[Africa: Piano Music of William Grant Still; Denver Oldham, piano; Koch 3 7084 2H1 (1991)]
Cincinnati Enquirer
Janelle Gelfand's Page
Posted 11/28/2008 2:37 PM EST
William Grant Still was an important American composer, but his music is still rarely heard in concert halls. A festival of Still's music, taking place in Cincinnati, Dayton and at Wilberforce University next week is aiming to change that. Six concerts and events starting Monday will honor the 30th anniversary of Still's death in 1978. Still was born in 1895 in rural Mississippi, and raised in Little Rock, Ark. He grew up listening to opera on the family phonograph, a passion of his step-father. Although he dreamed of composing opera, he entered Ohio's Wilberforce University as a pre-med student at age 16. His mother feared he could not make a living as a musician because of his color. He left school before graduating and got jobs playing in pit orchestras in Cincinnati and Dayton. He attended opera whenever he could, standing in the upper balconies or wherever African-Americans were allowed. His accomplishments speak not only of his distinguished career, but of the ground-breaking path he took. His Afro-American Symphony was the first symphony by an African-American composer to be performed by a leading orchestra in 1931. "When he wrote the Afro-American Symphony, my father was trying to elevate Negro music in the minds of people, so they would learn to value and respect it," his daughter, Judith Anne Still, told me several years ago. He was the first African-American to compose an opera produced by an important company, the first to conduct a major orchestra (the Los Angeles Philharmonic), and one of the first to write for radio, film and television. Still's Festive Overture won the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's contest for a "Jubilee Overture" in 1945.
Festival events:
Monday at 3:00 p.m. Festival opening ceremony at the National Afro-American Museum, 1350 Brush Row Road, Wilberforce, Ohio. Free event.
Tuesday at 5:00 p.m., Piano and Chamber Music Recital in Harriet Tubman Theater, National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. Free event, with an introduction by Dr. Everett N. Jones, III, festival dreictor. Performers are Heidi Yenney, viola; Jessica Madsen, piano; Jennifer Cruz, piano, Barbara Lambert, flute, Peggy Grant, oboe, Dorothy White Okpebholo, viola and Seta Bartesch, piano. The program includes "Carmela" and Bambelete e espin garda" for viola and piano; "Three Visions" for piano solo; "Miniatures" for flute, oboe and piano; Suite for Violin and Piano and "Seven Traceries" for piano solo.
Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Selections from Still’s opera, "Troubled Island," featuring acclaimed soprano Adrienne Danrich and conductors Jeffrey Powell and Jeremy Winston, performed at Sears Recital Hall, University of Dayton. Free event.
Thursday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. The Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra performs Still’s Symphony No. 1, "Kaintuck’" and more, with conductor Neal Gittleman and soloist Dr. Everett N. Jones III, piano. (Pre-concert discussion with Judith Still at 6:30 p.m.) At the Schuster Center, Dayton. Tickets ($10 students) available by calling the box office at (888) 228-3630.
Friday, Dec. 5, at 8:00 p.m. Still’s works performed as part of the Classical Connections program of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra. Dr. Everett N. Jones III, piano. Tickets available by calling the box office at (888) 228-3630.
Saturday, Dec. 6 at 3:00 p.m. Recital at Stivers School for the Arts, Dayton, Ohio. Free event. Information:
http://www.wgsfestival.com Janelle Gelfand
William Grant Still
2008 Festival
Judith Anne Still
Troubled Island
Adrienne Danrich
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