Black Dandelions: An American Triptych

“Much like the dandelion’s ability to grow in diverse and harsh environments, the depth and stability of its taproots, and its unrelenting resilience, Black womxn both make home and hold the burden of the truths of this land wherever we go.”

Program Note

Black Dandelions: An American Triptych is a 20-minute full orchestra work that interrogates nuanced and contentious relationships between Blackness, land, American history, and the lived experiences of Black Womxn in the American South. Featuring a prelude and triptych, movements are designed to be modular and can be performed as a full set, individually, or as a subset. The piece opens with Against/Sharp, an orchestral expansion of a chamber work by the same name. This expansion serves as the prelude of the work, grounding it in the ethos of taking up space.

The prelude is followed by a triptych of Black womxn — the daughter (mOther/Land), the messenger (blue breath/red hands), the God (to swell/to SWALLOW) — presented through the setting of poetry by Crystal Wilkinson (Lexington, KY) and Jaki Shelton Green (Mebane, NC) in conversation with familiar Southern American and Appalachian themes. Through the stories of these womxn, audiences are invited to see Black womxnhood in its fullness and sit with the dualities of hurt, healing, care, and discardment these womxn must carry. Much like the dandelion’s ability to grow in diverse and harsh environments, the depth and stability of its taproots, and its unrelenting resilience, Black womxn both make home and hold the burden of the truths of this land wherever we go. Black Dandelions: An American Triptych was commissioned by the Lexington Philharmonic as a part of the 2025-2026 Saykaly Garbulinska Composer Residency with additional support from Wichita Falls Symphony Orchestra.