“The Burning Bush”

Jasmine Arielle-Barnes (Composer), Joshua Banbury (Libretto)

Suzannah Waddington - Soprano

Daniel J. Smith - Baritone

Roderick Demmings, Jr. - Pianist

About the Project

Inspired by the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, a visual interpretation of the moral trauma of our history, The Cartography Project seeks to use music as both a source of healing and a way to open dialogue about the future of anti-racism. The NSO, WNO, and Kennedy Center will be commissioning composers and librettists from regions spanning the entire country to create work that responds to an event that has occurred in that region and also asks, “Where do we go from here?”

Comprising eight works that together create a musical map of these incidents, the commissions, which will premiere during the 50th Anniversary season, focus on the road forward on our country’s racial timeline with an emphasis on the concept of “Black Dignity.”