The Christine Correa Ensemble will highlight Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite and Percussion Bitter Sweet in order to celebrate the creative and activist legacy of Max Roach, a high-profile artist who was an outspoken civil rights advocate and who used the arts as a catalyst for change.

For Correa and her five-member ensemble, honoring Roach’s work means approaching his innovative music and powerful performances with deep reverence and sympathy. As such, the ensemble’s goal is to stay as true to the spirit of the music as possible by returning to the powerful emotional and creative content with sincerity and artfulness. After the performance, there will be an opportunity for the audience to converse with the musicians, which aims to not only shed light on the historical and social context that informed Roach’s work, but will also provide an opportunity for audiences to reflect on their experiences of this work and its relevance in the present moment.

Next Stage Arts Project’s presentation of the Christine Corréa Ensemble is supported through a Chamber Music America Presenter Consortium for Jazz grant in collaboration with The Dance Hall and Portland Conservatory of Music.

A component of the Doris Duke Jazz Ensembles Project, Presenter Consortium for Jazz is funded by the Doris Duke Foundation.

This concert is sponsored in part by Community Bank NA.