[The DSO’s Civic Jazz Orchestra is a youth ensemble that will perform Saturday. (DSO)]
Lawrence B. Johnson
Special to The Detroit News
“It may not be the traditional Classical Roots concert, but the music will play on Saturday night at a gala black-tie dinner, sponsored by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, to honor the contribution of African-American composers to classical music.
“With the musicians of the DSO entering the fifth month of a strike, the longstanding Classical Roots concert has been relocated to the MGM Grand Detroit and reconceived as a Classical Roots Celebration — a gala dinner with short performances by the Brazeal Dennard Chorale, the DSO's youth ensemble called the Civic Jazz Orchestra and the independent Detroit Children's Choir.
“Revenue from the annual Classical Roots concerts supports special educational programs, such as the DSO's African-American Orchestral Fellowship Program, a mentoring opportunity for young professional musicians.”
“Making a guest appearance will be violinist-composer Daniel Bernard Roumain. This year's Roots event honors the late Brazeal Dennard, who was instrumental in organizing the annual concerts in the 1970s. Dennard, who died last July at age 81, founded his chorus in 1972 to promote the serious work of black composers, as well as the tradition of the spiritual. He saw in the Classical Roots idea a chance to create opportunities for black conductors, who were rarely seen on the podiums of major American orchestras.
"'That part of it changed, of course, when (the African-American conductor) Leslie Dunner came to the DSO (as resident conductor in 1987),' says Donald Robinson, executive director of the Brazeal Dennard Chorale and for many years a member of the ensemble. Dunner was succeeded as resident conductor by another African-American, Thomas Wilkins, who also took over as conductor of the Classical Roots concerts. After Wilkins' departure last year to devote more time to duties as music director of the Omaha Symphony and principal guest conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the DSO left the post of resident conductor unfilled.
"That has meant a return to African-American guest conductors, and under the DSO music directorship of Leonard Slatkin, the Classical Roots concerts — which for years offered as much Sibelius and Brahms as Adolphus Hailstork and Ulysses Kay — are now entirely the work of black composers.” “For the Classical Roots gala, the Brazeal Dennard Chorale will perform John Rosamond Johnson's 'Lift Every Voice and Sing' — often called the 'Negro national anthem' — and two spirituals, Dennard's own arrangement of 'Great Day' and 'O Freedom' in an arrangement by the group's current director, Augustus O. Hill.”
Classical Roots Celebration
6:30 p.m. Saturday
MGM Grand Detroit
1777 Third St., Detroit
Tickets $95-$150
Call (313) 576-5111
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