Podcast Episode No. 1: American Mirror

How can classical music tell the beautiful, complex story of today’s America?

Composer Derrick Spiva Jr. wrote American Mirror for String Quartet as a response to the 2016 presidential election. Through the piece itself and frank, inspiring conversation, Derrick proposes that diverse musical cultures can become ever more mutually amplifying through collaboration. It is a musical metaphor for how disparate segments of American society, through its global roots, can be truly harmonious.

In Derrick’s words: “Today, America continues to be at crossroads with racial discrimination, as it was in 2016 and before. American Mirror is still a sonic representation of what a community could be, the way a community could interact with itself, celebrating and valuing the uniqueness of its differences while cultivating its shared ideals.”

Composed and championed in that spirit, American Mirror is all the more relevant and uplifting today, as America struggles with questions of identity.

This episode includes 30 minutes of conversation and musical examples followed by a complete performance of the work.