This event was rescheduled from August 12th as part of the performance section of the exhibition Scrapbook (or, Why Can't We Live Together)”.
In his live sound and video opera “The Lynching Suite”, M. Lamar performs a symphonic dirge for male soprano and synthetic strings devoted to “the legacy of lynching in the United States”. Inspired by the thought of black liberation theologian James Cone and in particular his 2011 book “The Cross and the Lynching Tree”, the composition references spiritual and symphonic black metal music, while the visual component — a video projection mixed live — centers around an illustration of a 1863 lynching at the time of the New York City Draft Riots. Both image and music, the artist writes, attempt to “provide spaces for mourning, grieving, catharsis, contemplation and resurrection to cause transfigurations of our guttural cry.”
M. Lamar
“The Lynching Suite”, 2019
Live sound and video opera
Voice, keyboard, single-channel video, approx. 40 minutes
Composition for male soprano and synthetic strings by M. Lamar
Libretto by M. Lamar
Video by M. Lamar
The Lynching Suite is a symphonic horror dirge for male soprano and synthetic strings. It is the first known composition of classical music devoted to the legacy of lynching in the United States. Guided by the visionary work of black liberation theologian James Cone, the Suite is a liturgical cycle of dirges. Musically, the Suite draws from the structures and colors of the Negro Spiritual and symphonic black metal. Its libretto unearths and airs the cannibalistic ritual and psychosexual bio-political dimensions of lynching, exploring the inescapable implications of the castrations, dismemberments and trophy- collecting that were a recurring feature. The libretto also explores resurrection, overcoming, and Armageddon. — M. Lamar
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M. Lamar is a composer who works across opera, metal, performance, video, sculpture and installation to craft sprawling narratives of radical becomings. Born May 29th 1984, Lamar holds a BFA from The San Francisco Art Institute and attended the Yale School of Art, sculpture program, before dropping out to pursue music. Lamar’s work has been presented internationally, most recently at The Cloisters at The Metropolitan Museum Of Art, Funkhaus Berlin Germany, Kunstgebäude Stuttgart, The Meet Factory in Prague, National Sawdust New York, The Kitchen New York, MoMA PS1’s Greater New York, Merkin Hall, New York, Issue Project Room New York, The Walter and McBean Galleries, San Francisco; Human resources, Los Angeles; Wesleyan University; Participant Inc., New York; New Museum, New York; Södra Teatern, Stockholm; Warehouse9, Copenhagen; WWDIS Fest, Gothenburg and Stockholm; The International Theater Festival, Donzdorf, Germany; Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York; Performance Space 122, New York; and African American Art & Culture Complex, San Francisco; among others. Mr. Lamar continues to study classical and bel canto technique with Ira Siff, and is a recipient of a 2016 Jerome Fund Grant for New Music (JFund), a 2016 NYFA Fellowship in Music and Sound and grants from Material Vodka 2016, the Rema Hort Mann Foundation (2015), Harpo Foundation (2014-2015), and Franklin Furnace Fund (2013–14).