b'Program NotesCarlos SimonBorn in 1986 An Elegy: A Cry from the GraveComposed 2015Premiere 2015Ann Arbor, MichiganInstrumentation StringsDuration 5 minutesComposer Carlos Simon grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, playing the piano in the Pentecostal church where his father served as minister. Much of Simons work is anchored in his passion for social justice, and it mixes musical styles including jazz, gospel, and neo-romanticism. In addition to his instrumental and choral works, Simon is active as a film composer. Winner of the prestigious Sphinx Medal of Excellence for 2021, he is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Performing Arts at Georgetown University. Recent commissions include works for the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Gabriela Lena Frank Music Academy, Washington National Opera, Reno Philharmonic, the American Composers Orchestra, Arizona State University Symphony Orchestra, Irving Klein String Competition, and his alma maters Morehouse College and the University of Michigan, from which he received a doctor of musical arts in composition.This piece is an artistic reflection dedicated to those who have been murdered wrongfully by an oppressive power; namely Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner and Michael Brown. The stimulus for composing this piece came as a result of prosecuting attorney Robert McCulloch announcing that a selected jury had decided not to indict police officer Darren Wilson after fatally shooting an unarmed teenager, Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.princetonsymphony.org/ 11'