On Wednesday, June 16, 2010, seven poets from TEAM Englewood Community Academy joined Chicago Symphony Orchestra Mead Composer in Residence Osvaldo Golijov, laptop artist Jeremy Flower, and the Élan String Quartet (all members of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago) for a day-long workshop that culminated in a live performance in Buntrock Hall at Symphony Center. 

Prior to the workshop, the poets had the opportunity to work with the Élan String Quartet at TEAM Englewood Community Academy under the direction of their teachers – Dave Stieber and Missy Hughes – as well as National Poetry Slam Champion Roger Bonair-Agard.

This project was made possible through a new collaboration between Young Chicago Authors and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which began with a performance at the opening event of the 2010 Louder Than a Bomb citywide teen poetry slam competition earlier this year. Featuring original poems by the sophomores from TEAM Englewood, the collaboration explored the ways that spoken word poetry and live classical music can come together in performance.

Recorded Wednesday, June 16, 2010 at Symphony Center.