Portrait of a Queen

Abstract

Portrait of a Queen is a fifteen-minute work for narrator and orchestra(string orchestra, piano, percussion and narrator). This piece traces the evolution of black people in America through the lens of one figurative black woman who represents strength, courage and selflessness. This “queen” begins her journey as a leader in Africa, becomes a slave on an American plantation, a disenfranchised citizen subject to Jim Crow laws and finally a strong matriarch found in many churches today. Dramatic spoken word, written by Courtney D. Ware, poetically expresses the thoughts and feelings of her character creating a musical portrait of her. Courtney Ware writes: “Although Queen represents black womanhood in America and in Africa, she is not one dimensional. Her story is a mixture of pain and struggle, hope and triumph.” Each section draws on melodies, textures and rhythms from a different time period. The “Prologue” develops from a Ghanaian song Mo mmra ma yengoro (Come and let us play) transforming the orchestra into a West African