The Saint-Georges Project
Lehigh University Department of Music
Written, Created, and Performed by Michael Jorgensen
Director: Peter Anderson
Piano: Steve Beck
Media Designer: Joseph Amodei
Lighting Designer: Justin Burns
This project was generously supported by the Lehigh University Music Department, the Lehigh Faculty Research Grant, the Lehigh University Gipson Institute for 18th Century Studies, and the Klees Family
The Saint-Georges Project is a hybrid chamber music recital, one-man play, and TED Talk about the life of Joseph Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges written and performed by violinist and Lehigh University Professor Michael Jorgensen. Saint-Georges was a biracial violinist-composer-fencer-abolitionist-soldier-spy from the 18th century, but his life and music were almost forgotten. The performance will share the unique experiences of Saint-Georges and Jorgensen through stories, history, and sounds. Saint-Georges's Violin Sonatas are featured along with pieces by Florence Price, Grammy-Award winning composer Jessie Montgomery, and two world premieres written by composers Shawn Okpebholo and Evan Williams. The Saint-Georges Project contains frank discussions of slavery, systemic racism, and, most importantly gorgeous music written by Black composers from 1770 to 2024!