Upcoming Events

From Southern Exposure New Music Series: Due to health concerns raised by the spread of COVID-19, as well as the UofSC School of Music’s cancellation of all public performances through at least April 3, the performance of At War With Ourselves — 400 Years of You and all related events have been cancelled. Read more >

Free Preview Performance
At War With Ourselves
Michael Abels, composer
Nikky Finney, librettist

Performed by Kronos Quartet, members of the San Francisco Girls Chorus, and singers from the University of South Carolina, conducted by Valérie Sainte-Agathe

Janet Cowperthwaite, producer
Kronos Performing Arts Association, production management

From the Southern Exposure website: “The Kronos Quartet, perhaps the most legendary group in contemporary music, makes their Southern Exposure debut. Along with a choir led by conductor Valérie Sainte-Agathe, featuring members of the San Francisco Girls Chorus and singers from the University of South Carolina, the acclaimed string quartet will perform At War With Ourselves, a major new evening-length work about race relations, social justice, and civil rights by composer Michael Abels and librettist Nikky Finney. This preview performance culminates of week of workshopping the piece at UofSC in preparation for its premiere in San Francisco. The concert also concludes a week of University-wide events about the intersection of music and race relations.

“Based in Los Angeles, Abels is best known for his critically lauded score for the 2017 horror film Get Out, directed by Jordan Peele.  A National Book Award-winning South Carolina native, Finney is currently the John H. Bennett, Jr. Endowed Professor of Creative Writing and Southern Letters at UofSC. The starting point for the development of At War With Ourselves will be Finney’s 2013 poem ‘The Battle of and for the Black Face Boy,’ which she described as being ‘made of Civil War history, Black history, and modern American headlines.’”