AMP’s inaugural commissioning project: American Mavericks Project Vl. 1: Quest, celebrates the potent and timely work of trailblazing Black Arts Movement poets and the legacy of AMP founder Chelsea Randall’s great uncle, the poet and editor Dudley Randall, through the lens of new piano music. Chelsea will premiere six new piece for solo piano by esteemed composers Carolyn Yarnell, Adolphus Hailstork, Joyce Solomon Moorman, Anthony R. Green, Regina Harris Baiocchi and Jeremiah Evans, inspired by the poetry of Sonia Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, Amiri Baraka, Naomi Long Madgett and Dudley Randall, who platformed these poets via his Detroit-based Broadside Press. Melba Joyce Boyd, Michigan’s Poet Laureate and Dudley Randall’s biographer, will recite the poems which inspired the commissioned works alongside Chelsea’s performances. Quest is dedicated to the memory of Nikki Giovanni.

Composers & commissions

Regina Harris Baiocchi
Piano Broadsides (2023)
I. A Poet is Not a Jukebox
II. Nocturne for Zasha
III. Shape of the Invisible
Inspired by Dudley Randall’s poetry.

Adolphus Hailstork
Don Quixote (Quest) (2024)
Inspired by Naomi Long Madgett’s “Quest.”

Joyce Solomon Moorman
When We Come (2024)
Inspired by Sonia Sanchez’s “When We Come.”

Carolyn Yarnell
Sky Diving (2024)
Inspired by Nikki Giovanni’s “Sky Diving.”

Jeremiah Evans
Lyrical Cartography (2025)
Inspired by Amiri Baraka’s “Balboa, the Entertainer.”

Anthony R. Green
Under a Soprano Sky (2025)
Inspired by Sonia Sanchez’s “Under a Soprano Sky.”

A special Thank You to AMP’s generous donors.