Ravinia 2026 Issue 2

“ I wake up everyday grateful for the things that I’ve been able to do and the things that are still coming. ” S OME OF COMPOSER Carlos Simon’s highest-profile works in recent years have confronted tough subjects like George Floyd’s 2020 death at the hands of the Minneapolis police or this country’s ugly history of slavery. But the Black composer’s latest creation offers a decidedly more upbeat tone. The overtly religious work is titled Good News Mass , drawing on the meaning of “gospel,” a word that refers broadly to the teachings of Christianity and specifically to the first four books of the New Testament. “That good news is that there is love,” Simon said. “Even if you are not a believer, you believe in love. For someone who believes in God, it’s love from God.” On July 31, the Ravinia Festival will present the Midwest premiere of Good News Mass , which it co-commissioned with six other organizations. The performance will feature Chief Conductor Marin Alsop leading the Chicago Symphony Or- chestra as part of its annual summer residency, as well as four vocal soloists and the Adrian Dunn Singers, one of Chicago’s only all-Black professional choral ensembles. Paired to it on the program is Antonín Dvořák’s beloved Symphony No. 9 in E minor—the “New World” Symphony— which he wrote in 1893 during his nearly three years in this country as director of the National Conservatory of Music of America. “It’s wonderful,” Simon said. “I love Dvořák, and I love that piece, too, and espe- cially what it means in terms of American music.” During his stay in the United States, Dvořák famously exhorted American composers to not mimic European music but uncover their country’s own distinctive sound by drawing on such sources as African American spirituals and Na- tive American music. In the 21st century, Simon believes American classical music has fulfilled that vision by evolving into what he called a “gumbo of different stories.” Nowhere is that blend more clearly realized than in his own writing, in which he melds European-derived classical music with African American traditions like the gospel idioms that run through Good News Mass . “That’s what I wanted to do,” he said. “This is not the first attempt. It’s something that I’ve been experimenting with in different pieces. This is sort of a culmination of that.” A native of Washington, DC, where he now resides, Simon, 40, grew up in Atlanta. As the son of a preacher, the church played a central role in his early life, and he began playing the pi- ano for services when he was 10. He went on to complete degrees at Morehouse College and Georgia State University and obtained his doctorate at the University of Michigan under the tutelage of noted composers Michael Daugherty and Evan Chambers. Simon is quickly becoming one of this country’s most sought-after and honored musical figures. He has served as composer-in-residence for the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, since 2021, and for the first several years, it was a kind of “all-encompassing” role. He wrote for the Washington National Opera as well as the Kennedy Center Honors and the venue’s educational outreach activities. “Anything they needed music for, they called me,” he said. But since the election of President Donald Trump and his subsequent interventions into the work- ings of the center, the composer’s connection there has dwin- dled down to the National Symphony Orchestra, which still has scheduled debuts of a few of his remaining commissions. Simon also holds the position of composer chair of the Bos- ton Symphony Orchestra, the first in that institution’s history, and in 2026–27, he is set to become composer-in-residence at Amsterdam’s celebrated concert hall, the Concertgebouw. “I’ve been wanting to do more performances in Europe,” he said. “That’s a goal of mine, and this residency at the Concertge- bouw definitely helps in that.” Along with Damien Geter, Jessie Montgomery, Shawn E. Okpebholo and others, Simon is a member of the six-year-old informal composers’ collective Blacknificent 7. They remain in almost daily contact, offering each other career advice and personal support and some- times attending fellow mem- bers’ premieres and touching base at music conferences. In 2023, Simon’s album on the Decca label, Requiem for the Enslaved , received a Grammy Award nomination for best contemporary classical composi- tion. “I wasn’t expecting it,” he said. “It was just kind of, ‘Wow!’ It hit me. I was really happy about that.” The work pays tribute to the 272 enslaved men, women, and children who were sold in 1838 by Georgetown University, where he serves as an asso- ciate professor of performing arts. It can be seen as precursor to Good News Mass with its mix of African American spirituals and Catholic liturgical melodies. RAVINIA.ORG • RAVINIAMAGAZINE 21 KENDALLBESSENT