Maestro Anthony Parnther leads the Southeast Symphony in a performance of Chanda Dancy’s Centrifuge: Or The Powers That Separate Us.

A short piece for chamber ensemble and voices expresses the highs, lows, and utter chaos of a life lived in a society under the constant pressure of a “centrifuge”. In a scientific laboratory, a centrifuge uses high amounts of centrifugal force to separate materials in a chemical solution based upon weight – heavier materials are forced to the bottom of the test tube. In society, our “centrifuge” uses the powers of fear, lies and hate to force people of a united country to separate, leaving the heavy burdened – the poor, the sick, the pariahs – to the bottom of the “great experiment”, crying out in anguish and calling for “Riot!”