Tell Your Story: An Orchestra Project

Tell Your Story

A Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra Project

Can sound inform place? Time? Emotion? And can those elements inform sound? These are the questions three Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra fellows seek to answer in artistic collaboration with three members of the Charleston community. This project— spearheaded by collaborative pianist and music therapist Renate Rohlfing, bassist and Spoleto Orchestra Manger Edward Kass, and Festival Director of Orchestral Activities John Kennedy—pairs emerging composers with mothers, entrepreneurs, artists, and activists, to engage in creative placemaking.

Over several weeks this spring, the Charlestonians shared their personal histories, memories, and reflections as the musicians listened and recorded the conversations. The pairs then worked together to transform those recordings into sonic collages—amalgams of sounds and voices of the partners’ Sea Island homes and historic downtown neighborhoods, as well as short instrumental pieces created by the Orchestra fellows.

Listen to the three distinct pieces at spoletousa.org or youtube.com/spoletofestivalusa.

About the Artists

Antwoine Curtis Geddis + Aurora Mendez

For more than two decades, Antwoine Curtis Geddis has been the owner of Dj Sporty Entertainment of Johns Island as well as Dj Sporty Mobile Sugar Shack with Snacks and Boiled Peanuts. He is the former drummer of Cedar Spring Baptist Church and, as a family and community historian, has been recognized for researching seven generations of his family history. A father of four children, Geddis also serves as a line technician for the Charleston Executive Airport.

A violinist from New York City, Aurora Mendez is a founding member of violin duo VioliNYC and the Littman Quartet. She is a passionate advocate for music education and a former Orchestra of the Americas Global Leader. On faculty at the Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts and the Robert Treat Academy, Mendez is also a guest violin coach for the New Jersey Youth Symphony. A proud Gullah woman of the Sea Islands, both Wadmalaw and Johns islands, Jacqueline Grimball Jefferson is in love with nature, music, and life itself. She believes the way to a peace-filled world is to better understand others and to be understood oneself.

Radical self-love, compassion, laughter, and the drive to amplify Black artmakers comprise the core of New York City-based bassoonist and composer Joy Guidry’s work. A graduate of the Peabody Conservatory and Mannes School of Music, Guidry has performed with numerous prestigious ensembles and Festivals. They also spearheaded Sounds of the African Diaspora, a competition and commissioning platform for composers from the African diaspora, offering the resources necessary to foster new and innovative music.

Christina Hunter McNeil + Viola Chan

Christina Hunter McNeil was born and raised on John’s Island. At seven-years-old, she began traveling with her mother, Janie Hunter, as a storyteller and singer—work she continues to do as an adult. Janie Hunter can be heard at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC, and McNeil describes it as a joy and gift to carry on her mother’s legacy. A lover of sewing, baking, and cooking, McNeil most relishes going to church and spending time with her daughter, leAndrea.

Flutist Viola Chan is a multifaceted artist and musician based in New York City. She has made notable appearances at Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center, and she has participated in numerous festivals nationwide. She holds degrees from The Juilliard School and is dedicated to portrait photography and the craft of hand music engraving.

In preparation for collaboration with the Charleston community members, the Festival Orchestra fellows were engaged for training to build foundational skills in social engagement, technical field recording, and documentation. Led by creative arts therapist Jasmine Edwards and composer Shawn Jaeger, the fellows explored various topics related to community engagement, identity, and ethical documentation practices.

Special thanks to Our Lady of Mercy Community Outreach for the facilitation of this project and help in identifying the community partners. To learn more: olmoutreach.org.