If you are going to write a piece of music that is inspired by Ben Franklin, the battle against slavery and the game of chess, an eclectic style is to be expected. Sounds like a job for Relâche, and so it is. The now venerable new-music group has commissioned Jay Fluellen to create one of the more unusual, and certainly one of the most culturally inclusive projects for the Ben tercentenary. "In Search of a Better World" is scored for the Relâche ensemble and the choir of the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, where Dr. Fluellen is the choir director. He has fashioned a piece in eight movements in a contemporary manner that is also flavored with jazz and gospel elements. Structurally, the music is patterned after Franklin's eight-by-eight "magic square," which is also the pattern of a chess board (a game Franklin loved). But the heart of the work is a reflection on Franklin's abolitionist leanings, which became more focused late in his life, and were as strident as any of the founding fathers. Relâche is one of the only local cultural institutions to draw the black community directly into the Ben celebrations. They are doing this in a way that honors not just the memory of Franklin and the legacies of black American history, but draws it all together with a vivid, living resonance. That's on paper, at least; let's hear how well this world premiere lives up to the ambition.

Sat., March 25, 8 p.m. and Sun., March 26, 3 p.m., $10-$20, National Constitution Center, 525 Arch St.; May 7, 3 pm., $10-$20, African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, 6361 Lancaster Ave., 215-574-8248, www.relache.org.