Danielle Belen Nesmith & Atlanta Symphony Perform William Grant Still's “Mother and Child”

[William Grant Still (Photo is the sole property of William Grant Still Music, and is used with permission.)]

NBAF Review: ASO Electrifies at Ebenezer
By Pierre Ruhe Monday, July 28, 2008, 01:02 PM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“For the past eight years, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra has ventured from its Symphony Hall home to perform a free show in Ebenezer Baptist Church as part of the National Black Arts Festival. The distance between Midtown and downtown’s Sweet Auburn district is just a few miles, but in mood and expectation — and, strikingly, engagement with the audience — these concerts often seem like a world away. Sunday evening, in the church’s Horizon Sanctuary, the ASO and conductor Robert Spano played to a full house and revisited its Ebenezer formula: young minority musicians take the solo spot in a short work or a movement from a concerto, followed by a complete reading of a popular, barnstorming symphony.”

“First up was cellist Khari Joyner, an incoming senior at Lakeside High School, playing the opening movement of Haydn’s C Major Cello Concerto, premiered in the 1760s. Joyner already boasts an impressive local resume, as a student in the ASO’s minority-center Talent Development Program and as principal cellist in the disciplined Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra. He’s a charismatic soloist, too, finding the essence of the concerto’s elegant passions — rewarded with a grateful standing ovation.

“Violinist Danielle Belen Nesmith is a graduate of the University of Southern California and winner of the 2008 Sphinx Competition, a Detroit program that fosters the talents of budding Hispanic and black classical musicians. With a lush, honeyed tone, she offered two gems, William Grant Still’s 'Mother and Child,' a lovely little song for violin and orchestra from 1943, and Wieniawski’s 1853 daredevil 'Polonaise Brillante,' exactingly played.” Full Post [William Grant Still (1895-1978) is profiled at AfriClassical.com]
Danielle Belen Nesmith
2008 Sphinx Winner
National Black Arts Festival
Ebenezer Baptist Church
William Grant Still
Mother and Child