Kebra-Seyoun Charles is a dynamic and innovative artist who breathes fresh air into the classical genre. As a double bassist and composer who is intent on maintaining the roots of dance in their music, Charles has coined the term “counter-classism” to describe how they combine multiple styles and genres to create unique listening experiences for classical music audiences. Charles grew up in a household with a mother who is an African drummer. And while they pursued studies in classical music at New England Conservatory and the Juilliard School, they always felt drawn toward their mother’s artistry and sounds of jazz and gospel that encapsulated their childhood.
This pull continues to manifest in Charles’ work as a soloist and composer. As the Senior Division winner of the 2022 Sphinx Competition, Charles has established themselves as a virtuosic and versatile solo bassist, sharing the stage with Tyshawn Sorey, the East Coast Chamber Orchestra, A Far Cry, Palaver Strings, and the Sphinx Virtuosi. And as a composer, Charles leans into the ways people naturally enjoy a playlist: seamlessly flowing from one style of music to the next.
Charles was recently selected as a 2023-2024 EarShot CoLABoratory Resident through American Composers Orchestra, joining seven other composer fellows whose works are established in underrepresented genres in the orchestral canon. Their piece Bass Concerto (Nightlife) is set to premiere with ACO on Oct. 30 at Carnegie Hall. This multi-genre piece is an exploration of dance, which Charles asserts has always been woven into all genres of music. Their concerto will take widely understood classical music forms like the French Baroque overture and “infuse them with modern genres like house music, jazz, and especially gospel.” In the same way people float from genre to genre in their everyday listening, the audience will also feel this freedom in this concerto. In anticipation of this incredible debut, I had some questions for Charles about their career and what this achievement means to them.
Curtis Stewart and Kebra-Seyoun Charles at ACO CoLABoratory Workshop — Photo by Lyndsay Werking
In a way it feels like a rite of passage; whenever I see a performance at Carnegie I always make it a priority to pay homage to the composers who paved the way for me by looking at their scores displayed on the wall. Carnegie Hall’s rich tradition of premiering works that leave their mark on music is not lost to me, in fact, the premiere of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue was all I could think about when writing this piece! Simply put, this premiere feels a bit like finding a path in the wilderness; there is comfort in knowing other prolific artists have traveled the same path.
Having the opportunity to compose for orchestra through the EarShot CoLABoratory Residency with American Composers Orchestra gave me two things; I had the space to develop and experiment with the core tenets of orchestration and instrumentation. As a Counterclassical composer, I find immense value in deeply understanding the tradition and building confidence in my skillset as an orchestral composer while pushing the tradition into the 21st century!
But secondly, I realized, through this intense study, that I already had this skill set in my bones! In addition to my composing career, I’m also a solo bassist, which means I’ve played in high-level orchestras throughout my life. After a while, I started to realize that I could trust my ears to guide me to the same result as the rigorous study of theory.
This is such a hard question because EVERY composer has left their imprint on my musicianship (yes, dear reader, you too!). However, there are composers whose works and theories are central to this piece: Nina Simone, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Erich Korngold, Sergei Prokofiev, and Fred Hammond are some of the influences listeners will recognize. Incidentally, what’s changed as I’ve matured is not the list of composers I look up to but how I understand their music in relation to one another. Recognizing that Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers” follows the same harmonic progression as Handel and Halvorsen’s Passacaglia (for real, check it out) has been an example of my compositional maturation.
As a kid I never ever wanted to go to my mom’s rehearsals, any child that age wanted to do nothing but play video games and watch TV – I still do. I was lucky though, through osmosis I was able to deeply understand the culture and rhythms of Kenya. She was also a star singer in the church, singing hymns and gospel every Saturday and Sunday. My continuous exposure to music solidified my view that music was meant to create community, and more importantly, to dance to! In my own music, I take that core tenet and infuse it with the music I grew to love: Western Classical music.
How has it not?! The vibrancy and diversity of Miami’s music have affected every inch of my music. Like I said earlier; music is made to build a community around our shared love of dance. Hopefully, that’s the one thing anyone takes away from my music.
