George Lewis, Stan Douglas, Jeffery Renard Allen, Ensemble Modern: SONG OF THE SHANK

Wiener Festwochen

Thomas Wiggins was born a slave in the American South in 1849. Blind from birth, he began composing at the age of five and performed at the White House in 1860. A report from the same year is reminiscent of Mozart: "He could play flawlessly any composition he heard played, usually on once hearing it, could improvise correctly and expressively, and is said to have had a repertory of several thousand pieces", Celebrated as an exceptional talent, Wiggins nonetheless experienced brutal racism, violence and marginalisation throughout his life. "Song of the Shank" is Jeffery Renard Allen’s stage adaptation of his eponymous novel as a monodrama. In his composition for a countertenor and for the Ensemble Modern, George Lewis imagines how "Blind Tom’s" music might sound today, while visual artist Stan Douglas opts for subtle images. An evening all about music, identity and human rights.