New work by Chattanooga’s Roland Carter is part spiritual, part rap honoring Rep. John Lewis

Music by Chattanooga composer Roland Carter has been performed for tens of thousands of listeners, including National Public Radio audiences and U.S. presidents. Friday, his latest composition, a nationally commissioned work honoring the late Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, will get its world premiere at Second Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga.

Choruses from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga will debut the piece, “Make Some Noise, Get in Trouble (Good Trouble, Necessary Trouble),” as part of a concert devoted entirely to works by African American composers. Kevin Ford, director of choral activities at UTC, called Carter’s piece “the main draw.”

Carter, 79, is most often associated with new arrangements of traditional spirituals, but for this piece, “I couldn’t find a spiritual that could do what I wanted it to do,” he said in a phone conversation. “So I said, ‘I will write a piece in the style of a spiritual.'”

He said he landed on the theme fairly easily, basing it on the words and activism of the Democratic lawmaker, who died July 17, 2020. The commission from Chorus America, which he received in January 2021, was to “examine the issues facing our society and inspire hope for better days to come.” A commission also was awarded to Chicago-based composer Augusta Read Thomas, whose work honors the legacy of Rosa Parks.