Celebrating Youth
Voice at the Library
of Congress!
For a second year in a row, OrchKids
took DC by storm and let their voices
ring! At the invitation of OrchKids
friend and Brown Challenge founding
donor, Librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla
Hayden, our students debuted an original
composition that they had written based
on this year’s theme: the music of Jelly
Roll Morton and Scott Joplin’s award
winning opera, Treemonisha.
Treemonisha was composed by the famous
African American, Joplin, who is also
noted for his ragtime piano works. Joplin
was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer
Prize for music for Treemonisha in 1977.
The opera celebrates African-American
music and culture while emphasizing the
importance of education. Treemonisha
is the name of the central character and
heroine of the opera.
This year’s project was extra special because
OrchKids’ own Director of Programs,
Camille Delaney, had a special connection
to Treemonisha. Camille’s mother, Carmen
Balthrop, is a renowned opera singer who
landed a key role in the opera right after
its 1972 premiere in Atlanta. “When I
heard this music, I was mesmerized. I was
floored!” she told OrchKids. Later, when
she was with the Houston Grand Opera in
the mid-1970’s, she held the star role and
traveled with the production for its six-
month run on Broadway!
In February, Carmen traveled with a group
of OrchKids students to help them comb
thru Library’s collection of documents
and recordings related to Treemonisha
and Joplin. She provided valuable context
for the significant impact the opera had
on the classical music world, as well as
American culture – Joplin being the first
to combine classical melodies over the
intoxicating rhythms of rag time and
jazz. Carmen’s personal accounts of her
relationship to Treemonisha helped guide
the students as they began writing their
own composition.
Helping to foster youth voice is a core
component to the success of our program
and to the success of our students. One way
that OrchKids creates space for students
to express their ideas, visions, and goals
is through special collective composition
workshops. These workshops are facilitated
and guided by OrchKids teaching artists, but
the content is exclusively driven by students.
In order for students to practice and hone
their self-expression and communication
skills, they need to experience voicing their
perspectives in a safe environment that also
challenges them to thoroughly flesh out and
advocate for their ideas.
At one of their composition sessions
(inspired by their research on Joplin)
students explored and wrote music about
the damaging impact of racism. African
American students from the West side, for
example, encounter racism in very different
ways than Latinx students on the East side.
During the session, students discussed
and shared their experiences – and created
music from what they learned.
One special guest who was in the audience
at the Library of Congress and knows
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