Kennedy Center Project Creates Artistic 'Map' to Reconciliation

By Rachel Katz

Published March 3, 2022 at 5:35 AM EST

Marc Bamuthi Joseph in The Road Ahead, one of The Cartography Project commissions.

Maps can show us the way forward, and this week's A Tempo (3/5 at 7 pm) highlights the Kennedy Center's "Cartography Project", a series of commissions that celebrate Black dignity and remember some of the lives lost to race-based violence.

The Kennedy Center recently released video performances of the first eight new commissions in its Cartography Project, a collaboration between the National Symphony Orchestra and Washington National Opera, to examine race-based violence and celebrate Black dignity. This Saturday (3/5 at 7 pm), A Tempo host Rachel Katz speaks with Marc Bamuthi Joseph, the Kennedy Center's Artistic Director and Vice President of Social Impact, Washington National Opera General Director Timothy O'Leary, and National Symphony Orchestra Executive Director Gary Ginstling about the project's goals and some of the chamber music and vocal commissions from emerging artists.