Spring20_Mag_Combined_WEB_single_pages

10 // PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE MUSIC PROFESSOR and acclaimed jazz musi- cian Darrell Grant’s first opera, “Sanctuaries,” combines elements of jazz, spoken word and theater to explore the effects of Portland’s gentrification and the experience of displaced residents of color in the historically black Albina district. It features a libretto by two-time National Poetry Slam Champion Anis Mojgani and is directed by Alexander Gedeon. We asked art professor Lisa Jarrett, who co-directs KSMoCA (King School Museum of Contempo- rary Art) at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elemen- tary School, to sit down with Grant to talk about his experience conceiving of and composing “Sanctuaries.” This is an abridged version of their conversation. Watch the interview at pdx.edu/magazine . Due to coronavirus measures, the opera’s pre- miere has been postponed until April 2021. See thirdangle.org/sanctuaries for dates and tickets. Lisa Jarrett: You’ve been focused on working on a story about gentrification and the history of blackness in Portland. Can you tell us a little about “Sanctuaries”? Darrell Grant: Almost three years ago, I was approached by Third Angle New Music about doing a collaboration. The subject of chamber opera came up and I was like, “Why would I even think about doing that?” But the more I turned it over in my mind, the more I thought well, why wouldn’t I do that? That became the more interesting question: What is it about that genre, or that word, or the image of that art form that made me feel like an outsider? I started to wonder, is there a way for me to bring who I am—a jazz musician, an improvising musician, African American, performer, com- poser—to that genre in a way that feels really authentic and meaningful? “Sanctuaries” became the outgrowth of that exploration. the arts UNFLINCHINGLY OPERA Darrell Grant makes the medium his own to tell the tale of gentrification in Northeast Portland SO-MIN COTIK