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	<title>Valerie Coleman Archives - Cultural Attaché</title>
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		<title>Conductor Jeri Lynne Johnson: A War of Attrition</title>
		<link>https://culturalattache.co/2022/11/09/conductor-jeri-lynne-johnson-a-war-of-attrition/</link>
					<comments>https://culturalattache.co/2022/11/09/conductor-jeri-lynne-johnson-a-war-of-attrition/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Craig Byrd]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 10 Nov 2022 01:27:38 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Classical: Metronome]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[What's Hot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Courtney Bryan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DEI Arts Consulting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Florence Price]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jennifer Higdon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jeri Lynne Johnson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Julia Bullock]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Los Angeles Philharmonic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ludwig van Beethoven]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Margaret Bonds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Omar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rhiannon Giddens]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Richard Wagner]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rock My Soul Festival]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Santa Fe Opera]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[This Little Light of Mine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Valerie Coleman]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://culturalattache.co/?p=17349</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>"The inherent understanding of genius, stifled genius, unrecognized genius, not given the support and the nourishment that it deserves and having to find its own way. I understand that completely."</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2022/11/09/conductor-jeri-lynne-johnson-a-war-of-attrition/">Conductor Jeri Lynne Johnson: A War of Attrition</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17352" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Conductor Jeri Lynne Johnson (Courtesy JeriLynneJohnson.com)</figcaption></figure></div>


<p>Los Angeles Philharmonic&#8217;s <em>Rock My Soul Festival,</em> curated by Julia Bullock, has more exciting programming for its second full weekend. <a href="https://www.laphil.com/events/performances/1796/2022-11-11/bryan-coleman-price" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">On Friday</a> the orchestra will play works by contemporary composers Valerie Coleman and Courtney Bryan along with the <em>Symphony No. 3</em> by Florence Price.  <a href="https://www.laphil.com/events/performances/1798/2022-11-12/rhiannon-giddens" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">On Saturday</a> Rhiannon Giddens, whose opera <em><a href="https://www.laopera.org/performances/202223-season/omar/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Omar</a></em> has its final performance at LA Opera on Sunday, will perform with the LA Phil and the Resistance Revival Chorus. Leading both shows from the podium will be Jeri Lynne Johnson.</p>



<p>Johnson most recently conducted the world premiere performances of <em>This Little Light of Mine</em> at Santa Fe Opera. She is also the founder and Artistic Director of <a href="https://www.blackpearlco.org" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra</a>. In 2015 she founded <a href="https://www.deiartsconsulting.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">DEI Arts Consulting</a> &#8220;for cultural institutions seeking to create a culture of belonging.&#8221;</p>



<p>When you click on the <em>about</em> tab on her website, the page says &#8220;Black female conductor,&#8221; a title which is as unique as you think it is. </p>



<p>We spoke a few weeks ago while she was in New Mexico for <em>This Little Light of Mine</em>. We spoke about working with other women, the <em>Rock My Soul Festival</em>, opportunities she&#8217;d like to have and more. What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity.</p>



<p>You&#8217;ve stated that it was a concert when you were seven years old that instilled in you this passion to be involved with music. Do you remember what was on that program and was there anything specific about that day?</p>



<p><strong>I don&#8217;t remember the exact program. I just remember it was Beethoven. It was probably one of the odd numbered symphonies. It was the Minnesota Orchestra when Neville Marriner was the music director. As a young musician I was in love with music and as a pianist I realized I don&#8217;t see a piano on stage. I just figured out that what I have to do is what that man with the stick is doing. If I want to make that music I have to be a conductor.</strong></p>



<p>They could have played a Beethoven piano concerto. Then what would you have done?&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>You know that is a very interesting question. That has never occurred to me.<em> </em>I always loved piano, but I always wanted to be a conductor. I knew that I made the right choice because I never get nervous as the conductor. As a pianist you get so nervous in your hands and everything. I just never get nervous as a conductor. I always feel like I can trust the musicians, God forbid, if anything goes wrong.</strong></p>



<p>What was your first reaction when you heard about the <em>Rock My Soul Festival</em> and what makes this festival unique?&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>I think what makes this festival unique is the wide range of talents that people are going to see on the stage. Nowadays as artists it&#8217;s not unusual for us to have a variety of genres and styles that we&#8217;re fluent in. That used to be very frowned upon. In an earlier era you only did classical music. If you were to do anything else you didn&#8217;t tell anybody about it for fear that you wouldn&#8217;t be taken seriously as a classical musician. I think nowadays there is a willingness to recognize excellence across a variety of genres and styles.</strong></p>



<p><strong>We&#8217;re also doing, of course, compositions by women whose voices are typically underrepresented in music; folk living and who have passed on. I think the thing that connects these composers across time is their willingness to engage in the cultural issues of their day as composers. </strong></p>



<p><strong>For Courtney Bryant, her piece was about Black Lives Matter, especially after the murder of George Floyd. Florence Price and Margaret Bonds&#8217;s work was written in the era of the Harlem Renaissance. So there was a lot of connection around what it meant to be African-American, what it meant to be Black, what it meant to be Negro in America, as they called it. I wanted to engage with who they were as people and use their music to do so.</strong></p>



<p><a href="https://culturalattache.co/2022/11/02/soprano-julia-bullock-wants-to-rock-your-soul/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Julia Bullock</a> told me she was really inspired by that relationship between Florence Price and Margaret Bonds and how she feels the world doesn&#8217;t allow for that much anymore because people seem to feel the need to be more competitive with one another. Has it really gotten to that point?<em>&nbsp;</em></p>



<p><strong>If that is the case I have not experienced it. This is my first time working with Julia who is a lovely person. I work with a number of African-American women. For me, the experience has always been one of mutual respect and gratitude and recognition.</strong> </p>



<p><strong>If we are all here at this place together, it is because we all have sacrificed a great deal to be there. We have all earned our place here. For me it has been nothing but mutual respect and collegiality and a willingness to also hold the door open for other people of talent that maybe we haven&#8217;t heard of. That we can connect through and find out about it without putting it a negative spin on it. The more that Black women in classical music are able to work with each other and collaborate, like on this festival, you begin to build that professional trust and that network so that you see more of us out there performing more regularly.</strong> </p>



<p>In a video that you did for Careers for Girls you mentioned that it was your job to express emotion from the podium so that you can get the emotion out of the orchestra. What emotional connection do you feel to the work of Florence Price and Margaret Bonds that you then plan to translate to the orchestra?</p>



<p><strong>The connection for me, if I can be raw here for a moment and vulnerable and transparent, which I know is like a no-no for conductors, but it is the inherent understanding of genius, stifled genius, unrecognized genius, not given the support and the nourishment that it deserves and having to find its own way. I understand that completely. </strong></p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Conductor-Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-1-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17354" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Conductor-Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Conductor-Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Conductor-Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Conductor-Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Conductor-Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-1-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Conductor-Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-1-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Conductor-Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-1-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Conductor-Jeri-Lynne-Johnson-Courtesy-JeriLynneJohnson.com_-1.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Conductor Jeri Lynne Johnson (Courtesy JeriLynneJohnson.com)</figcaption></figure></div>


<p><strong>I can&#8217;t tell you as a young conductor how many times I was denied opportunity or just not even paid attention to because of who I am. So I look at these works and women with enormous talent and such incredible gifts who, had they had the ability to work with someone like a Nadia Boulanger as Aaron Copland did, what more would we have seen from them? What we have is incredible and so interesting, unbelievably rich, complicated, complex and soulful. It brings tears to my eyes to see the level of excellence that their works are now commanding and the attention they&#8217;re getting. </strong></p>



<p>You were talking about genius stifled and denied opportunities. It&#8217;s not an easy path being a woman who conducts classical music. I&#8217;m sure it&#8217;s even tougher being a Black woman who conducts classical music. How much more complicated does that equation become when you are a person of color?</p>



<p><strong>The way that race and gender intersect in my career has been very interesting. Not everything that I&#8217;ve dealt with has been related to that. Conducting is hard, as you know. For young conductors, it&#8217;s just a difficult time.</strong> [Composer] <strong>Jennifer Higdon and I were talking and I was lamenting when I was younger, like, oh, this is never going to work. I should just give up and become a buyer for Neiman Marcus or something. </strong></p>



<p><strong>She told me this is a war of attrition. She said whoever lasts the longest lives. She talked about her experience as a composer, as a woman. So I have that tape loop in my head &#8211; this is a war of attrition. </strong></p>



<p><strong>I think the timing was just right now for me to had been working for this amount of time, to be holding my breath, to be in a position to be able to take advantage of when the L.A. Phil calls and when the Chicago Symphony calls and when Santa Fe Opera calls. The only thing keeping me from these positions before George Floyd was being a Black woman. </strong></p>



<p><strong>Now because I&#8217;m a Black woman people are now beginning to pay attention to me. The work has always been there. The study, the commitment to excellence of artistry, has always been there. The only thing has changed is people&#8217;s perceptions of where excellence resides as an artist and where it can reside and who can embody that on the podium.&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>Is true systemic change going to happen without the same changes that we see on the stage taking place in the executive offices?&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>You&#8217;re absolutely right that it has to be. There&#8217;s always a power dynamic in any of these relationships of who hires whom and who makes those decisions. We always tell our clients that that representation is not enough. It has to be true empowerment. Until there&#8217;s a very diverse setting at the table of who gets to make these decisions it&#8217;s always going to be a struggle. </strong></p>



<p><strong>I think there&#8217;s a lot of fragility around will donors accept this? Will they like it? Change is hard for anyone and you have to be prepared to lose some people along the way. Some people just aren&#8217;t going to want to change and that&#8217;s okay. But in order to do the work authentically, you have to be prepared to lose a little something in order to gain something on the other side.&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>And how many Beethoven festivals does any one organization need to do every few seasons?</p>



<p><strong>I&#8217;m going to put it out there in the universe. I really want to be the first Black woman to have a set of Beethoven&#8217;s nine symphonies recorded.<em>&nbsp;</em>It was kind of my dream as a young conductor so I&#8217;m holding fast to that.</strong></p>



<p>I think since you&#8217;re making your Santa Fe Opera debut, you should also put on your list conducting the <em>Ring Cycle</em>.<em>&nbsp;</em></p>



<p><strong>That is on my to-do list. I studied it extensively. I think of Wagner, as a person, as a really awful human being. But his music is just stunningly gorgeous.</strong></p>



<p>Florence Price, in a letter to composer/conductor Serge Koussevitzky, then music director of the Boston Symphony, said, &#8220;Unfortunately the work of a woman composer is preconceived by many to be light, froth, lacking in depth, logic and virility. Add to that my race – I have colored blood in my veins – and you will understand some of the difficulties that confront one in such a position.” If you had a chance to update Florence Price about the world she so wanted to be a part of, what would you say?</p>



<p><strong>I would give her the same advice that Jennifer Higdon told me: that it is a war of attrition. We fight these battles on hearts and minds and that art is a mighty warrior. And that people see you. People appreciate you and people understand you. The artists who understand your work, who understand your struggle, will find you. She&#8217;s having her moment and hopefully this moment lasts beyond the political interest of the moment and into real recognition of her as an artist and placing her and Margaret Bonds and others in relationship to their colleagues.</strong><em>&nbsp;</em></p>



<p>Main Photo: Jeri Lynne Johnson (Courtesy LA Philharmonic)</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2022/11/09/conductor-jeri-lynne-johnson-a-war-of-attrition/">Conductor Jeri Lynne Johnson: A War of Attrition</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p>
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			</item>
		<item>
		<title>Soprano Julia Bullock Wants to Rock Your Soul</title>
		<link>https://culturalattache.co/2022/11/02/soprano-julia-bullock-wants-to-rock-your-soul/</link>
					<comments>https://culturalattache.co/2022/11/02/soprano-julia-bullock-wants-to-rock-your-soul/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Craig Byrd]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 03 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Classical: Metronome]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[What's Hot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bell Hooks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Christian Reif]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Courtney Brian]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Florence Price]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[History&#039;s Persistent Voice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[J&#039;Nai Bridges]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[James Agee]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jasmine White]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jeri Lynn Johnson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Adams]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Julia Bullock]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Los Angeles Philharmonic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Margaret Bonds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Meshell Ndegeocello]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Michelle Bradley]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Michelle Cann]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nonesuch Records]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Peter Sellars]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rhiannon Giddens]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rock Your Soul Festival]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Samuel Barber]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Valerie Coleman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Walking the Dark]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://culturalattache.co/?p=17271</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>"I made a lot of peace with who I am and how I also am expanding in the various roles that I can take on and feel comfortable in."</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2022/11/02/soprano-julia-bullock-wants-to-rock-your-soul/">Soprano Julia Bullock Wants to Rock Your Soul</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-2-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17279" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-2-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-2-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-2-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-2-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-2-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-2-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-2-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-2-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt.jpg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></figure></div>


<p>This year is going out with a bang for soprano Julia Bullock. She&#8217;s curated the <a href="https://www.laphil.com/concerts-and-events/festivals/rock-my-soul-festival" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Rock Your Soul Festival</em> </a>with the Los Angeles Philharmonic that starts in earnest on November 5th and runs through November 22nd. She has her first solo recording coming out from Nonesuch Records. It&#8217;s called <em><a href="https://www.nonesuch.com/albums/walking-in-the-dark" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Walking in the Dark</a></em>. Finally she and pianist/conductor husband Christian Reif are expecting their first child any day now.</p>



<p><em>Rock Your Soul</em> <em>Festival</em> was originally conceived by the LA Phil as a celebration of the work and friendship of Florence Price and Margaret Bonds. The title harkens back to a spiritual (<em>Rock My Soul in the Bosom of Abraham</em>) and a book by noted author and activist Bell Hooks (<em>Rock My Soul: Black People and Self-Esteem</em>).</p>



<p>Amongst the artists Bullock has assembled for the festival are soprano Michelle Bradley, mezzo-soprano <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2022/05/31/jnai-bridges-enters-peter-lorraine-hunt-liebersons-world/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">J&#8217;Nai Bridges</a>, pianist Michelle Cann (look for our interview with her later this week), singer/composer Rhiannon Giddens, conductor Jeri Lynn Johnson, singer/songwriter <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2019/07/11/meshell-ndegeocello-unplugged-and-unmasked/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Meshell Ndegeocello</a> and mezzo-soprano Jasmine White.</p>



<p><em>Walking in the Dark</em> finds Bullock performing works by John Adams, Samuel Barber, Oscar Brown Jr., <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDdUOXpp6Zc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Connie Converse</a> and Sandy Denny. It&#8217;s a beautiful record that is set for release on December 9th. Reif plays piano on the recording and leads the Philharmonia Orchestra of London as well.</p>



<p>Bullock&#8217;s pregnancy precludes her from performing in <em>Rock Your Soul Festival</em>, but it did allow for other opportunities which she described in our conversation recently. What follows are excerpts from that conversation which have been edited for length and for clarity.</p>



<p>I want to start by asking you about something you told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/25/arts/music/julia-bullock-zauberland-lincoln-center.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Zachary Wolff</a> in the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">New York Times</span> in 2019. It was advice your mother gave you: &#8220;Make sure that your work is making a difference for the betterment of the world.&#8221; You seem to have taken up that challenge and made it your mission. How do you think that has made your career different than others and, by extension, more fulfilling for you?&nbsp;</p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17280" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></figure></div>


<p><strong>Well, I don&#8217;t know if it&#8217;s made it so much different from other people&#8217;s. I think every artist has a call in one way or another to have a mission or have their their passion realized. I don&#8217;t have a casual relationship with music. In fact, my desire to sing and also share music is because I know the impact that it&#8217;s had on my life and also how it&#8217;s enriched my life and helps me feel more interconnected and engaged. </strong></p>



<p><strong>I guess I&#8217;m always looking for ways to deepen that exploration and enjoy it in the process. I find that most of the artists whose work I really love also have this sort of mission. They&#8217;re very much conscious of the world that was going on around them and trying to make sense of it or call out hypocrisies. I&#8217;m not sure if I feel it&#8217;s so different than what other artists are doing. I guess I&#8217;ve just given myself permission to expand that in as many directions as I can imagine.</strong></p>



<p>I would assume that in doing that, when someone like Peter Sellars says &#8220;Her path is going to be our path,&#8221; that&#8217;s got to be both hugely flattering and also a bit of a mantle to take on on a certain level.</p>



<p><strong>I truthfully don&#8217;t like to be positioned in any capacity. I appreciate that Peter feels that the way that I work, the reflections that I have, and just the fact that I&#8217;m really dedicated to my craft and my own development and learning, is something that he wants to celebrate. I guess I celebrate that, too. That would be part of why, in the performing arts in particular, I don&#8217;t take that pressure on because that&#8217;s just a projection of something. The work that I do is not trying to live into some projection of Julia.&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p>In the liner notes for <em>Walking in the Dark</em> you conclude your statements in the liner notes with &#8220;If our intentions are translated well enough and are clearly in focus, it may lead to some moments of illumination.&#8221; What has been the process of making your intentions perfectly clear with the <em>Rock Your Soul Festival</em>?</p>


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<figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17275" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Florence-Price-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Florence Price (Courtesy New York Public Library Archive)</figcaption></figure></div>


<p><strong>It was their idea, not the title or anything like that, but just the proposal to curate a program that was focusing on the relationship between Margaret Bonds and Florence Price. Other than their vocal music and really just their songs, I was not too familiar with a lot of their repertoire &#8211; the breadth of their repertoire. It was an opportunity for me to again delve into some research and take six, seven months to consider the work of composers that I had not had the time or had this opportunity to look at. </strong></p>



<p><strong>I was reading about their personal lives and also this relationship of mutual support. They had this teacher</strong> (Price)<strong>/ student</strong> (Bonds) <strong>relationship.</strong> <strong>When there were really troubling times for Florence Price in her personal life she went and lived with Margaret Bonds for a period of time. That really communicated this beautiful thing. It wasn&#8217;t just about their artistic output. It was also about nurturing and respecting each other as human beings and fully supporting each other that way. That was something I really wanted to celebrate and acknowledge besides just sharing their repertoire. </strong></p>


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<figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17276" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Margaret-Bonds-Courtesy-New-York-Public-Library-Archive.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Margaret Bonds (Courtesy New York Public Library Archives)</figcaption></figure></div>


<p><strong>Every single artist that was invited into the festival there is this feeling of mutual support. Every single composer that I know, that I work with personally and also the composers that I either read their letters or biographies, they openly admit how influenced they are by the people who are around them. And they seek out guidance and advice. They are influenced by what&#8217;s going on socially, politically.</strong> </p>



<p>I think we can learn a lot from what Florence Price and Margaret Bonds did in terms of shared experiences as musicians and as human beings. Because it goes without saying that a lot of people care more about ideologies and less about each other as human beings right now. Perhaps the festival can find a way to bridge that divide.</p>



<p><strong>It can be very closed and people can get very closed. Growing up listening to recordings, my family had vinyls or cassettes playing all the time. A lot of the time we listened to music together. Even if I was alone I was still playing music, not locked into an earphone or earbuds privately, it was something that was heard in the house &#8211; the shared space. I think music can foster some really beautiful acknowledgment of each other.&nbsp;It&#8217;s not just some theoretical exercise. It&#8217;s like actually putting it into practice. I think that&#8217;s probably what drove me and that&#8217;s what drives most musicians to make music. Because you&#8217;re wanting a shared experience and wanting to share your own experience as well.<em>&nbsp;</em></strong></p>



<p>Once you became pregnant and knew that being here for the festival wasn&#8217;t going to be possible did that give you any opportunities to make changes or add other things that maybe couldn&#8217;t fit into the program because you were a part of it at one point and now you were not?<em>&nbsp;</em></p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="169" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-4-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1-300x169.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17282" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-4-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-4-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-4-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-4-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-4-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1-696x392.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-4-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1-1068x601.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-4-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1-747x420.jpg 747w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Julia-Bullock-4-Photo-by-Allison-Michael-orenstein-Courtesy-Askonas-Holt-1.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></figure></div>


<p><strong>I&#8217;m sad. I&#8217;m just not going to be there. Obviously I&#8217;m growing a human being. So that&#8217;s what it is.</strong><em>&nbsp;</em></p>



<p><strong>I was supposed to perform <a href="https://juliabullock.com/met-residency-historys-persistent-voice/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">History&#8217;s Persistent Voice</a>, which featured a lot of  contemporary composers who are all Black women. That was an hour-and-a-half program.<em>&nbsp;</em>I decided to save this for another season and think about another program. </strong></p>



<p><strong>That was a great opportunity to perform one of <a href="https://www.laphil.com/events/performances/1796/2022-11-11/bryan-bonds-price" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Florence Price&#8217; full symphonies</a>. It was also an opportunity then for me to think about the composers who were associated with <em>History&#8217;s Persistence Voice</em> and look at some of their other pieces and see if there was a way to feature their work.</strong>&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>I&#8217;m really excited Courtney Brian&#8217;s <em>Sanctum</em> is included. Her work is just super powerful and I&#8217;m so glad that that is going to have a premiere at the LA Phil. Valerie Coleman&#8217;s selections from her <em>Phenomenal Women</em> will be featured as well. It&#8217;s the first time that she will have anything performed at the Phil.</strong></p>



<p>Your first album is going to be something that was to be considered carefully. Now that you&#8217;ve recorded it, and I know from earlier in this conversation you haven&#8217;t listened to it recently, but what would you like listeners to know about you from hearing the choices that you made for <em>Walking in the Dark</em> and the performances you give? </p>



<p><strong>What do I want them to know about me? I really hope it is just an invitation. All of the music that&#8217;s on this is material I&#8217;ve lived with for honestly two decades and some of it I&#8217;ve performed for a decade. The chance to lay it down and be a part of a recording legacy of some of these pieces that have also been recorded by so many different artists was a rare and wonderful opportunity. It&#8217;s not one that I take for granted. </strong></p>


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignleft size-medium"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="300" src="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Walking-in-the-Dark-Album-Cover-300x300.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17277" srcset="https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Walking-in-the-Dark-Album-Cover-300x300.jpg 300w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Walking-in-the-Dark-Album-Cover-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Walking-in-the-Dark-Album-Cover-150x150.jpg 150w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Walking-in-the-Dark-Album-Cover-768x768.jpg 768w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Walking-in-the-Dark-Album-Cover-696x696.jpg 696w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Walking-in-the-Dark-Album-Cover-1068x1068.jpg 1068w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Walking-in-the-Dark-Album-Cover-420x420.jpg 420w, https://culturalattache.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Walking-in-the-Dark-Album-Cover.jpg 1080w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></figure></div>


<p><strong><em>Walking in the Dark</em>, I mean the title of it. I didn&#8217;t write this in the liner notes and I&#8217;ve only brought it up to a few people, but I want to make it very clear that darkness is not something that should have, in fact, any kind of negative association. I feel in some ways that darkness, or blackness even, has been conditioned in certain parts of societies or cultures to have negative connotations and somehow promotes the idea of a white supremacist ideology. That really is not something that I can tolerate. </strong></p>



<p><strong>I guess it&#8217;s been something I have grappled with &#8211; a collective question about identity or I have felt that I have had to question my identity for a very, very long time. I made a lot of peace with who I am and how I also am expanding in the various roles that I can take on and feel comfortable in.</strong></p>



<p>James Agee, who probably needs no introduction to you since his poetry inspired Samuel Barber&#8217;s <em>Knoxville Summer of 1915</em> (which Bullock performs on <em>Walking in the Dark</em>), is quoted as saying, &#8220;Some people get where they hope to in this world. Most of us don&#8217;t.&#8221; I feel like in watching your career over the last number of years that you&#8217;re actively working through your art and through your activism to get the world to where you hope it will be. As a soon-to-be mother, what is the world you&#8217;d like to see your child living in and how do you think your art can pave a path for that to be a reality?&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>Well, I hope that this child will feel safe. That the child will not be limited in anything that they want to invest in and enjoy. That there will be not be a lot of assumptions made or anticipated projections of this child and what they feel they have to represent so that they can just live their lives. But there&#8217;s something in safety that feels really important right now.</strong></p>



<p>Photos of Julia Bullock (By Allison Michael Orenstein/Courtesy Askonas Holt)</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://culturalattache.co/2022/11/02/soprano-julia-bullock-wants-to-rock-your-soul/">Soprano Julia Bullock Wants to Rock Your Soul</a> appeared first on <a href="https://culturalattache.co">Cultural Attaché</a>.</p>
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