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GANZ HALL 430 S MICHIGAN AVENUE CHICAGO, IL 60605 |
The Festival's second concert will feature the music of the many Black American composers who, in pioneering new paths for Black musicians in Chicago, blazed new trails for Black American composers and musicians nationwide.
Many important milestones in Black music history took place in Chicago, including Nora Holt becoming the first African American in the US to receive a Master of Music degree in 1918, the founding of the National Association of Negro Musicians (NANM) in 1919, to Florence Price’s barrier-breaking premiere of her First Symphony with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra making her the first African American woman to have a work played by a major American symphony, and Margaret Bonds becoming the first African American musician to appear as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony orchestra. This trailblazing history will be explored by highlighting songs by Bonds and Price, in addition to songs by former NANM presidents Betty Jackson King and Nathaniel Dett, and former director of the Center for Black Music Research Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson.
Alongside these will be songs by Black American composers currently living in Chicago, including Shawn Okpebholo and Will Liverman.
The concert takes its name from Nora Holt's musical journal of the same title, which she published in Chicago with the mission of promoting the work of African American musicians.
Concert II photo: Nora Holt
Many important milestones in Black music history took place in Chicago, including Nora Holt becoming the first African American in the US to receive a Master of Music degree in 1918, the founding of the National Association of Negro Musicians (NANM) in 1919, to Florence Price’s barrier-breaking premiere of her First Symphony with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra making her the first African American woman to have a work played by a major American symphony, and Margaret Bonds becoming the first African American musician to appear as a soloist with the Chicago Symphony orchestra. This trailblazing history will be explored by highlighting songs by Bonds and Price, in addition to songs by former NANM presidents Betty Jackson King and Nathaniel Dett, and former director of the Center for Black Music Research Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson.
Alongside these will be songs by Black American composers currently living in Chicago, including Shawn Okpebholo and Will Liverman.
The concert takes its name from Nora Holt's musical journal of the same title, which she published in Chicago with the mission of promoting the work of African American musicians.
Concert II photo: Nora Holt
PROGRAM
Nora Holt: The Sandman
arr. R. Nathaniel Dett: I'm So Glad Trouble Don't Last Alway
arr. R. Nathaniel Dett: Follow Me
Florence Price: Bewilderment
Cecil Cohen: Death of an Old Seaman
Florence Price: Fantasy in Purple
Florence Price: Hold Fast to Dreams
Margaret Bonds: Songs of the Seasons
Betty Jackson King: Theology
Irene Britton Smith: 'Why Fades a Dream' from A Dream Cycle
Will Liverman: A Golden Day
Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson: A Child's Grace
Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson: Melancholy
Shawn Okpebholo: Two Black Churches
arr. Shawn Okpebholo: God is a God
arr. Shawn Okpebholo: Ride on King Jesus
Nora Holt: The Sandman
arr. R. Nathaniel Dett: I'm So Glad Trouble Don't Last Alway
arr. R. Nathaniel Dett: Follow Me
Florence Price: Bewilderment
Cecil Cohen: Death of an Old Seaman
Florence Price: Fantasy in Purple
Florence Price: Hold Fast to Dreams
Margaret Bonds: Songs of the Seasons
Betty Jackson King: Theology
Irene Britton Smith: 'Why Fades a Dream' from A Dream Cycle
Will Liverman: A Golden Day
Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson: A Child's Grace
Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson: Melancholy
Shawn Okpebholo: Two Black Churches
arr. Shawn Okpebholo: God is a God
arr. Shawn Okpebholo: Ride on King Jesus
ARTISTS
LUNGA ERIC HALLAM, tenor
SHANNON MCGINNIS, piano & director of education
WHITNEY MORRISON, soprano
NICHOLAS PHAN, tenor & artistic director
ZOIE REAMS, mezzo soprano
ROBERT SIMS, baritone
SHANNON MCGINNIS, piano & director of education
WHITNEY MORRISON, soprano
NICHOLAS PHAN, tenor & artistic director
ZOIE REAMS, mezzo soprano
ROBERT SIMS, baritone
In Partnership With:
all performance and master class photography by Ryan Bennett, Mike Grittani, and Elliot Mandel