Meet The Creators
Louis Bergonzi
Producer, Creative Director
Louis Bergonzi is a Professor (emeriti) at the University of Illinois-Chicago, where he was Head of Music. He has held faculty positions at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and the Eastman School of Music. He was co-director of three symposia focusing on how LGBTQ issues operate within music education research, curriculum, and teacher preparation. Bergonzi has served as a guest conductor for numerous all-state and regional honors youth orchestras throughout Asia, Australia, and North America. His Rounds and Canons for Strings: Shaping Musical Independence and prized arrangements for youth and school orchestras are published by Kjos Publishers and Alfred Music Publishing. In 2024, he was given the Paul Rolland Lifetime Achievement Award by the American String Teachers Association.
Johair Jabir
Librettist
​Johari Jabir is a musician and scholar. A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Johari began piano lessons at an early age and was immersed in the expressive culture of St. Louis’ Black working class religious community, which is the foundation for his continued practice as a musician, cultural historian, and contemplative teacher. He is currently director music at St. George & St. Matthias Episcopal Church in Chicago, IL. Johari has enjoyed an extensive career in church music and musical theatre, including serving as associate conductor of the 1991/1990 Broadway revival of The Wiz. His researching, teaching, and writing includes Prison Abolition, Religion and Spirituality in the African Black Diaspora, Black Music and Social Transformation, and Contemplative Pedagogy and Public Education. His first book, Conjuring Freedom: Music and Masculinity in the Gospel Army of the Civil War (Ohio State University Press, 2017), is a cultural history of the nation’s first Black regiment, the 1st South Carolina Volunteers. Conjuring Freedom attends to the “spirituals” sung by the regiment in the ring shout as a mode of conjuring the spirit for military aims.
TJ McKimmey
Art Director
TJ McKimmey is an animator and designer with over 20 years of experience in production, branding, and advertising. He brings stories to life by applying the principles and philosophies of traditional animation to modern work through visually engaging and emotional storytelling. A graduate of Columbia College Chicago, TJ has worked on animated videos, films, web series, documentaries, and TV commercials..
Logan Rutledge
Composer
Logan Rutledge is a contemporary classical composer, hailing from Gainesville, Florida. With a focus on connectivity with performers and audiences alike, Rutledge seeks to write music that has an underlying narrative, peering into their own experiences in an attempt to express themselves with complete vulnerability. Rutledge has been fortunate to have commissions from The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Percussion Studio, Nomad Sax Quartet, Ryan Reynolds and the Miami University Bassoon Quartet, SmaX Duo, Grand Valley State University’s New Music Ensemble, fivebyfive, the GVSU New Music Initiative, Kontra Duo, bassoonist Joseph Swift, pianist Francesco Granata, among others. Rutledge’s primary teachers include Marc Mellits, Charles Norman Mason, Don Freund, P.Q. Phan, and Han Lash. Rutledge currently resides in Austin, Texas.