OBJECTIVE: Heighten awareness of historically significant, but little known, symphonic, chamber, and vocal music -including operas. No. 4 The origin of classical music is Europe but deceased and living American composers have made significant contributions within the art form. Among the top American contributors is Pianist, Educator, and Composer George Theophilus Walker. George Walker…
I was unaware until 5-27-2020 that May is Jewish Heritage Month https://www.jewishheritagemonth.gov/. As a African American member of Long Beach Chapter of NAACP, I salute Joel Elias Spingarn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Elias_Spingarn and the NAACP Spingarn Medal https://www.naacp.org/awards/spingarn-medal/ .
Kamashi Washington composed the music for NETFLIX original documentary about the former 1st Lady titled BECOMING. Listen to “TAKE IN THE STORY” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOVsbCa7VHw
Memorial Day has a little known African American root. Please see https://time.com/5836444/black-memorial-day/ . Many are unaware that over 200,000 African American Union soldiers helped save our NATION. Please see photo of 3,000 school children who carried bouquets of flowers and sang “John Brown’s Body” to honor captured Union soldiers in Charleston, South Carolina. Members of the famed Union 54th…
OBJECTIVE: Heighten awareness of historically significant, but little known, symphonic, chamber, and vocal music -including operas. No. 3 Whatever the gatekeepers standard of evaluation or determination to program classical music and operas by American composers on radio, symphony and opera stages, the voluminous contributions of Ulysses Simpson Kay offer only two reasons for his…
Baritone Morris Robinson and Cincinnati Opera https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGYhaO89ydc&t=13s&utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=OperaatHome5.15.20&utm_content=version_A
OBJECTIVE: Heighten awareness of historically significant, but little known, symphonic, chamber, and vocal music -including operas. No. 2 Composer Hale Smith (1925-2009) RITUAL and INCANTATIONS suffer benign neglect. Hale Smith desired that his works be evaluated for their merit and not featured exclusively for African American programs. However, he was proud of his…
Conductor Jonathan Heyward is recipient of the The Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award. See https://www.musicalamerica.com/news/newsstory.cfm?storyid=45085&categoryid=5&archived=0
OBJECTIVE: Heighten awareness of historically significant, but little known, symphonic, chamber, and vocal music -including operas. No. 1 William Levi Dawson was an African American composer, professor and choir director born on September 26, 1899 in Anniston, Alabama. His 1934 NEGRO FOLK SYMPHONY had a successful world premiere with conductor Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra.…
In addition to Pulitzer Prizes for Anthony Davis (Music); Nikole Hannah-Jones (Commentary); Ida B. Wells (Special Citation) already reported; Colson Whitehead won Fiction https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/colson-whitehead-0 and Michael R. Jackson won Drama https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/michael-r-jackson.