
.
.
Black origins in American classical music…
“HARMONY ACROSS BARRIERS”
.
.
.
.
.
William Grant Still & Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
This concert re-introduces beautiful, compelling and inspired music by these two great composers, and shares with you some of their story. They desired to infuse the Black African and Black American identity with solid musical sources from spirituals, blues and even jazz elements. They also wrote music in a universal manner, thus crossing barriers into a white classical music world.
Juxtaposed with this are works by the great George Gershwin (composer of the controversial opera, Porgy and Bess) and contemporary English composer, Betty Roe (who set to music a number of the biting and delightful Madam’s Callers poems by Langston Hughes).
PERFORMED BY:
MEGUMU KAJINO, violin GEOFFREY BAKER, viola
JONATHAN MOSER, violin LUCY STROTHER, cello
BRENDA BONHOMME, soprano
ROLLIN WILBER, piano
MUSICAL PROGRAM
****
WILLIAM GRANT STILL (1895-1978)
LYRIC QUARTETTE for strings (1960)
“Musical portraits of three friends, as follows”:
The Sentimental One – The Quiet One – The Jovial One
*
THREE VISIONS for piano solo (1936)
Dark Horsemen – Summerland – Radiant Pinnacle
*
SONGS OF SEPARATION for voice and piano, after Black poets (1949)
Idolatry (Arna Bontemps)
Poeme (Philippe Thoby Marcelin)
Parted (Paul Lawrence Dunbar)
If You Should Go (Countee Cullen)
A Black Pierrot (Langston Hughes)
**
GEORGE GERSHWIN (1898-1937)
SUITE FROM PORGY AND BESS (1935) for violin and piano (arranged by Jascha Heifetz)
Summertime – A Woman Is A Sometime thing
Bess, You is My Woman Now
My Man’s Gone Now (transcribed for viola)
It Ain’t Necessarily So
Tempo di Blues (Picnics Is Alright; There’s a Boat Dat’s Leaving Soon for New York)
*** intermission ***
BETTY ROE (born 1930)
Madam and the Census Man
Madam and the Wrong Visitor
Madam and the Minister
**
SAMUEL COLERIDGE-TAYLOR (1875-1912)
Pieces from TWENTY-FOUR NEGRO MELODIES, op.59 for piano, violin and cello; with viola (1905)
Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel?
I Was Way Down A-Yonder
Deep River (transcribed by Maud Powell for violin and piano; arranged for viola)
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
My Lord Delivered Daniel
**
THREE FANTASY PIECES for string quartet, op.5
Prelude – Humoresque – Dance
****
READ MORE ABOUT THIS PRESENTATION
LINK TO FULL PRINTED PROGRAM AND NOTES IN A PDF
READ WHAT TWO CHESTNUT HILL COLLEGE MUSIC STUDENTS WERE MOVED TO THINK ABOUT:
commentary#1 — commentary#2
CLICK THIS SYMBOL
for information about the entire series
~
~
SATURDAY, JANUARY 24, 2015 at 7:30 pm
IVY HALL – International Institute for Culture
6331 Lancaster Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19151
ADMISSION: $25/general
TICKETS: http://fineartmusiccompany.ticketleap.com/harmony-across-barriers-ivy/
INFORMATION: 215-877-9910
SUNDAY, JANUARY 25, 2015 at 3:00 pm
1906 S. Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia, PA 19103
ADMISSION: $25 general /$15 for students, seniors & EHSoP members
TICKETS: http://fineartmusiccompany.ticketleap.com/harmony-across-barriers/
INFORMATION: 215-803-9725
PARKING: http://www.phillyethics.org/parking.php
.