San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak St

Donald Lee III, Guest Conductor

• Damien Geter Sinfonia Americana (California Premiere) 

• Joel Thompson To Awaken the Sleeper (California premiere), textby James Baldwin

• Ludwig van Beethoven   Symphony #5

  BARS will perform Joel Thompson's To Awaken the Sleeper, which uses texts by gay author James Baldwin and was co-commissioned by nine orchestras including the London Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Detroit Symphony,  and Atlanta Symphony.  They will also perform Damien Geter's Sinfonia Americana, an exploration of the "American Sound" with "a nod to Black American Culture.  The concert will conclude with the most famous symphony in the world, Beethoven's 5th.  

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  Artists 

• Donald Lee III  American Conductor and Pianist Donald Lee III is quickly becoming known for his versatility and charisma both on the podium and at the keyboard. Lee has appeared in concert with the Des Moines Metro Opera Orchestra, Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra, and members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Lee has been engaged as a cover conductor with the Gateways Festival Orchestra and Des Moines Metro Opera. Recent productions include Salome, Carmen, Champion, and the world premiere of American Apollo. Recent highlights as a pianist include appearing as soloist with the University of Maryland Symphony Orchestra, and recital performances with tenor Lawrence Brownlee, baritone Will Liverman, and countertenor Key’mon Murrah.  As an advocate for the performance of new music by under-represented composers, Lee has conducted the music of Jasmine Barnes, Damien Geter, and Carlos Simon. Lee appeared as the guest conductor for Montgomery Presents the Blacknificent 7, part of the CSO MusicNOW concert series. He has also conducted the workshops of In The Rush, a new opera by Carlos Simon, Lynn Nottage, and Ruby Aiyo-Gerber at Cincinnati Opera and Indiana University. As a pianist, Lee has been a part of the creation of six new operas through Opera Theater St. Louis’ New Works Collective.  He was also the pianist for Will Liverman’s The Factotum, improvising in multiple genres throughout the opera. Lee holds degrees from James Madison University and University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Lee was the inaugural conductor/pianist member of the Ryan Opera Center, the training program of the Lyric Opera of Chicago.   https://www.donaldleeiii.com/

Joel Thompson  is a composer, conductor, pianist and educator whose works aim to prioritize community and facilitate connection, while creating music that is “alive and inquisitive, in constant dialogue” (Arts ATL) and “one of the most attractive things one has heard” (New York Classical Review). His work is both powerful and incisive in centering the concerns and desires of the voiceless and historically marginalized. Thompson currently serves as Houston Grand Opera’s first-ever full-time Composer-in-Residence, holding a five-year residency that commenced in 2022.

 Thompson’s career honors include the 2023 Sphinx Medal of Excellence; a 2018 American Prize for his well-known choral work, Seven Last Words of the Unarmed; and the 2017 Hermitage Prize – an honor bestowed by the Hermitage Artist Retreat. Thompson draws inspiration from artists who transcend labels and have a clear sense of identity, such as Nina Simone, Esperanza Spalding and Cécile McLorin Salvant. 

Thompson holds a B.A. in Music and M.M. in Choral Conducting, both from Emory University, and is currently studying with Aaron Jay Kernis, Christopher Theofanidis, Hannah Lash, Martin Bresnick and David Lang at the Yale School of Music for his D.M.A. in Composition.   https://www.primoartists.com/joel-thompson

Damien Geter is an acclaimed American composer who infuses classical music with various styles from the Black diaspora to create music that furthers the cause for social justice. His rapidly growing and “invigoratingly fresh” (Opera Today) body of work includes chamber, vocal, orchestral, and full operatic works, with his compositions praised for their “skillful vocal writing” (Wall Street Journal). He is Richmond Symphony’s Composer-in-Residence through 2026 and serves as Interim Music Director & Artistic Advisor at Portland Opera.
This season, the world premiere of Geter’s new major opera, Loving v. Virginia, concludes Virginia Opera’s 50th anniversary season. Based on the true story of Mildred and Richard Loving, the opera is co-commissioned by Virginia Opera and Richmond Symphony, co-produced by Virginia Opera and Minnesota Opera, and features a libretto by Jessica Murphy Moo, Denyce Graves as director, and Adam Turner conducting. Another new opera of Geter’s, Delta King’s Blues, commissioned by IN Series, will be workshopped in January 2025 and premiered later that year. His opera American Apollo is based on the relationship between gay painter John Singer Sargent and his black model Thomas Eugene McKeller. His song, Amanirenas, commissioned by soprano Karen Slack for her African Queens art song program, tours at Washington Performing Arts, the Ravinia Festival, Aspen Music Festival, 92nd Street Y New York, the Nashville Symphony, and Friends of Chamber Music Denver. His newly commissioned song, Gentle lady, do not sing, is included on the Choral Scholars University College Dublin’s album, Music by James Joyce, Volume I (September 2024, Signum Classics).
As conductor this season, he leads Paul Moravec’s opera The Shining, based on Stephen King’s iconic novel, at Portland Opera, and Carmel Symphony Orchestra’s Opening Night Gala, America the Beautiful concert. Future commissions include world premieres with the Richmond Symphony and Nathaniel Dett Chorale, plus a new operatic production at Portland Opera in 2026.
Geter is an alumnus of Austrian American Mozart Festival and Aspen Opera Center, was an Irma Cooper Vocal Competition finalist, and toured with American Spiritual Ensemble. He owns DG Music, Sans Fear Publishing. www.damiengetermusic.com.

Pieces 

Sinfonia Americana is an expansion on what has been deemed "the American Sound." As a composer, I spend copious amounts of time trying to define what that even means. The answer, I imagine, lies somewhere in the fact that as I am an American, by default, I have created an American sound — my own — that is influenced by those who came before me who seemed to have success in creating the template for this particular sonic landscape. However, mine grooves a bit, a nod to my Black American culture.The piece is in two main parts with a recap. The opening melodies are interwoven throughout the piece against differing musical ideas which cause the main tunes to act like a chameleon that is shaped by its surroundings.  Commissioned by and premiered with the Richmond Symphony, January 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZObxyRlNO4

To Awaken a Sleeper The insightful and prophetic words of James Baldwin have always been a source of solace for me, and never more so than during the last few years as the country has been forced to grapple with its identity. When commissioned to write a piece for Peter Oundjian and the Colorado Music Festival in 2020, it felt like the perfect opportunity to amplify his words. James Baldwin sought to bear witness to the country that birthed him and hated him, a country that murdered his friends (Evers, King, X) for speaking out against injustice. Despite the pain of those wounds, it is evident that, although Baldwin didn't hesitate to hold our deeply flawed society to account, his words were rooted in an impossible love of this country. Though they were written decades ago, his words still ring true. Today, Baldwin asks us to look in the mirror and reckon with what we see. He asks us to examine the nature of power and its dependence on human will and desire. He asks us to go to "the unprotected" among us in order to examine our supposed love for justice. I like to think that if he were to reword his proposal today, he would include the immigrant, the refugee, the trans person, those without bodily autonomy under the law, and those suffering in the thrall of poverty. Baldwin acknowledges all the messiness and failure and genocide and death that has brought us to this point and he asks us to build a new world where we truly value and support each other in all of our differences. It is in that spirit that the piece was born and I hope that same spirit can continue to move each of us toward a more perfect union.