Claudia Castro Luna

Jessie Montgomery: Banner
George Walker: Lyric for Strings
Silvestre Revueltas: Homenaje a Federico García Lorca
Aaron Copland: Music for the Theatre

Featuring poetry readings by Claudia Castro Luna (learn more)

2:00 PM Sunday, October 15 at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute
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$25 General Admission
$15 Students and Seniors

Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra's 2017-2018 Season "Voices of Courage" kicks off with music and poetry, featuring Seattle's Civic Poet from 2015-2017, Claudia Castro Luna. In this unique event, SMCO examines the search for an American musical identity, explores the lasting influence of Black music in the classical world, and continues a conversation about race and persistent problems of inequality in music.

Jessie Montgomery's acclaimed 2014 work Banner, a piece created as a response to the 200th anniversary of the Star-Spangled Banner by a person of color, will be paired with poetry by Ms. Castro Luna. The program also features Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas' Homage to Federico García Lorca, a work that draws on traditional Latin-American music instead of the European tradition of classical music, paired with García Lorca's poetry. The concert includes music of George Walker, the first Black composer to win the Pulitzer Prize, and wraps up with Aaron Copland's raucous, jazzy masterpiece Music for the Theatre.