In a blind competition judged by a panel consisting of choral directors from the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the New England Conservatory, a choir piece by David Hahn titled “I Can’t Breathe” was selected for performance for the Voices of NEC concert series on March 6, 2025, in Boston’s Jordan Hall. David’s notes on the piece read: “On July 17, 2014, Eric Garner, who was selling loose cigarettes on the street in Staten Island, died after a police officer put him in a chokehold during the arrest. According to a video of the event, Mr. Garner cried out “I can’t breathe” eleven times before dying. The piece has numbers from 1 to 11 instead of rehearsal marks to indicate the number of times Mr. Garner repeated the phrase.”
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Class of 1978