Do classical musicians have a role to play in advancing social justice? We talk to composer Judah Adashi, who is on the faculty of the Peabody Institute. Adashi is teaching a new workshop at the Peabody on Art and Activism, and he frequently takes on social issues in his work. He talks with us about art, activism, and the delicate balance between social critique and propaganda.
Here is a link to "Rise," a collaboration by Adashi and poet Tameka Cage Conley. Adashi’s website describes the subject of "Rise" as “America’s fraught civil rights journey from Selma to Ferguson and beyond.” The 40-minute piece for double choir and chamber ensemble premiered last year in Washington -- as it turned out, on the same day Freddie Gray died in Baltimore.
