Eric Conway: Morgan choir performs with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at Strathmore and Meyerhoff Symphony Halls Friday and Saturday

Eric Conway, D.M.A., Fine and Performing Arts Department Chairperson

of Morgan State University, writes late Friday Evening:

Good evening,

Tonight the Morgan State University Choir partnered with Marin Alsop and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in one of their concerts in the popular Off the Cuff Series.  This series is when Marin Alsop takes a major work, and discusses the themes and historical context of the work with the audience. In the discussion she will have the group perform excerpts from the work.  Tonight, the work was Dvorak's New World Symphony.  She asked the Morgan State University Choir to sing because when Dvorak visited the United States he was so smitten with the American Negro Spiritual that he incorporated themes very reminiscent of Negro spirituals in his New World Symphony. Marin Alsop asked the choir to sing a spiritual in this context and a choral arrangement of the music from the symphony prior to the actual performance.  After the performance of the symphony, we performed a planned encore with the choir singing one of our established war horses in the repertoire.  The audience was very enthusiastic.  Please see attached a program from this evening's performance.  I share with you so that if you are interested in this very interesting and successful concert, it will repeated tomorrow evening, Saturday January 11, 2013 at 7:00 PM at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.  
Best,


Eric