In honor of Black History Month, The Theatre at Patterson Park presents Roy “Futureman” Wooten and his production of “The Black Mozart Ensemble,” at 7 p.m. Feb. 21.
Wooten, the Grammy-winning, jazz percussionist for Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, returns to Murfreesboro to exhibit his innovative string ensemble that highlights the life and music of Joseph Boulogne, le Chevalier de Saint Georges.
Saint Georges was well known in 18th Century France as a fine athlete, and a violin virtuoso. He was among the earliest French composers of string quartets, symphony concertantes, and quartet concertantes, which are symphonic works that accentuate individual instruments within an orchestra.
Futureman conducts an enchanting arrangement of Georges’ classical composition mixed with hip-hop beats, bluegrass, jazz, and funk.
He also plays a very interesting instrument, one the he created himself called the drumitar. It is essentially a percussion instrument with two key boards in which you use your fingers to play instead of drum sticks.
“As a recent dedication, one keyboard is called the ?RoyEl’ and the other keyboard, my first one, is going to be called the ?Dorothy Gray’ after my mom,” said Wooten
“?The Black Mozart Ensemble’ is a tribute to Saint Georges. He was just as important as Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn and Bach, but he is lost to history. So it’s a great opportunity to tell a good story, one of the greatest stories ever told,” Wooten stated.
So why haven’t we heard this story before?
“It’s really a matter of the struggle of humanity,” said Wooten. “Powerful music existed at the height of the slave trade, and here you have this black man who was defying society by being great at all!”
One of the last ensembles that St. Georges lead was called the Cercle de l’Harmonie, or Circle of Harmony.
“I’m trying to continue what Saint Georges was trying to do, by working with hip-hop artists, violin players, and DJs, to get that circle of people. Artists, actors, rappers, and poets all helping to tell the story in a different way,” said Wooten
In addition to the string ensemble, the show will include local musicians, multimedia performances, singing, and choreography by Murfreesboro’s own Todd Johnson, who Futureman respectfully called a “young ambassador” because of his passion about music, song and dance.
“What’s special about Murfreesboro is that it was one of the first concerts I did with the string ensemble,” said Wooten.
Futureman is also working with filmmakers to accentuate all of the different personalities that are helping to tell the story and the music they are working on individually, “spreading it the way that I can spread it today.”
Futureman is releasing his own Circle of Harmony in mid-February as an Internet initiative through the company Burn Lounge. This enables him to feature all the different artists in collaboration with interviews and a behind-the-scenes look at the production of the shows.
Tickets for “The Black Mozart” are $10, or $5 for students. For more information, call Michael Mallicote at (615) 893-7439 ext. 33.
