Kids Meet the Music 3 with D-Composed String Ensemble + Shanta Nurullah

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 SHANTA NURULLAH

Shanta Nurullah is a nationally known storyteller and musician based in Chicago. She has presented storytelling programs and workshops in schools, libraries, colleges, churches, festivals, prisons, and many other places where people gather and listen. Career highlights include the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, TN, nine iterations of the National Black Storytelling Festival and Conference, Storytelling Festivals in Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, and at the headquarters of National Geographic.

Nurullah has received an Illinois Arts Council Artist Fellowship, the Zora Neale Hurston Award from the National Association of Black Storytellers, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from Mutual Mentorship for Musicians (M3). A 2021 3Arts Awardee, she has received grants from the Nevada Arts Council, the American Association of University Women, and the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. Nurullah has an original story on permanent display at Brookfield Zoo in Illinois and has been a storytelling teacher and mentor for many years.