Grammy-Nominated Composer Patrice Rushen To Premiere New Jazz Work For The Carr Center's 30th Anniversary Year

The Carr Center, the legacy Black arts presenter located in the heart of Detroit's downtown cultural district, has announced that Grammy-nominated composer and multi-instrumentalist Patrice Rushen will premiere "The Resonate Suite," featuring The Gathering Orchestra Nonet, a newly commissioned jazz work celebrating the Carr Center's 30th Anniversary during a special concert on Saturday, May 21, 2022, at Detroit School of Arts, 123 Selden Avenue, Detroit, Michigan 48201, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for the concert event are available at thecarrcenter.org. Register to view the live stream of the concert on the website.

This highly anticipated live show will be the culmination of The Carr Center's Gathering Orchestra Residency, where Rushen - who is the 2022 Artist in Residence - spends one week with the Center's own The Gathering Orchestra Nonet, directed by Rodney Whitaker. "The Resonate Suite" is composed for three saxophones, trumpet, trombone, piano, drums, bass, and guitar, and features three movements, representing three decades. The new piece will be part of a longer program of jazz works performed by the nine-piece ensemble.

The Gathering Residency is a two-year fellowship program at the Carr Center, under the direction of Whitaker, renowned bassist, a former member of Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and the Carr Center Resident Artist. The program offers young musicians ages 18 to 28 the opportunity to rehearse and perform with professional mentors on standards, large ensemble classics, new music, and their original compositions. The fellowship has been downsized to nine musicians during the pandemic; as a result, the 2021-22 cohort performed its first international program virtually.

Rushen's new work was commissioned as part of Resonate, a multi-year collaboration lead by Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings and the Carr Center that explores the African Diaspora through the lens of contemporary American chamber music.

The classically trained artist is among seven American composers commissioned to create new works to be performed by each of the collaborators during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons. Collaborators include Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings, the Carr Center, Oberlin Conservatory, Bowling Green State University, The University of Michigan/Ann Arbor, Michigan State University, and Western Michigan University.

The Resonate Project will culminate in a symposium in April 2023, hosted by The Carr Center and chaired by Rushen that will bring together the composers from seven collaborating institutions. In addition, the musicians will perform the works from the seven participating composers.

"We're very proud to premiere Patrice's work celebrating thirty years of The Carr Center, especially as part of the Resonate program, where all seven of the commissioned composers are people of color," says Oliver Ragsdale, Jr., President and CEO of the Carr Center. "All the works composed are chamber music pieces, which will be performed by fewer than ten people and that's why The Gathering Orchestra is performing it. Patrice's work is the only jazz-focused composition."