The Boston Public Quartet and guest artist Díjí Kay, flute, present Source Code, a program celebrating the music of five landmark women composers from the late romantic period to the present. Jessie Montgomery’s quartet of the same name channels Alvin Ailey, Langston Hughes, and Ella Fitzgerald in a pensive dirge which showcases the core of her musical vernacular. Each following composer captures the essence of their voice within the sounds and rhythms of their piece, and the listener in turn is taken on a journey to decode the sources that are embedded within the experience. We explore French composer Melanie Bonis (who used the pen name “Mel” in order to be published), Boston’s own Amy Beach, Peruvian-American composer Gabriella Lena Frank, Jamaican-British composer Eleanor Alberga OBE and Grammy winner and close friend to the group, Jessie Montgomery.
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Joined by DeShaun Gordon-King on flute, the quartet will perform a program celebrating female composers, including Gabriela Lena Frank, an American pianist and composer of contemporary classical music, Mel Bonis, a prolific French late-Romantic composer, Eleanor Alberga OBE, a Jamaican contemporary music composer who lives and works in the United Kingdom, Jessie Montgomery, Musical America’s 2023 Composer of the Year, and Grammy-winning, acclaimed composer, violinist and educator, and Amy Beach, the first successful American female composer of large-scale art music, her “Gaelic” Symphony was premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1896.
Jessie Montgomery channels Alvin Ailey, Langston Hughes, and Ella Fitzgerald in a dirge which showcases the core of her musical vernacular.
Featuring Díjí Kay
Known for his soulful tone and mesmerizing phrasing, Trevor James Alto Flute Artist Díjí Kay (née DeShaun Gordon-King) has given performances as a soloist and principal flute in Europe, Asia, and throughout the United States. Díjí Kay grew up surrounded by griot traditions, jazz and gospel music. Inspired by the worlds and traditions of his upbringing, Díjí Kay grew passionate about programming that blends them all together to create unique and memorable concert experiences.
As he continued to expand his musical versatility, Díjí Kay also went inward to cultivate his spiritual practice. It was through these meditations that he understood how he wanted to use his art. Following this epiphany, Díjí Kay moved to Cambridge to pursue a Performance Diploma from the Longy School of Music where he worked with Sergio Pallottelli where he would also be able to study therapeutic music.
During his time in Boston, Díjí Kay has collaborated with Castle of Our Skins, the Celebrity Series of Boston, Shelter Music Boston, Juventas New Music Ensemble, the Boston Children's Chorus, and the American Repertory Theatre. He has also been featured on GBH. A graduate of the Longy School of Music and Harvard Ed Portal Pipeline Artist Fellow, Díjí Kay’s work and studies center around synergizing the principles of therapeutic music, sound healing, and performance practice to curate healing and transformative concert experiences.