Lydian Singers Hold Press Briefing on 'Song of Hiawatha' Trilogy by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

[Performances Page of Website of The Lydian Singers]

On July 3, 2008 AfriClassical posted “The Lydian Singers of Trinidad and Tobago Perform 'Hiawatha' Songs of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor”. The Lydians tell AfriClassical a Press Briefing for the upcoming opera season is being held Friday, July 25, 2008 at the Bishop Anstey High School Hall (located on Keate Street in Port of Spain), at 7:30 pm. In a press release by Christine Lewis, The Lydians announce: “From 2nd to 4th October 2008, the stage of Queen’s Hall will be transformed into a Native American Village as the Lydians, with Steel, present 'Scenes from the Song of Hiawatha' a trilogy composed by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Directed by Pat Bishop, the Lydians will joyously tell the story of Hiawatha’s wedding to Minnehaha, who left her tribe, the Dakotas, to marry Hiawatha, an Iroquois. Then will follow the heartbreaking tale of Minnehaha’s death, as famine and disease ravage the tribe; and finally Hiawatha’s prophecy of the future devastation of his people, and his departure 'to the Land of the Hereafter'. There are few, if any, operas set in the New World that speak of the people of the First Nations and this is really the story of a great leader. [The Afro-British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) is profiled at AfriClassical.com]