Before Bridgerton’s string quartet renditions of pop songs, D-Composed was performing chamber music Beyoncé covers in Chicago.

D-Composed events aren’t stuffy affairs. The Black chamber music collective rarely charges for tickets, and they want audience members to “come as you are.” That goes for the ensemble’s musicians, too.

“When I'm with the other members of D-Composed, I feel completely myself,” said cellist and founding member Tahirah Whittington. “There are no guards. There are no hindrances to who I am.”

In this episode, host Erin Allen talks to Whittington and D-Composed artistic and executive director Kori Coleman about chamber music, Black composers, and what it means to bring your full self to rehearsal.