Composer Shelley Washington – Amplifying Voices Program

New York, NY – New Music USA announces six composers who have been co-commissioned to write new orchestral works through its Amplifying Voices Program, supported by the Sphinx Venture Fund. Composers Valerie Coleman, Juan Pablo Contreras, Tania León, Brian Raphael Nabors, Tyshawn Sorey, and Shelley Washington will each write new works to be premiered during the 2021-22 season and performed by a total of at least…

History of “We Shall Overcome”

  In April 1960, 126 young civil-rights activists joined together in Raleigh, N.C., for the founding of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, better known as SNCC and sang “We Shall Overcome”. The song probably dates back to antebellum days, when slaves worked in fields making America great. Songs of slaves had roots in African songs…