The Detroit News: Minister Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, will play violin on 'Who Is Sylvia?,' among other works. (Mario Tama / Getty Images)
Sylvia Olden Lee
Kimwana Doner
Who knew Nation of Islam head Louis Farrakhan was an accomplished violinist?
But
there you have it — the Chicago-based minister will bring his
considerable talents to the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American
History Sunday evening for a fundraiser and concert, “Tapestry: A
Spiritual Odyssey.”
Farrakhan will join
acclaimed sopranos Louise Toppin and Kimwana Doner, as well as operatic
tenor George Shirley, in an evening celebrating the work of pianist and
vocal coach Sylvia Olden Lee, the first African-American ever hired
by the Metropolitan Opera, as well as composer Adolphus Hailstork.
by the Metropolitan Opera, as well as composer Adolphus Hailstork.
Lee,
who was invited to play at Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s first
inauguration in 1933, is the musician who encouraged the adult Farrakhan
to return to the violin, which he’d first picked up as a child of 6.
“Minister Farrakhan was over the moon” to be
invited to perform at the Wright, says Versell Smith, one half of
SmithJackson Arts, the production company that pulled the concert
together. “He’s a staunch supporter of the museum and was happy to get
his violin out to pay homage to his mentor, Lee.”
Among other selections, Farrakhan will perform with Toppin and pianist Akye Agus in Hailstork’s “Who Is Sylvia?”
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