face, a communal memory of the inhumanity of racism and the actions that hatred create. This brave mother’s action sowed the seeds in 1955 that were tended by civil rights activists. Emmet Till gave a face to racism in America and we have still not given him rest. NJSO and Trilogy together are just the beginning of the wave of change, of which we can all be a part. Support NJSO. Support Trilogy. Live the life of the mind and carry the torch of equity forward. Visit NJSO at https://www.njsymphony.org/concerts-and-events to learn more about this brilliant season.