Phantom Detroit

Phantom Detroit is a new, 30-minute dramatic work that blends strings, rhythm, gospel singers, street poets, narration, video projections, and a free-standing mosaic to confront the specter of racial and economic disparity in Detroit. Rick Robinson and The Urban Requiem Project collaborate to premier this new work that moves organically between classical, jazz, gospel, rock, Broadway, and funk musical styles. Music combines with poetry to produce an ambitious, large-scale work that bridges cultures and centers the experience of longtime and native Detroiters.

Phantom Detroit premieres at St. Matthew's & St. Joseph's Episcopal Church. Affectionately known as “Matty-Joe's Church," St. Matthew’s & St. Joseph’s has been literally and spiritually feeding Detroiters and the North End for decades. This new performance work offers a different sort of nourishment for audiences hungry to address the oppressive dynamics playing out in Detroit’s uneven recovery. How can we help reconcile the stark disparities present in this moment of renewal? What kind of future can we imagine and communicate that honors the needs of long-term residents and newcomers? This work allows us to reframe and reimagine, if only for a moment, what an equitable recovery would be, harnessing the spirit of Detroit’s people and giving voice to their plight.

Date: November 15, 2019
Partner: St. Matthew's & St. Joseph's Episcopal Church
Location: 8850 Woodward Ave, Detroit, MI 48202
Coordinates: 42.38105, -83.0798

About the Artist

Rick Robinson blazes new pathways into classical music for listeners and new inroads for orchestras into communities. He is a composer, bassist, and former Detroit Symphony Orchestra musician. In 1995, Robinson began arranging a hundred symphonic, classical, and jazz masterworks for two unique outreach groups of DSO musicians called CutTime Productions. Robinson’s composing abilities flourished, and in 2006, his original work Essay After Sibelius was premiered by DSO. Robinson has since composed over a dozen works that blend classical with urban dance and folk idioms, including Latin and gospel.

The Urban Requiem Project tells the story of industrial Detroit through musical composition, spoken word performance, and digital media. The Requiem engages, enlightens, and entertains while exploring the epic saga of the life and death of industrial Detroit. The Urban Requiem Project weaves together stories beginning with the dawn of the auto industry and the Great Migration, recalling the Purple Gang and Young Boys Incorporated. They relay memories of the 1967 Rebellion and white flight, the labor movement and civil rights, and Motown’s legacy of music to show how industrial Detroit influenced the world.