Free Concert Faith Lutheran – July 6th, 7pm

Naaq: Songs of Grief and Solace

Dr. Krystal J. F. Grant, Composer, Pianist, and Professor

“And God heard their groaning…” Exodus 2:24

Faith Lutheran Church

667 E 1st Ave

Friday, July 6^th, at 7pm

free and open to all

Hello Chico Trinity Community,

A powerful composer, social activist, and professor that I knew from my time in New York is passing through Chico, and will be putting on a concert to give expression to the pain and frustration in the brokenness the world today using music taken both from the bible, from her ancestors who were slaves in the American south, and contemporary composers of color.

Naaq: Songs of Grief and Solace

“And God heard their groaning…” Exodus 2:24

Naaq—Hebrew for “to groan”—is a biblical and visceral response to slavery, poverty, violence, and other brokenness in people and in the world. Composer, pianist, and professor Dr. Krystal J. F. Grant’s career has broadened from giving lecture-recitals in elementary schools of her hometown, Birmingham, Alabama to presenting multimedia installations in New York City. Teaching in after-school programs, a homeless shelter, a senior center, and college classrooms has taught her ways music reckons with society’s brokenness.

Dr. Grant brings that reckoning with brokenness to this concert, which creates space for grieving and consolation through readings of biblical Psalms and music of slaves and their descendants. Featured psalmists will be the sons of Korah, who wrote and led songs about depression, beauty, and justice during King David’s time and for generations afterward. Krystal J. F. Grant will perform and improvise on spirituals and piano solos by African-American composers Scott Joplin, Harry Burleigh, and herself.

Naaq will be held in the sanctuary of Faith Lutheran Church, 667 E 1st Ave, Friday, July 6^th, at 7pm, and is free and open to all.

Thanks,