Student Daily Digest

There’s a fun event coming up, the fruit of a collaboration that brought together jazz musician Earl MacDonald, poet V. Penelope Pelizzon, entomologist David Wagner, and anthropologist Elle Ouimet. On Friday November 14 at 8 p.m. at the Willimantic River Room, Earl MacDonald and the Black Square Ensemble will be performing new music, including songs composed by MacDonald based on poems Pelizzon wrote inspired by the research of Wagner and Ouimet. This intimate preview concert takes place just one day before the ensemble enters the studio to record their debut album.  

 

Earl MacDonald’s new project, The Black Square Ensemble, brings together an extraordinary mix of voices and instruments: a bass-baritone opera singer from the Metropolitan Opera, a classical cellist, a Brazilian percussionist, and a versatile pianist and composer whose work bridges jazz and classical traditions. Together, they set contemporary poetry to music that blends Western art traditions with global influences, creating performances that respond to pressing social issues such as climate change, human rights, and racial justice.

 

Described by the Hartford Courant as “a magical, musical alchemist of hip hybrids,” MacDonald draws on contemporary chamber practices and eclectic musical sources to create work that challenges conventions, provokes thought, and inspires empathy and social awareness.

 

8PM

The River Room · 50 Riverside Drive, Willimantic, CT

The River Room is an intimate, 65-seat performing arts venue with a speakeasy vibe. All performances require a ticket, available at riverroomwilli.com.

Experience the debut of Earl MacDonald’s Black Square Ensemble—a bold new project where jazz, classical, and global traditions converge with urgent social themes. This intimate preview concert takes place just one day before the ensemble enters the studio to record their debut album, featuring powerful, genre-defying compositions that speak to our time with clarity, depth, and purpose.