× Upcoming Events About Us Meet our Artistic Staff Thank you to our Donors Volunteer Paramount Theatre Past Events
Forgiveness (2023, revised 2024) Suite for spoken word & orchestra
Music by Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) (b. 1971) Words by Marc Bamuthi Joseph (b. 1975)

This work is a marriage between Marc’s words, my music, and our ideas of how words and (orchestral) music can have impact and power as we navigate the roles we have to play within a culture of terror and frequent inability to see, hear, and forgive one another. Each of the four movements presents Marc’s ideas on forgiveness (i.e., 'Redemption', Reconciliation', 'Discernment', and 'Grace'). The music responds to these concepts in various ways at various points: as underscoring; as commentary; as a raucous, percussive crowd; or as a 'Greek Chorus', where Marc’s call elicits a response from the brass, woodwinds and string sections. 

~ Notes by DBR, copyright 2023