Mr. Brownlee listened to that Baker cycle — which Zachary Woolfe called “one of the most important works of art yet to emerge from the era of Black Lives Matter” in The New York Times — and other Sorey works on YouTube, and became convinced he had found a musical partner. For texts, they turned to Terrance Hayes, whose poetry has considered issues of race and masculinity.

The lyrics Mr. Hayes wrote are varied. Some stanzas relay deeply personal conceptual ideas, in list-poem format. Other sections offer pointed political questions for the nation, and lines addressed directly to those who hate. The sometimes searing, occasionally abstract words prompted Mr. Sorey to venture into his full storehouse of stylistic effects, and he has responded with a score that teems with vivid contrasts. (“It’s a jump, isn’t it?” Mr. Brownlee said, in an understatement, comparing the new score with the Bellini and Rossini he is known for.)

But Mr. Sorey has created more than a showcase for virtuoso complexity. The lyrics’ attention to cyclical processes is dramatized, early on, by the music’s shift through harmonic intervals. And Mr. Sorey can paint moods as effectively as Mr. Hayes does. Describing the second movement in a recent interview, Mr. Sorey said, “You have these sort-of tonal sections; some stuff is really pretty. There’s a lot of patterns.”

But during the third movement, he added with a soft laugh, “it definitely takes a turn.” This metrically tricky, powerhouse section contains some booming, sustained piano chords. It also requires the vocalist to move quickly between dynamics, including some unusually loud ones.