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

Staff File Photo / Roland Carter directs the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Chamber Singers during a rehearsal in Cadek Hall.
Staff File Photo / Roland Carter directs the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Chamber Singers during a rehearsal in Cadek Hall.

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.

If you go

What: UTC choral concert, featuring Chamber Singers, Chattanooga Singers and Littleton Mason SingersWhen: 7:30 p.m. FridayWhere: Second Presbyterian Church, 700 Pine St.Admission: FreePhone: 423-425-4601

photo Staff File Photo / Roland Carter speaks in the Dora Maclellan Brown Chapel at Covenant College during a Black History Month program.

Carter said he had the first section of "Make Some Noise" written by May.

"And that's all I had [for months]," Carter said. "It changed many times in the process, and I didn't fill it in until about November, and then I knew where I was going with it. The last two or three months was the busy time, putting the pieces together."

[READ MORE: Wisdom for the ages from Roland Carter, others]

In an email, Ford said his first impression was that "it is one of the more dramatic works I have heard from Roland. We recorded a two-CD set of his choral works, and this one sticks out as both being dramatic and passionate. It breaks some new ground stylistically in one section."

It also includes audience participation, which Carter said helps Lewis' words echo more fully: "Defend the soul of the nation. Answer the highest calling. Silence no more."

[<i>U.S. Rep. John Lewis tweet from June 2018</i>]

The refrain comes across "almost like a rap," he said. "Well, I can't write rap but it's the closest I'll ever come to hip-hop."

This spring and summer, 20 other choruses are set to perform the work as part of the commissioning project, including two more in the Chattanooga area. Dates have not been announced for performances by the Choral Society for the Preservation of African American Song and I Cantori from Southern Adventist University in Collegedale.

Ford will lead the UTC Chamber Singers in Friday's performance. They will be joined by UTC's Chattanooga Singers and Littleton Mason Singers, directed by Dee Thomas and Delali Gadzekpo, respectively.

The program also includes pieces by R. Nathaniel Dett, Andre J. Thomas, Mitchell Southall, O'Landa Draper, Shirley Caesar and "Gospel Mass" by Robert Ray. Chamber Singers alumni will join in the singing of Carter's widely performed arrangement of the traditional spiritual "In Bright Mansions Above."

Contact Lisa Denton at ldenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6281.

photo Staff File Photo / Roland Carter, right, turns to the members Chattanooga Choral Society for the Preservation of African American Song that he brought with him when he spoke in the Dora Maclellan Brown Chapel at Covenant College.

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