Daniel Bernard Roumain, who also goes by DBR, is the community artist-in-residence this season for three Vermont arts organizations: the Flynn Center, the UVM Lane Series, and the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. The collaboration between the artist and these organizations explores themes of immigration and community. One of their events begins midday on Thursday.
As a black composer and the child of Haitian immigrants, DBR is focused on bridging divisions through music and building empathy through art. He is staging an improvised, collaborative 24-hour performance piece outside of City Hall in Burlington, called "Protest Song."
The protest-performance will take place from noon on Thursday, Oct. 24 to noon on Friday, Oct. 25. It's protesting what he calls discriminatory immigration laws in the U.S., and he will be joined over the course of the performance by local musicians who have signed up for slots.
Using art as resistance and wielding his violin as his "weapon of choice," DBR will be addressing passersby on Church Street and others in the world who may be tuning in online -- "anyone who believes in peace and justice, a moral right, love, community, conversation, common sense."
Roumain spoke with VPR Classical’s Helen Lyons about the project.
Broadcast on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019 at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.
