KIDS MEET THE MUSIC WITH D-COMPOSED + ANGEL BAT DAWID

Caitlin Edwards is a multi-genre violinist, arranger, recording artist, and teacher based in Chicago. She began her musical journey at age eight within a non-profit organization in her hometown of Birmingham, Alabama. She later attended the University of Louisville (BM) and DePaul University (MM). Caitlin is a classically trained violinist, but she's inspired by gospel, jazz, hip-hop, and neo-soul. She released her debut album, "Exhale," in 2021 and her sophomore album “Mere Mortals” released in October 2023.

She composes original music and intentionally performs the works of Black composers to help ensure that these composers and their compositions are remembered and spotlighted for aspiring young BIPOC musicians and the world as a whole. Recognition for Caitlin’s versatile career continues to propel her work. She is a 2023 Advocate for the Arts awardee (Grant Park Music Festival), 2023 Sphinx MPower Artist Grant recipient, a 2022 Esteemed Artist Award recipient from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, and a 2021 3Arts/Walder Foundation Awardee.

Caitlin was also a recipient of the Rising Star Award from the Gateways Music Festival and is a co-curator with the Fulcrum Point NewMusic Project and a former fellow with the Chicago Sinfonietta. In addition, she has received Grammy certificates for recordings on Disney's "The Lion King" with the Re-Collective Orchestra and for albums by John Legend and PJ Morton. Caitlin is a proud member of D-Composed, Ensemble Dal Niente, and Sphinx Virtuosi. Newly appointed to the Board of Directors of the Chicago Federation of Musicians Local 10-208, Caitlin is proud to amplify the voices of and serve the vibrant community of musicians within Chicago.

Khelsey Zarraga

Of African American and Venezuelan descent, Khelsey Zarraga is a violinist, educator, and social justice advocate based in Chicago, IL. As a chamber musician, Khelsey is a proud member of D-Composed, an all-Black chamber music collective celebrating the works of Black composers. As a member of D-Composed, she has collaborated with acclaimed artists and creatives such as Jamila Woods, Tricia Hersey, Cheryl Lynne Bruce, Pamela Z, Nathalie Joachim, and Plinio Fernandes. She is also the violinist of Black Moon Trio, where she enjoys the exploration of new works and innovative collaboration. The trio released their first album, Principal, in 2024, and can be frequently heard on Chicago’s premier classical radio station, WFMT. Khelsey was previously the violinist and Director of Operations of Fifth House Ensemble, and violinist of Lincoln Center Stage, the Residency Chamber Ensemble aboard Holland America cruise line, in partnership with the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. She has enjoyed performing across Europe, South America, and the Caribbean and in venues such as the Chicago Theater, Kaufman Music Center, Sala São Paulo, Wilbur Theater, and Harris Theater. Khelsey is a mentor for the Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative and has been in residence and led masterclasses at the Jacobs School of Music, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Connecticut SummerFest, Southeast Missouri State University, Centre College, and Denison University.

Wilfred Farquharson

Wilfred Farquharson is a violist from the Atlanta, Georgia area that now calls Chicago, Illinois his home. With his versatile musicality, he thrives as a studio, orchestral, and chamber musician. As an active contributor to the dynamic musical ecosystem of Chicago, Wilfred is a violist for the Chicago-based chamber ensembles D-Composed Chicago and Crossing Borders Music. In these ensembles Wilfred has performed to critical acclaim both nationally and internationally as well. On top of these ensembles Wilfred can be heard around the city performing and subbing with renowned orchestras such as the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Grant Park Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Philharmonic, Chicago Sinfonietta, and occasionally as the Principal Violist of the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra. Outside of Chicago, Wilfred has also performed with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, served as guest Assistant Principal for the Augusta Symphony Orchestra, and many recording orchestras including the Re-Collective and Matt Jones Orchestras. Furthermore, Wilfred has performed and recorded for some of Pop’s and Classical Music’s biggest artists. Some of these artists are Ms. Lauryn Hill, John Legend, Jessie Montgomery, Rachel Barton-Pine, Sudan Archives, DRAMA, Andra Day, Robert Glasper, Burna Boy, Arthur Verocai, and Carlos Simon. Recently, Wilfred performed as part of Stevie Wonder’s Sing A Song To Fix Our Nation’s Broken Heart Tour throughout the Midwest. Beyond his performance endeavors Wilfred has an ardent dedication to nurturing and educating aspiring violists and budding artists. He proudly held a faculty position at the esteemed Merit School of Music Pfaelzer Conservatory of Music from 2022-2024 and currently serves as a mentor for the Chicago Musical Pathways Initiative. He also proudly contributed as an advisory board member for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s African American Network from 2022-2023. Having been honored as a Premier Young Artist awardee, he obtained his bachelor's degree from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University and graduated with honors from the University of Southern California for his graduate studies at the Thornton School of Music.

Tahirah Whittington

Tahirah Whittington is a founding member of D-Composed based in Chicago, IL and of Ritz Chamber Players in Jacksonville, FL. Ms. Whittington was the cellist for the Dear Evan Hansen National Tour (2020-2022) and for Hamilton: An American Musical in Chicago. Television/Film: “Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” and episodes of “Empire”. Studio recordings: The Lion King (2019 – as a member of Re-collective Orchestra), Beyoncé’s The Lion King: The Gift, John Legend’s Big Love and PJ Morton’s Gumbo Unplugged. Tahirah performed the cello solo for Rhiannon Giddens’ “Cry No More” arranged by Michael Abels. Ms. Whittington received her Bachelor’s Degree from New England Conservatory and her Master’s Degree in Cello Performance from The Juilliard School.

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.

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 is also a clarinetist in Damon Locks’s Black Monument Ensemble and hosts a monthly show on NTS Radio. 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.

ABOUT D-COMPOSED

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.

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Land Acknowledgement

The Harris Theater for Music and Dance resides on the traditional homelands of the Council of the Three Fires: the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Nations. Many other tribes such as the Miami, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Sac, and Fox have also called this area home. The region has long been a center for Indigenous people to gather, trade, and maintain kinship ties. Today, one of the largest urban American Indian communities in the United States resides in Chicago, and members of this community continue to contribute to the life and culture of this city.

To learn more about the practice of land acknowledgement and the importance of honoring native land, visit usdac.us. The Chicagoland region is home to over 65,000 American Indians and the country’s oldest urban-based Native membership community center, American Indian Center Chicago (AIC). Visit aicchicago.org to learn more about AIC’s mission to foster physical and spiritual health in the community, an active connection with traditional values and practices, stronger families with multigenerational bonds, and a rising generation of educated, articulate, and visionary youth.

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Photo Credits: Harris Theater Exterior by Hedrich Blessing. Harris Theater Nevelson Reflection by Kyle Flubacker. Kids Meet the Music by Kyle Flubacker. Angel Bat Dawid by Frédéric Ragot. D-Composed by Sulyiman Stokes. Harris Theater donors by Kyle Flubacker.

The Harris Theater for Music and Dance acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council.