Ensemble 20/21 - Music of Change

Ensemble 20/21 presents a unique and timely multi-media concert experience, in collaboration with The Purple Project for Democracy,

This program, dedicated to music and civic engagement, includes a world premiere by composer Alexis C. Lamb and designer Camilla Tassi. Their new work centers on American democracy and the average citizen’s power to shape it. Animated photos depicting images of powerful civic action play side-by-side with sung and spoken texts pulled from landmark rulings of the Supreme Court. In an era of hyper-partisan politics and political gridlock, this performance will leave you inspired to engage with the democratic process.

Ensemble 20/21 will also celebrate the University of Pennsylvania’s illustrious compositional history during this concert. One such highlight of the evening includes the Philadelphia premiere of Kronos-Kryptos, one of George Crumb’s latest compositions. All of Curtis’s percussionists join forces to bring this quintet to life, from the joyous, metallic opening movement “Easter Dawning” through the second movement’s “Ghostly Barcarolle,” the thunderous third movement “Drummers of the Apocalypse,” and the fourth movement’s “Appalachian Echoes.”