A New Sonata for
Solo Instrument & Piano...
Commemorating the transatlantic slave trade; forced labour in the New World;
& the late US Congress Representative John Lewis (1940-2020) ~
Celebrating The American Civil Rights movement, The Return to Africa movement & Ghana's Year of Return (2019)
ELIGIBLE SOLO INSTRUMENTS for FULL PIECE:
Oboe, Clarinet in Bb, Soprano Saxophone, Bassoon, Cello
Scores under development in 2024: Violin, (Viola TBC)
ELIGIBLE SOLO INSTRUMENTS FOR FIRST PART ONLY - known as DAHOMEY PASSACAGLIA:
Flute, Horn, Treble (Alto) Recorder
Solo Instrument & Piano...
Commemorating the transatlantic slave trade; forced labour in the New World;
& the late US Congress Representative John Lewis (1940-2020) ~
Celebrating The American Civil Rights movement, The Return to Africa movement & Ghana's Year of Return (2019)
ELIGIBLE SOLO INSTRUMENTS for FULL PIECE:
Oboe, Clarinet in Bb, Soprano Saxophone, Bassoon, Cello
Scores under development in 2024: Violin, (Viola TBC)
ELIGIBLE SOLO INSTRUMENTS FOR FIRST PART ONLY - known as DAHOMEY PASSACAGLIA:
Flute, Horn, Treble (Alto) Recorder
"C'est beau et émouvant à la fois". RM, France
"Beautiful composition…" CM (YouTube Comments) "Wow. That is beautiful. The way the two instrumental parts respond to, and feed off each other, is lovely." SN, (YouTube Comments) |
"Congratulations! I look forward to hearing more from The Door of No Return." SC, Essex
"This is poignant and powerful... I thoroughly enjoyed listening… and also reading more about the inspiration and origins of the concept. Looking forward to watching the upcoming video releases." SL, Herts. |
Performance History
Since its video world premiere in March 2021, at least 25 live performances of The Door of No Return have been given, of which several are preserved on video or audio. 22 performances have been given in the USA, 2 in the United Kingdom and 1 in Spain.
So far, the solo part has been played on the Oboe, Clarinet in Bb, Soprano Sax & Bassoon.
Dahomey Passacaglia (see below) has been performed several times on the French Horn.
I wholeheartedly thank every musician who has engaged with this piece. I plan to list your names here, in due course.
Since its video world premiere in March 2021, at least 25 live performances of The Door of No Return have been given, of which several are preserved on video or audio. 22 performances have been given in the USA, 2 in the United Kingdom and 1 in Spain.
So far, the solo part has been played on the Oboe, Clarinet in Bb, Soprano Sax & Bassoon.
Dahomey Passacaglia (see below) has been performed several times on the French Horn.
I wholeheartedly thank every musician who has engaged with this piece. I plan to list your names here, in due course.
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The NARRATIVE FILM has just been remade, viewable below. The Oboe & Piano soundtrack is performed by Kathleen Carter Bell & Sarah Rushing.
There is also a SILENT FILM for use in live performances, which Eugene Ryoo & Casey Dierlam Tse premiered at the North American Saxophone Alliance conference on 15 March 2024 (below). Photo credit: Kenneth Tse.
If you do not wish to listen to the oboe soundtrack, please choose the sax or bassoon recording of your choice, using another app, and then turn down the sound on the narrative film, once your chosen performer has started playing.
There is also a SILENT FILM for use in live performances, which Eugene Ryoo & Casey Dierlam Tse premiered at the North American Saxophone Alliance conference on 15 March 2024 (below). Photo credit: Kenneth Tse.
If you do not wish to listen to the oboe soundtrack, please choose the sax or bassoon recording of your choice, using another app, and then turn down the sound on the narrative film, once your chosen performer has started playing.
To purchase the Oboe & Bb scores of The Door of No Return from June Emerson Wind Music, please click on the images.
The Door of No Return
Dahomey Betty's Hope The Door of Return for Solo Melody Instrument & Piano Level: Moderately Advanced (Dahomey ); Advanced (Betty's Hope & The Door of Return) Duration: 13'00" Scores available: C score for Oboe, in Eb minor Bb score for Soprano Sax or Clarinet Click on the images, to purchase C score for Bassoon, in Eb minor C score for Cello, in D minor Please send a message via the Contact Page |
Dahomey features as the soundtrack in this tribute film to the late Congressman John Lewis, by American producer Jeff Bieber. In the second video, young African-American oboist Mekhi Gladden performs; and in the third video, Ashley Brand gives the British premiere, on 30 June 2022, with Daniel King Smith.
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Up-and-coming young American oboist Zachary Allen excels in his performance of The Door of Return, the final part of The Door of No Return. On Track 3 - after a brief introduction - you can hear Zachary and Peter Dugan perform the piece. Photo credit: From the Top
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Dahomey was inspired by the magnificent monument on the coast of Benin (formerly French Dahomey): The Door of No Return (Ouidah). It charts the abduction of slaves by rival nations from elsewhere in the African continent; the march to the Slave Coast; the sometimes-lethal journey across the Atlantic; and forced labour on the island of Antigua.
Betty’s Hope plantation in Antigua is now an open-air museum. The estate produced sugar from 1650 until the mid-20th century. Its profits helped to fund the monumental Library at All Souls’ College, Oxford; and fed into the wealth of the City of London. The music is a requiem for all those who passed away as slave labourers: and for Representative John Lewis, whose death in 2020 took him through his own personal Door of No Return.
The Door of Return explores the 21st-century return to Africa by members of the African diaspora, many of whom have recently settled in Ghana. It is joyful music, but behind that joy lies interest in how this step will work out for them, on a long-term basis. The end of the piece is more poignant in tone, commemorating John Lewis’s visit - with the Congressional Black Caucus - to the Doors at Cape Coast and Elmina Castles, Ghana, in 2019.
Artistic Collaborators: Jeff Bieber, Filmmaker & Julio Obscura, Photographer
Executive producer Jeff Bieber has won numerous awards including two national EMMYS, two George Foster Peabody awards, and a duPont-Columbia Award. Vice President of Content Development & Production for WETA Public Broadcasting Service in the USA, Jeff is responsible for content development, marketing, & project management of national Primetime programs and public media initiatives airing on PBS. Award-winning documentary series he has executive-produced include Avoiding Armageddon (2003) - an 8-hour series about weapons of mass destruction; America at a Crossroads (2007) - a 12-hour series on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; and multiple series about immigrant experience and transformation of the American identity. These programs include The Jewish Americans (2008); Latino Americans (2013); The Italian Americans (2015); The Pilgrims (2015), & The Asian Americans in May 2020. Bieber is also executive producer for Washington Week, the weekly primetime news and analysis program on PBS.
American photographer Julio Obscura was the Official Photographer for Speaker Pelosi in the US Congress from 2016-2020: hence he documented the Congressional Black Caucus' visit to Ghana in 2019 for the Year of Return. I am extremely grateful for his permission to use some of these photographs in this project; and you can see more of them - and read his report of the visit - here. Julio - a Fulbright Scholar - has recently studied for a master's degree in Digital Design at the Royal College of Art in London.
American photographer Julio Obscura was the Official Photographer for Speaker Pelosi in the US Congress from 2016-2020: hence he documented the Congressional Black Caucus' visit to Ghana in 2019 for the Year of Return. I am extremely grateful for his permission to use some of these photographs in this project; and you can see more of them - and read his report of the visit - here. Julio - a Fulbright Scholar - has recently studied for a master's degree in Digital Design at the Royal College of Art in London.
Image Credits
Photo credits: Wikimedia Commons; Shutterstock; Julio Obscura; Althea Talbot-Howard
Top: The Door of No Return, Ouidah, Benin (Dahomey) Photo credit: JB Dodane Licence: Wikimedia Creative Commons
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ https://www.jbdodane.com/
Photo credits: Wikimedia Commons; Shutterstock; Julio Obscura; Althea Talbot-Howard
Top: The Door of No Return, Ouidah, Benin (Dahomey) Photo credit: JB Dodane Licence: Wikimedia Creative Commons
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ https://www.jbdodane.com/