BLACK CHAMBER MUSIC ENSEMBLE FOUNDER RECOGNIZED BY THE OBAMA FOUNDATION

Kori Coleman is the founder of D-Composed, a Black Chamber Music Ensemble. Coleman is one of eight Chicagoans who are changemakers for the Obama Foundation Leaders USA Program. PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE OBAMA FOUNDATION.
Kori Coleman is the founder of D-Composed, a Black Chamber Music Ensemble. Coleman is one of eight Chicagoans who are changemakers for the Obama Foundation Leaders USA Program. PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE OBAMA FOUNDATION.

 BLACK CHAMBER MUSIC ENSEMBLE FOUNDER RECOGNIZED BY THE OBAMA FOUNDATION

BY TIA CAROL JONES

Kori Coleman is the founder of D-Composed, a Black Chamber music ensemble. She started it after she attended a Classical music concert that highlighted the music of Black composers in 2017. Throughout her entire music career, she had never been exposed to a Black composer. Throughout her youth, she played oboe and violin.

After attending the event, Coleman researched Black musicians in Chicago online. She connected with a musician named Yelley by email and the first ensemble was formed. “There are so many people who don’t know about the works of Black composers and really what I’m here to do is create greater exposure and awareness around the music of Black composers, but also, showing a new face of Classical music by having an all-Black ensemble,” Coleman said.

With D-Composed, Coleman is creating what she wished
she would have seen when she was younger coming up in music, a Classical music experience that represented her culture
identity and the music of Black composers.

D-Composed relies on its partners. They believe in being flexible and prioritize all kinds of community spaces throughout Chicago. The Ensemble places special emphasis on places on the South and West sides of the city. D-Composed has performed at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Stony Island Arts Bank, Garfield Park Conservatory, and they have a partnership with the Chicago Public Library.

“Really, our goal is how can we meet our community where they are. So, instead of saying, you have to come to us, we will go out of our way to come to you in various, nonconventional community spaces, people will have access to these free performances,” Coleman said.

Coleman is one of eight Chicagoans who are part of the
2023 Obama Foundation Leaders USA Program. While the
Obama Foundation Leaders Program started in Africa in
2018, the Leaders USA Program was announced in 2022 and
this is its first cohort of changemakers. During the six-month
development program, the changemakers will connect, be
empowered and be inspired by other emerging leaders across
the country.

Coleman wanted to apply for the program because she
wanted to step outside her bubble and learn from people from
different backgrounds and perspectives. She believes that is
the only way a person can grow, by stepping outside of one’s
comfort zone and self. As someone who primarily works in
the arts, Coleman was excited about working with people who
are on the ground in their communities, whether they are in
criminal justice, medicine or environmental justice.

“I think there are so many valuable lessons that can be
learned from those fields that I can apply to my industry
from the arts,” she said, adding that it is exciting for her to be
exposed to not just the Chicago leaders in the program, but
leaders from other cities.

Coleman is eagerly looking forward to getting the tools
and the knowledge necessary to take her organization and
community impact to the next level. She is at a point where
she is still learning, growing and developing. She is looking
forward to seeing what D-Composed will look like six months
after she has completed the program.

There have already been a few sessions and Coleman
is excited to start applying what she has learned. The first
session in the program was about compassion and what it
means to be a compassionate leader. Her main takeaway is
that compassion is an action. She wants to apply that in her
leadership. Her goal for D-Composed is for it to have a greater
impact in Chicago.

D-Composed will have a library tour from Aug. 30th-Sept.
1st, performing at the Bessie Coleman Library, Whitney M.
Young Library and Harold Washington Library. D-Composed
will participate in Impromptu Fest at Epiphany Center for the
Arts on Sept. 14th.

“I want people to see new possibilities of what Classical
music can be. I want people to feel, not only see but hear, as
we represent these cultural experiences through our multidisciplinary collaborations. I want people to see themselves in an art form they may have been excluded from,” Coleman said.

For more information about D-Composed, visit dcomposed.
com. For more information about the Obama Foundation
Leaders USA Program, visit obama.org/programs/leaders/
usa/2023.

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