Audiences at the Carpenter Theatre on Jan. 17 will have a chance to experience music that asks them to listen as much as to feel. The Richmond Symphony will perform Damien Geter’s “An African American Requiem,” a 20-movement work that blends traditional Latin Requiem texts with the voices of victims of racial violence. 

Conducted by Kazem Abdullah, the performance will feature soprano Brandie Sutton, mezzo-soprano Leah Dexter, tenor Bernard Holcomb, baritone Kenneth Overton and the Richmond Symphony Chorus. 

Geter, the symphony’s composer-in-residence, began the work in 2016, commissioned by Resonance Ensemble, and premiered it with the Oregon Symphony in 2022. Inspired by Requiems by Mozart, Berlioz, Brahms and especially Verdi, Geter incorporates civil rights declarations, poetry and Eric Garner’s last words, “I can’t breathe,” alongside the traditional Latin liturgy. Garner, a 43-year-old Black man from Staten Island, was killed during an arrest on July 17, 2014, when a New York City police officer put him in a chokehold. 

“In a concert setting, we are forced to listen to, and take in, not only the music, but the message. Music can be a conduit in that way, bridging the reluctant person’s heart to that of a broader human experience,” Geter said. 

The performance begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $39 to $84 and are available at richmondsymphony.com.