MOSY is fortunate to be collaborating with Rev. Dr. Clyde Ruffin for an upcoming performance, Requiem for the Enslaved: A Black History Month Memorial and Reconciliatory Concert Presented by Powerhouse Community Development Corporation. Carlos Simon's Requiem for the Enslaved is a piece for spoken word artist and a chamber ensemble. We are honored that Rev. Dr. Ruffin will be performing as the spoken word artist for these performances.
The performance is about reconciliation, yet it is done in a way that does not shy away from an atrocious past. The librettist Marco Pavé explored the history of Georgetown, both the university and the city, in its dark past of trading enslaved people. Here in Missouri, a state that both has histories in providing safe harbor to escaped and freed enslaved people while having its own undeniably dark past of slave trade, the Missouri Symphony aims to be part of the ongoing discourse in discovering the past and exploring a way forward with this performance. The concert will be presented by utilizing the stories of a few formerly enslaved people in Georgetown, while done in the honor of many, near and far.
We'd like to share a little more about our esteemed guest artist.
Clyde Ruffin holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Iowa. His was appointed to the faculty of Washington University-St. Louis in 1976 and subsequently invited to join the University of Missouri faculty in 1982 where he served as Professor and Chair of the Department of Theatre until 2015.
He is the recipient of the Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence and the Chancellor’s Award for Research and Creativity. He is also a Kellogg National Fellow and a Distinguished Alumni of the University of Iowa. In 2004 he was awarded the Martin Luther King Community Service Award and the Columbia Values Diversity Award. Most notably, he was awarded the John F. Kennedy Center Medallion in 1992 and again in 1999 for Creative Excellence and also the President’s Award for Community Engagement in 2012. He also served as Poel Laureate for the City of Columbia’s 2021 Bicentennial and in 2022 he was honored as an MU Trailblazer by the Black Alumni Association.
He was appointed to the John William Boone Heritage Foundation Board of Directors in 2001 and has served as President for the past 22 years, which afforded him the unique opportunity to guide the final restoration of the historic John and Eugenia Boone home, which was dedicated and opened to the public on September 18, 2016. In 2020 he completed his term as Mayor Pro Tem and the representative for the First Ward on the Columbia City Council where he confronted the issues of social inequity, racial disparities and economic opportunities that impact marginalized communities. Rev. Ruffin was selected as the Senior Pastor of Second Baptist Church- Columbia in 2003, which has provided a vital opportunity to promote his vision of a beloved community overflowing with believers of all races and backgrounds who are fervent in love and worship, grounded in the Word of God and committed to serving the needs of others.
Requiem for the Enslaved will be performed at Second Missionary Baptist Church on both February 15 and 16 at 7:30 p.m.
