Johnathan Gibbs returns to TRILLOQUY to offer updates as the newest member of the New York-based Dessoff Choirs. Loki and Johnathan return to the discussion of Handel and Negro Spirituals in honor of Black History Month, highlight the intersectional culture of Asian- and Afro-Americans, and address the challenge of burnout while working to shift classical music's status quo. 

**Hear Loki and Johnathan's continued dialogue in episode 2 of "The Boys Are Black In Town" (available 2/23/2024)

• Sanctuary Road: No. 6, Run I (Live - Oratorio Society of New York Chorus and Orchestra)
• The Dessoff Choirs
• The Boys Are Black In Town, ep. 1

Loki Karuna shines a light on some of the Black history of Winston-Salem, NC, chats with Brian Cole, Chancellor of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and reacts to his recent trip to Detroit for the annual Sphinx conference.

• Armenta (Hummings) Dumisani
• Minister Louis Farrakhan performs Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto
• Brian Cole
• Duo for Violin and Cello (Jessie Montgomery)
• Sphinx Connect

Loki Karuna shares a few words following his live "New Blue Sun" experience, chats with Joe LaRocca about the benefits (and challenges) of being a multi-instrumentalist, and expounds on a controversial statement by the late Langston Hughes.

• "New Blue Sun" by André 3000
• Joe LaRocca
• "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain" 

Loki Karuna offers a brief reaction to the film "American Fiction" as it relates to arts funding, chats with James Daly about "The Powerful Piano", and previews his upcoming reaction to Spike Lee's "Bamboozled". 

• Frederic Chopin - Ab Major Etude 'Aeolian Harp' (perf. James Daly)
• James Daly/San Ramon Academy of Music
• The Powerful Piano

Loki Karuna affirms his evolving feelings on George Gershwin, chats with Lara Downes about her latest project, "Rhapsody in Blue: Reimagined", and shares his 2024 resolution to strive toward absolute freedom.

• Rhapsody in Blue Reimagined

Loki highlights words by the late Kwame Ture, chats with Parisian violinist and arts activist Marina Chiche, and responds to the historic appointment of Kwame Ryan as Music Director of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra.

• "La Création du Monde" by Darius Milhaud
• Elaine Brown and Kwame Ture Interview (1993)
• Marina Chiche
• La Marseillaise par la violoniste Marina Chiche
• Charlotte Symphony Makes History, Names a Black Conductor as its New Music Director

Loki offers support and a call to action in light of recent news from choral director Alysia Lee, chats with Dr. Marques L. A. Garrett about the tradition and future of Black choral music, and spills some Bernstein tea. 

• Dear TMEA
• Music Education is in Hot Water (X Thread)
• Message from Alysia Lee
• Dr. Marques L. A. Garrett
• "Say Her Name" by Alysia Lee
• "Sit Down, Servant" arr. Dr. Marques L. A. Garrett
• Classical Musics Suicide Pact

Loki pays his respects to the late Daisaku Ikeda, chats with Johnathan Gibbs about recent "classical" experiences as they relate to race and culture, and shares his continued journey of self-care as it related to the Thanksgiving holiday. 

• Daisaku Ikeda, Who Led Influential Japanese Buddhist Group, Dies at 95
• X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X: Act I, Scene 2, Pool Hall, "Shoot your shot!"
• Mendelssohn: Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A25 / Part 2 - "And then shall your light break forth"

Loki celebrates the fifth anniversary of the Classical Black Podcast, chats with Nick and Zach from the ensemble, Invoke, about their latest genre-bending album, and brings a famous TV moment featuring James Baldwin into the general dialogue of diversifying orchestras in the United States. 

• To Podcast or Not to Podcast? Reflections from the Hosts of “Classically Black”
• Invoke
• "Dustbowl" from Evolve & Travel
• "Evolve & Travel" from Evolve & Travel
• James Baldwin on the status quo
• League of American Orchestras Diversity Data

Loki takes a look at the perspective income of a conductor who's encouraging his orchestra to perform "conductorless", chats with Maestro Kellen Gray about his latest recording of orchestral music by Black composers, and highlights the concept of Human Revolution as it applies to his life and activism, in general. 

• Music Director Urges Musicians To Go Conductorless
• Minnesota Orchestra Financial Information
• Kellen Gray
• African American Voices II
• Concerto for Orchestra: I. Toccata. Allegro moderato (Ulysses Kay)
• Worship: A Concert Overture (Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson)