Kronos Quartet has released a short film edited by Evan Neff scored to its performance of an excerpt of Peace Be Till, which composer Zachary Watkins wrote for the group in 2018. In the piece, Dr. Clarence B. Jones, the former personal counsel, speechwriter, and advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., reads King's defense of nonviolent direct action in his famed Letter from Birmingham Jail, which Jones calls "the symphony of social justice." In 1963, Jones had smuggled King's words from the Birmingham, Alabama, jail cell in which he was being held for his participation in a peaceful demonstration.
The Kronos Performing Arts Association has produced a short film edited by Evan Neff scored to Kronos Quartet's performance of an excerpt of Peace Be Till, which Oakland-based composer Zachary Watkins wrote for the group in 2018. In the piece, Dr. Clarence B. Jones, the former personal counsel, speechwriter, and advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., reads King's defense of nonviolent direct action in his famed Letter from Birmingham Jail, which Jones calls "the symphony of social justice." In 1963, Jones had smuggled King's words from the Birmingham, Alabama, jail cell in which he was being held for his participation in a peaceful demonstration. You can watch it here:
Zachary Watkins’ Peace Be Till, which includes additional vocals by Amber McZeal, was commissioned for Kronos Quartet by Carnegie Hall, with additional support from the David Harrington Research and Development Fund. Peace Be Till received its world premiere on January 19, 2018, at Carnegie Hall as part of its festival The ’60s: The Years that Changed America.
You can learn more about Peace Be Till in a January 2018 report from Bay Area public media station KQED here.
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