My Heart Be Brave

New American Composers Series

Seattle Pro Musica celebrates our 50th anniversary season by looking forward to our next 50 years, even as we remember our history. We have commissioned five exciting young composers to write new works for our milestone anniversary, and will feature them in a five-concert series this season.

My Heart Be Brave is the first of our New American Composers concerts, featuring composer Marques L. A. Garrett. Marques focuses on traditional music of the African diaspora, as well as contemporary choral music by Black composers.

For his Seattle Pro Musica commissioned work, Marques has chosen a text by the Black American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar, with its evocative text asking to ”teach this tongue the singer’s soulful art.”

Program notes, texts, and translations

Saturday, October 15, 2022 - 7:30 pm
in person at Seattle First Baptist Church, Seattle, WA; pre-concert conversation at 7pm

2022-23 season performances will also be livestreamed for free; donations will be gratefully accepted.
The stream will be available to watch on-demand following the conclusion of the program.

Special thanks to our season and program sponsors:

Listen to select excerpts from the program:

Accessibility at our venues:

Seattle First Baptist Church is accessible for those with mobility issues - they may enter via the glass doors on Harvard (between Seneca and Spring) to use the elevator; there is also a passenger drop-off zone located just outside these doors. Once the choir has completed warmups in the sanctuary, the ramp from the parking lot on Seneca and Boylston may be used by any who need it and have tickets in hand.