Good evening. Tonight's performance features Douglass Portrait by J. Kimo Williams — a work that invites us to experience Frederick Douglass not as a distant historical figure, but as a living presence whose words still challenge and inspire us.
Rather than dramatizing Douglass's life, the piece offers a musical portrait—an attempt to capture his voice, his character, and the extraordinary moral clarity that defined him. Throughout the work, you'll hear two recurring musical ideas: a "Passage" theme, representing Douglass's physical and emotional journey, and a slave's cry motif, reflecting the enduring weight of bondage.
The music traces Douglass's path from his Maryland enslavement to the awakening of his mind, his daring flight to freedom, and his travels in Ireland, where he found a sense of equality he had never known in America. It follows him back across the Atlantic, newly emboldened, and into his lifelong fight against the hypocrisy of slavery and the denial of rights to women and the oppressed.
The work also carries personal meaning for the composer, who incorporates musical motifs from previous works first realized with a $35 guitar and cassette tape recorder during his service in Vietnam—linking his own search for identity to Douglass's pursuit of justice.
As you listen, you are invited not only to hear Douglass's words, but to reflect on the questions they still pose for us today:
What does freedom mean?
And how do we ensure it belongs to everyone?