On Friday, June 12, I had the pleasure of giving a speech in the Black Church, at the opening of the recital held by the HKB Trombone Quartet, together with their guests.
The speech lasted approximately 15 minutes and was intended as an introduction to the atmosphere of the evening, but also as a reflection on the place of music in a space so full of history, symbol and sacredness.
I spoke about the trombone as an instrument of breathing, about the subtle connection between breath and soul, about how air becomes sound and about how, through music, something unseen takes shape. In the case of brass instruments, sound starts directly from breathing, from an almost primary gesture, but it turns into discipline, expression and emotion.
From here the natural question arose: why a trombone recital in a church? The answer was precisely in this meeting between sound, space and community. Music can transform a place, but the place also transforms the music.
In the Black Church, the breath takes on depth, and each note seems to speak not only to the audience, but also to the memory of the city. It was an evening about breath, soul, discipline, joy, and how music can open up, even for a few moments, a wider inner space.
