'Songs of Hope,' African-American Spirituals by College of William & Mary Choir Feb. 28

[Deep River: Songs and Spirituals; Oral Moses, bass-baritone; Ann Sears, piano; Troy 332 (1999)]

WM.edu

"The Choir of the College of William and Mary under the direction of James Armstrong will give its a concert on Sunday, February 28 at 8 PM in the Catholic Campus Ministry Chapel (10 Harrison Avenue, Williamsburg). Admission is free and open to the public.

"The Choir will sing a program devoted to the African-American Spiritual entitled'Songs of Hope.' The program is a celebration of the concert spiritual for choir beginning with arrangements sung by the famed Fisk Jubilee Singers and the Hampton Institute Singers in the 1870s and proceeding through the much-beloved twentieth-century arrangements of Harry Burleigh, R. Nathaniel Dett, Melvin Butler, William Grant Still, Roland Carter, Warren Martin and Moses Hogan. Featured on the program will be the premier Of Darkness and Light: Three Spirituals, a work newly commissioned by the W&M Choir from William and Mary composer Brian Hulse expressly for this program. [The African American composers Henry Thacker Burleigh (1866-1949), R. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943) and William Grant Still (1895-1978) are profiled at AfriClassical.com]