Saturday, 1 Nov
 

Darwin’s Meditation for The People of Lincoln finished its three-day run at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Saturday.  Combining the spoken word, video design, Haitian tunes, and chamber music (performed with plenty of verve by SymphoNYC), composer Daniel Bernard Roumain achieved an earnest and heartfelt linking together of “England, North America, and the island nation Haiti,” during the time of Lincoln and Darwin with his hour and a half work.  Cleverly weaving in here and there motives from the US and England’s shared anthem “My Country Tis of Thee/God Save the Queen,” and including the Haitian National Anthem, Meditation strove to draw direct connections between the three countries and their shared concerns regarding liberty.  The music was a correspondingly broad journey, beginning with an art music aesthetic, moving on to Haitian pop tunes, followed by an extended solo violin improvisation and then an harmonica aside (both performed by the composer), and ending with an invigorating blend of pop and chamber music.

Photo taken from DBR's website