ABOUT D-COMPOSED STRING ENSEMBLE
Historians of art and culture may not currently take into full account that Black culture and creativity are a part of every musical institution's foundation that we currently see today. D-Composed, a Black chamber music collective, exists to ensure that we never forget it.
Led by their mission to uplift and empower society through the music of Black composers, this Chicago-based creative incubator acts as a bridge between the past and present to the future of representation, music-centered experiences, and the communal power of Black composers and their impact.
Music is not just solely entertainment, for this collective music is a storytelling tool that educates and inspires. Unapologetically, Blackness is at the core of their experience, with protecting, nurturing, and sustaining on the other side. In the middle lies their impact — the people who make up these experiences, whether as musicians, creatives, or community members.
As a Black ensemble that focuses exclusively on the works of Black composers, D-Composed ensures to partner with institutions that have a proven commitment to communities of color. They have collaborated with Apple, Theaster Gates’s Rebuild Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, The Kennedy Center, Kaufman Music Center, and TEDx. While merging the worlds of contemporary music and classical, they have also collaborated with Jamila Woods during her appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and hip-hop artist Chance the Rapper.
The walls that exist to keep Black people out of America’s most beloved cultural institutions are meant to be scaled and then dismantled by the creative architects who are bold enough to build against the status quo.
The meaning of the collective’s name embodies that boldness in action.
D–COMPOSED /DEE-KUHM-POHZD/ – ADVERB: Our creative process that involves the breaking down of preconceived notions, barriers, and opinions of what people think classical music should be, to rewriting our own narrative to reflect what the classical world could be.
ABOUT ANGEL BAT DAWID
Angel Bat Dawid is a Black American composer, improviser, clarinetist, pianist, vocalist, educator, and DJ known for her significant contributions to contemporary jazz. She released her debut album, The Oracle, in 2019 with Chicago's International Anthem Recording Co., which received critical acclaim for its exploration of Black life and culture.
In 2024, she composed The Black Queen of Italy Strolls Through Her Garden, a solo clarinet piece premiered at the Villa Medici in Rome. Her other works include Requiem for Jazz, performed at the Hyde Park Jazz Festival, and Peace: A Suite for Skylanding, created for the Art Institute of Chicago as part of Yoko Ono’s Sky Landing installation.
Dawid has performed at notable venues, including Carnegie Hall during the Afro-Futurism Festival. She leads the ensemble Tha Brothahood, whose album LIVE (2020) was recognized as one of NPR Music’s Best Albums of 2020, and she is a member of the all-women group Sistazz of the Nitty Gritty. Dawid is also a clarinetist in Damon Locks’s Black Monument Ensemble and hosts a monthly show on NTS Radio.
In addition to her performance work, Dawid teaches Great Black Music at Imagine Englewood If and Simpson Academy for Young Women through the Old Town School of Folk Music's Moves Program. In television, she has composed music for HBO’s Random Acts of Flyness.
Dawid has been recognized in DownBeat Magazine’s 2025 Critics Poll as Clarinetist of the Year and Rising Composer of the Year. She has been featured in Pitchfork’s “Pitchfork 25 Next” and served as the Winter JazzFest’s Artist-in-Residence in 2022. She was the 2024 Artist-in-Residence at Northwestern University’s Black Arts Consortium. Her performances include appearances at the Newport Jazz Festival, the Montreal Jazz Festival, and a myriad of international festivals and venues. Dawid also serves as a 2025 United States Artist Fellow in Music.
