'Tapestry: A Spiritual Odyssey' Sunday, May 18, 2014 at 6 PM, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit; All Proceeds Benefit Museum

Louise Toppin

George Shirley

Adolphus C. Hailstork (b. 1941)

is featured at AfriClassical.com

The Detroit Free Press
May 14, 2014

The Charles H. Wright Museum is celebrating the broad sweep of African-American contributions to the arts through a gala concert promising a diversity of genres from classical music and opera to jazz. The concert, a fund-raising event for the museum’s educational programs and produced in tandem with SmithJackson Arts, is titled “Tapestry: A Spiritual Odyssey.”

There’s a lot happening under one umbrella. Performers include soprano Louis Toppin, the legendary tenor George Shirley, Michigan Opera Theatre singers Kimwana Doner and Nick Davis, Detroit jazz-gospel pianist Alvin Waddles, the CutTime String Quartet and others. Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan will also perform on violin. (He was trained as a violinist when he was young and has reconnected with the instrument in recent decades.) The concert will also honor composer Aldophus Hailstork and the late Sylvia Olden Lee, a pioneering African-American pianist, accompanist and vocal coach.

6 p.m. Sunday, Wright, 315 E. Warren, Detroit. $125. 313-494-5800. http://tapestryconcert.brownpapertickets.com