Ahmaud Arbery's mother ‘overwhelmed' by choral tribute to her son: L.A. arts and culture this week

Los Angeles Times

19-05-2025

Ahmaud Arbery. His name is just one that we've come to associate with senseless racial violence in America. On the afternoon of Feb. 23, 2020, in Georgia's Glynn County, Arbery, 25, was out running when three white men chased him down and shot him. His death ricocheted across the nation just three months before the murder of George Floyd by a white Minneapolis police officer.
Now, five years later, the Grammy-winning choral ensemble Tonality is dedicating a show to Arbery at the Wallis in Beverly Hills. The May 24 program, 'Put Your Guns Down,' includes the world premiere of founding Artistic Director Alexander Lloyd Blake's piece 'Running From, Running To: A Musical Reflection on Ahmaud Arbery.'
Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, will attend the concert and has already heard Blake's 30-minute work for choir, orchestra and soloists. She took time while traveling to answer questions via email about experiencing the music.
'When I first heard the composition, I was overwhelmed. It's beautiful. I wish I could play it over and over again,' Cooper-Jones wrote. 'The fact that someone took the time to honor Ahmaud in this way — it means more than I can put into words. One of the movements is called 'Running Free,' and when I heard that, I told Alex that it was like we were made to make a connection.'
After Arbery's death, Cooper-Jones channeled her grief into creating the Ahmaud Arbery Foundation, which champions mental health awareness and provides scholarships and youth development camps for young Black men.
'One of my favorite quotes from Ahmaud is, 'When life gets hard, you gotta get hard with it,'' Cooper-Jones wrote. 'I hear his voice saying that all the time, especially when I get to the point where I want to give up. Starting the Ahmaud Arbery Foundation hasn't been easy. It's hard work. But those words keep me going.'
Arbery, Cooper-Jones explained, inspired everything she does.
'He had a way of leaving every person with 'I love you,' no matter who they were. Since losing him, I try to do the same, letting people know I love them, just in case I leave here tomorrow,' she said. 'Through the foundation, I'm working to be the change for young Black men like Ahmaud who may be facing mental health challenges or simply struggling to find their place in the world. If they choose running as their outlet, I want them to be able to run free, without fear. That's what this work is about, honoring Ahmaud's legacy by fighting for freedom, for justice, and for love.'
Tonality's Blake also wants to honor Arbery's life with his music.
'I remember reading about Ahmaud Arbery's story in 2020 and feeling a deep frustration at how little attention it received. That frustration led me to create a project in 2020 with 60 Black musicians to honor the countless Black lives lost without consequence,' Blake wrote in an email. ''Running From, Running To' is my way of ensuring his story is not forgotten — a reflection of our need to remember, to heal, and to strive toward justice that has yet to be fully realized.'
'Put Your Guns Down,' begins at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets can be purchased at thewallis.org.
I'm arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt, grateful for Cooper-Jones' reflections on the power of love. Here's a rundown of this week's other arts news.
Playwright and actor Roger Q. Mason made waves with their play 'Lavendar Men,' which reimagined Abraham Lincoln's life through a queer lens. Now Mason has launched the 'Califas Trilogy,' plays exploring the California dream at various points in the past, present and future. Times contributor Amanda L. Andrei sat down with Mason to discuss the works, two of which are up and running. Check them out and dive into Mason's story. 'California Story' runs through June 3 at Caminito Theatre of Los Angeles City College 'Hide and Hide' runs through May 29 at Skylight Theatre in L.A.; 'Juana Maria' runs May 25-June 1 at Caminito Theatre. www.califastrilogy.com
Tod Machover's opera 'Schoenberg in Hollywood' is based on a remarkable incident from 1935: In the office of legendary Hollywood producer Irving Thalberg, composer Arnold Schoenberg asks for more than an astronomical fee to score the MGM feature film adaptation of Pearl S. Buck's 'The Good Earth.' He also asks for full control of the movie's sound — and wants the actors to recite their lines to his musical rhythms. Three more performances of 'Schoenberg in Hollywood' by the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music are scheduled this week at the Nimoy Theater in Westwood. Until then, you can read music critic Mark Swed's take on Schoenberg and his contribution to the L.A. sound.7:30 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Nimoy Theater, 1262 Westwood Blvd., L.A. schoolofmusic.ucla.edu
Since Henrik Ibsen's classic play 'A Doll's House' premiered in 1879, one thing has not changed: It's still shocking for a woman to walk out on her child. Which is where playwright Lucas Hnath's starts his 2017 play, 'A Doll's House, Part 2': 15 years after Ibsen's female protagonist, Nora, left her husband and daughter to find her own way in life. In a new production at Pasadena Playhouse, screen actors Elizabeth Reaser and Jason Butler Harner play Nora and husband Torvald, coming up with their own answers about what these two former life partners may now think and feel about each other. Read all about the show here.
Times theater critic Charles McNulty, a part-time professor at CalArts, enjoyed reading playwright Sarah Ruhl's new book, 'Lessons From My Teachers.' Ruhl is a playwriting instructor at Yale who finds plenty to learn from her students. 'Even in the classroom, with its necessary hierarchies and rigorously observed boundaries, teaching isn't a one-way street,' McNulty writes in review of the book. 'Authority is enriched, not undermined, by intellectual challenge. The most thrilling moments in my years of teaching drama have come when in the dialectical heat of class discussion, a new way of understanding a scene or a character's psychology emerges from conflicting perspectives.'
The classical music world is abuzz with the thought that conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen might return to lead the Los Angeles Philharmonic after Music and Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel leaves at the end of next season to take over the New York Philharmonic. Times critic Swed ruminates on the possibility of Salonen playing a transitional role for a couple years while the search continues for a permanent successor.
Massive cutbacks to the National Endowment for the Arts continue to send shock waves through L.A.'s arts community. East West Players announced that it lost a $20,000 grant meant to support the creative team behind the world premiere of Prince Gomolvilas' 'Paranormal Inside,' scheduled for the fall. 'The loss of this funding represents more than a financial setback; it is a symbolic blow to our mission and to the creatives who rely on institutional support to tell vital, underrepresented stories,' the theater wrote in an email to supporters. The loss, which represents 10% of the budget for the project, couldn't come at a worse time for the company, which in April was forced to layoff five full-time staff members. The theater is calling on members of the community to help fundraise and to contact their local representatives to protest the Trump administration's proposed elimination of the NEA.
A massive art installation created by transgender and nonbinary artists in support of visibility and acceptance for their community was unveiled Saturday in Washington, D.C. The 'Freedom to Be' project was spearheaded by the American Civil Liberties Union and helped kick off World Pride in the capital by displaying hundreds of quilts meant to build on the legacy of the 1987 AIDS Memorial Quilt.
The Getty has announced the lineup for its free outdoor summer concert series, 'Off the 405.' This year's performers include Bartees Strange, Cate Le Bon, Helado Negro, Alabaster DePlume and Moses Sumney. Check out the full schedule here.
Times travel writer Christopher Reynolds, who may have the best job at the paper, just released this list of 'the 34 coolest, kitschiest, most fascinating motels in California,' which appeals to just about every aspect of my personality and taste. Now I just need a few months off — and a lottery win — to stay at each and every one.