Houston Chronicle: Ebony Opera group focuses on composers ( "Duke, Dett and Three Premieres")

Conductor Roland Carter will lead the Houston Ebony Opera Guild's annual gala concert Sunday.       
(Jamie Davis, Houston Chronicle)

Houston Chronicle

By Colin Eatock

February 27, 2015

Since 1992, the African-American Music Gala has been a prominent annual performance for Houston Ebony Opera. And this year will be no exception.

"It's a major concert event," says Mary Marks Guillory, the chair of the Houston Ebony Music Society. "It's a platform for African-American music, including new works. And it reflects our broad commitment to African-American composers."

Sunday'ss program is called "Duke, Dett and Three Premieres." And the composers sung by the 45-member choir range from jazz giant Duke Ellington to R. Nathaniel Dett, an early-20th-century classical composer. Three new works by Houston composers will be performed as well.

On the podium for the occasion will be conductor Roland Carter, professor emeritus at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where he taught for 23 years. He's also a composer, arranger and music publisher.

Carter has enjoyed a long association with Houston Ebony Opera, dating to 1989. He had high praise for the organization.

"I think it has done quite well - it has grown tremendously. And as the charter members revolve out, there are new members coming in."

The major piece on the program is Ellington's "Sacred Concerts." Carter points out that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the first of the composer and bandleader's cathedral concerts in San Francisco in 1965. 

The major piece on the program is Ellington's "Sacred Concerts." Carter points out that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the first of the composer and bandleader's cathedral concerts in San Francisco in 1965.

For the "Sacred Concerts," Carter will be sharing the stage with DeVonne Gardner - a Philadelphia vocalist who appeared with Ellington in the 1960s and 1970s. The Duke praised her as a "clear-voiced soprano," and she became a regular with his orchestra.

The name R. Nathaniel Dett isn't as widely recognized today as Ellington. But in the 1930s, the Canadian-born black pianist and composer was known nationally, through appearances on NBC and CBS radio networks. He died in 1943.

Carter also feels a personal connection to Dett.

"Dett is very special to me. He founded the music school at the Hampton Institute in Virginia. I was subsequently choir director there for a quarter of a century. So I count him as part of my musical heritage."

Dett's oratorio "The Ordering of Moses" was premiered in 1937 by the Cincinnati Symphony under the distinguished British conductor Sir Eugene Goosens. Carter will conduct excerpts from this work at Sunday's gala.