PROJECT DESCRIPTION

A TALE OF GOD’S WILL: A REQUIEM FOR KATRINA

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, New Orleans native son Terence Blanchard created an impassioned, GRAMMY-award winning work— A Tale of God's Will: A Requiem for Katrina. This evening-length emotional tour-de-force of anger, rage, compassion, melancholy, and beauty features Blanchard the E-Collective, as well as Chamber Orchestra.

An important jumpstart for A Tale of God's Will was director Spike Lee's decision to document the aftermath of Katrina on film, in what turned out to be the four-hour award-winning HBO documentary, When the Levees Broke, which aired last year. Lee, who has enlisted Blanchard on numerous occasions to score his films, such as Mo' Better Blues, Malcolm X, and Inside Man, tapped him once again for his documentary. Four of the tracks from the documentary were given new arrangements and expanded rounding out an work consisting of nine new pieces inspired by New Orleans during and after Hurricane Katrina.

To commemorate this tragedy and pay homage to its victims, Blanchard will tour this work in 2025, collaborating with orchestras all over the world. For this updated version of the song cycle, Blanchard has once again tapped his visual arts collaborator Andrew F. Scott to create a tapestry from still photos taken in the aftermath of the hurricane.

BIO.

Blanchard is unique in the jazz world as an artist whose creative endeavors go far beyond the genre into film scoring, crafting television series soundscapes and conceiving grand operas that have been recognized at the highest levels of art appreciation. In addition, Blanchard has been at the forefront of giving voice in his works to socio-cultural issues and racial injustices of our time.  “Like anybody else, I like to play feel-good party music, but sometimes my music is about the reality of where we are,” says Blanchard who today lives in Los Angeles as well as in his native New Orleans. “I’m just trying to speak the truth.”

TOURING CONFIGURATION   

• FLOW Sextet (Blanchard, Tenor Sax, Bass, Drums, Piano, Guitar)

• Two (2) projectionists

• Two (2) crew

• Orchestra instrumentation (click here)