OFS to Launch Project to Honor Black Composer

Composer Herbert Franklin Mells (courtesy of OFS)

This season marks the tenth anniversary of the orchestra One Found Sound (OFS), which performs all of the works in its repertoire without a conductor. This past week saw the announcement of its most ambitious initiative to date. It involves the pioneering efforts of the little-known Black American composer Herbert Franklin Mells.

The Herbert Franklin Mells Project will be a five-year undertaking that includes the preparation, performance, and recording of large orchestral works that Mells composed between 1938 and 1945. Mells died at the relatively young age of 44 in 1953, having succumbed to spinal meningitis. He is best known for compositions and arrangements of vocal music, both solo and choral.

Sadly, he is less known for his orchestral works. As of this writing, only ten of those compositions have been discovered; but none of them were published or performed during his lifetime. OFS has planned to prepare four of these works for performance. Two of them are symphonies, the first of which was written in the key of D minor in 1938 in partial fulfillment for a Master’s degree from Indiana University. The second symphony, composed in the key of B minor in 1944, was given the programmatic title “Burden’d Chile.” The other two works are tone poems. “Newsflashes of Late ’44” was composed in 1944; and “A Symphonic Poem of the Americas” was completed the following year.

The next concert to be presented by OFS will mark the first public presentation of the results of this project. The second half of the program, entitled Horizon, will be devoted entirely to the D minor symphony. The program will begin with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 62 overture composed for Heinrich Joseph von Collin's 1804 tragedy Coriolan. This will be followed by “Reflection on a Memorial,” composed by Quinn Mason in 2020 and scored for string orchestra. As those familiar with OFS events probably know, the concert will also feature a visual program created by Max Savage with artwork by Sharon Virtue. In addition, there will be generous intervals for socializing, enhanced by the resources of an open bar.

The entire event will begin at 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 4. As always, the performance will take place on Saturday evenings at Heron Arts, which is located in SoMa at 7 Heron Street on the block between 7th Street and 8th Street. Doors will open at 7:30 p.m. All tickets are being sold for $25, and a Web page has been created for online purchase. The price for tickets purchased at the door will be $30.