Atlanta's All-Black Orchestra is coming to LA!
Join Orchestra Noir for their Y2K Meets 90s Tour this Friday & Saturday in Southern California!
We are the culture, in all of its forms.
Y’all may not know this about me, but I’m a classically-trained composer and pianist.
I studied through college, got my degree in composition, and originally moved to LA to earn my graduate certificate in film scoring. I spend 100% of my time working on BLK Events LA, and the other 100% of my time writing music for film & ads.
As I was coming up, I was the only living Black composer I knew of. Sure, there were legends like William Grant Still, Florence Beatrice Price and Duke Ellington, but I had no one I could look in the eyes and say “you’re like me.” Concert music, in its many forms, was an intentionally difficult field to pursue. It felt like I was trained by administrators and even peers to shrug at the piano and say “that wasn’t made for me.”
Their image of Blackness was desolately monolithic. Like choosing to play and write was synonymous with turning my back on the culture. The truth that I came to learn, the truth that I hope we all hold within ourselves now, is that we are the culture, no matter how we express it. That Blackness rises in the way we stroke the keys and bend the guitar to our will. The way we clap before we dance or shape a well-known melody in our image. As our Rap Lord & Savior Doechii says in her Grammy award-winning album ALLIGATOR BITES NEVER HEAL, “It’s everything! I’M EVERYTHING!”
Atlanta’s All-Black Orchestra is celebrating Blackness As Everything on their Y2K Meets 90s Tour.
Founded in 2016 by Maestro Jason Ikeem Rodgers, Orchestra Noir celebrates the cultural achievements of African-American music pioneers across all genres of music including classical, jazz, blues, hip-hop and R&B. This Friday in Riverside and Saturday in Los Angeles, they’re playing the biggest hits from the 90s and 2000s, and YOU need to be there!
Orchestra Noir’s world-renowned brass players, keyboardists, string players, drummers, guitarists, and more will take you on a one-of-a-kind musical journey that transports you straight into the heart of 90s and 00s nostalgia. Get ready to dance, sing, and vibe all night long!
Remember, you are everything. Look yourself in the mirror and say it above a whisper. Celebrate your everything with Orchestra Noir this weekend! Get your tickets before they sell out, I’m so serious.
🗓 Friday, February 21st
⏰ Doors at 7pm, Show at 8pm
📍 Fox Performing Arts Center — 3801 Mission Inn Ave, Riverside, CA
🗓 Saturday, February 22nd
⏰ Doors at 7pm, Show at 8pm
📍 The Wiltern — 3790 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA
P.S. I now have Black composers I can look in the eyes and say “you’re like me.” These are their names & their work: Pierre Charles, Dara Taylor, Paul Cornish, Michael Abels, Mattea Williams, Chanda Dancy (who most recently scored One of Them Days!), Evan Wright, and Amanda Jones. We are the culture, in all of its forms.
