Ronen Chamber Ensemble: Music of African-American Composers Feb. 16, 2015 at University of Indianapolis, including works of David Baker & Margaret Bonds

David N. Baker
www.davidbakermusic.org

Margaret Allison Bonds (1913-1972) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features a comprehensive Works List and a Bibliography by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com.

Ingrid Fischer Bellman writes:

The Ronen Chamber Ensemble of Indianapolis, IN, will present a concert Feb. 16, 2015, at the University of Indianapolis, featuring music by African-American composers,

         The concert will include two pieces by David Baker, head of the jazz department at Indiana University in Bloomington. Trained as a classical musician, Baker has his feet planted as firmly in classical music as he does in jazz.

The Ronen was co-founded by David Bellman, principal clarinetist with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and his wife Ingrid Fischer-Bellman, an ISO cellist. The ensemble specializes in music for winds and strings. 

         Fischer-Bellman met Baker through Janos Starker, her cello teacher at IU. One of the Baker pieces, Duo for clarinet and cello, was commissioned by the Ronen and first played at a concert in 1988.

The ensemble also will play an excerpt from Baker's Sonata for cello and piano. Other pieces on the program are:

·      Undine Smith Moore's Afro-American Suite for flute, cello and piano.

·      Piano pieces by three African-America women composers Julia Perry, Betty Jackson King and Margaret Bonds.

·      Anthony Kelley’s Grist for the Mill for flute, clarinet, cello and percussion, originally commissioned by the Mellarme Chamber Players.

“The Ronen Chamber Ensemble is really eager to pay tribute to the beautiful music written by all these composers,” says Fischer-Bellman, who programmed the concert and is in charge of Ronen’s educational outreach program. 

The concert will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 16 in the Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center on the University of Indianapolis campus. Parts of the concert also are being performed as an educational outreach program at two Indianapolis high schools with largely African-American and Hispanic student bodies.

One is Crispus Attucks, from which Baker, a native of Indianapolis, graduated when it was the state’s leading African-American high school. It now is a medical magnet high school in the Indianapolis Public Schools system.

The other is Ben Davis High School, on the Indianapolis far west side, which has a large African-American and Hispanic student body. There is no charge for any of these programs. 

For more information check the ensemble website: www.ronenchamber.org, or visit us on the Ronen Chamber Ensemble Facebook page.