‘The Ballad of the Brown King’ returns to Sand City for the holidays – with a world premiere.

The Ballad of the Brown King, a 1954 musical collaboration between composer Margaret Bonds and poet Langston Hughes, was performed at the SandBox in 2023 to capacity audiences. So bringing it back this year was a bit of a no-brainer for the venue operator and Musikiwest Artistic Director Michelle Djokic.

“Last year we had people sitting four feet from the performers,” Djokic notes, playfully recalling the packed room.

Shaping its way to be a local holiday tradition, this year’s performances will welcome acclaimed New York-based tenor vocalist Jeremiah Abiah who, in addition to singing in The Ballad for this performance, helped Djokic add a world premiere to the program.

It is titled Any Human to Another, and based on the poem of the same name by Countee Cullen. Walker Jackson is the composer. “It’s just going to be so exciting,” Djokic says.

The three performances of The Ballad will be presented by Musikiwest, a group begun in 2017 by Djokic that, in addition to performing, focuses on teaching elementary through high school students how to resolve conflict by way of in-classroom chamber music recitals.

During the sessions, students witness various staged skits in which Djokic and the musicians bicker and at times ignore one another. The idea is to show how creative conflicts are resolved in the effort to make art.

All students and their families are invited to attend the concerts free of admission charge. “The concerts give the parents of the students an opportunity to meet with the musicians that engaged in profound conversations with the students,” Djokic explains.

She also acknowledges that while the value of engaging students is a goal, it is not the entirety of Musikiwest’s ambition. “Bringing something such as The Ballad of the Brown King to our community represents the rich cultural fabric that exists within our backyard,” Djokic says.

This piece presents a composition by Margaret Bonds, who was a forgotten Black woman composer, and Langston Hughes. “This project is extremely poignant, more now than ever,” Djokic adds. “To not understand that everything we are playing is a reflection of everything around us means we are missing the ball.”

THE BALLAD OF THE BROWN KING is performed 2pm and 7pm Saturday, Dec. 7; 1pm Sunday, Dec. 8. SandBox, 440 Ortiz Ave., Sand City. $40; $25/students, military. sandboxsandcity.com.