Anthony R. Green: Support Castle of our Skins' "Oh, Freedom" project TODAY! Creating a NEW WORK for spoken word artist + chamber ensemble.

Anthony R. Green, Composer & Performer
© 2015 Anthony Green
www.anthonyrgreen.com

Castle of our Skins

On May 22, 2014 AfriClassical posted:

Anthony R. Green & 'Castle of our Skins': Works of Burleigh, Hailstork & Perkinson 8 PM Fri. May 23, Roxbury (MA) Community College

Anthony R. Green writes:

Good morning!

Below is an announcement from Castle of our Skins for the AfriClassical blog. An image is also attached. The announcement is about our new IndieGoGo campaign for our upcoming "Oh, Freedom!" concert. The campaign ends soon, May 15th, and we're hoping to reach out to as many people as we can as soon as possible!

Thanks so much for your work,

Anthony

It is nothing short of an honoring and humbling experience to be knee-deep once more in a project exploring Black artistry through music!

This June, we will unveil a collaboratively created work for spoken word artist

and chamber ensemble to be premiered in New England’s largest African American museum, home to the nation’s oldest African Meeting House. Poetry inspired by the words of civil rights and abolitionist leaders has already been spun by 2010 Poetry Out Loud National Champion Amber Rose Johnson.

Music, with hints of slave songs, gospel and contemporary flair, has already been crafted by Castle of our Skins’ Co-Artistic Director and Composer-in-Residence Anthony Green. Sewn together, they create an utterly exquisite and beautifully poignant tapestry. We’re excited not only to share this project with you but also to have you join us in its creation!

The work, Oh, Freedom!, will receive its debut June 4, 2015 at the African Meeting House in Boston, MA. Only a few short months away, we are eager to raise the remaining funds to help bring this project to the stage. Having already received a Boston Cultural Council grant to cover part of the production costs, we are turning to YOU to consider making a tax-deductible contribution towards our goal of $5,000.

There are a few ways in which you can contribute:

1. By credit card online on our Indiegogo campaign where, in exchange for your donation, you will receive a gift from our creative team: http://bit.ly/1HjqtPb

2. By check or money order
   made payable to “Fractured Atlas” with “Castle of our Skins” in the
   memo line. Please send contributions to: Castle of our Skins; 29 Yale
   Terrace #2; Jamaica Plain, MA 02130

Castle of our Skins is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit

arts service organization. Contributions for the charitable purposes of Castle of our Skins must be made payable to “Fractured Atlas” and are

tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

With your tax-deductible contribution, we look forward to propelling our mission: to cultivate cultural curiosity in Black artistry through music in audiences both young and old. Thank you in advance for your generous support! We look forward to seeing you at one of our events and of course the Oh, Freedom! premiere.

Wishing you all the best and a culturally curious year.

The Castle of our Skins Team

Ashleigh Gordon, Co-Artistic Director

Anthony Green, Co-Artistic Director

Seychelle Dunn, Director of Educational Programming

-- 

Anthony Green

www.anthonyrgreen.com

www.castle-of-our-skins.com

Charles Kaufmann: "Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Elementary School in Baltimore, named after the composer, is located in the vicinity of some of this week's rioting"

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) 

is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which

features a comprehensive Works List and a  

Bibliography by Dr. Dominique- René de Lerma, 

www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com.

http://rs.locationshub.com/location_detail.aspx?id=041-2167

Charles Kaufmann wrote on April 5, 2015:

Hi Bill,

You might let people know that for a limited time I am making my two-hour film "Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and His Music in America, 1900–1912" available for free public viewing via Vimeo:

https://vimeo.com/charleskaufmann/review/91407169/f22c14aad8

Charles Kaufmann writes this week:

It is worth noting that the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Elementary School in Baltimore, named after the composer, is located in the vicinity of some of this week's rioting on West Centre St., Baltimore: http://www.baltimorecityschools.org/Page/5539

I am not sure that the administration of the school is fully aware of the meaning of the name and its connection to the legacy of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's visits to Washington and Baltimore in 1904 and 1906 -- how this English composer was brought to Washington and Baltimore by the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Choral Society of Washington as a positive response to racism in the area in th early 20th century. I tried to cover this in my film, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor aned His Music in America, 1900–1912, recently so generously reviewed by Dom. I had intended to film at the SC-T Elementary School in Baltimore, and interview the principal and school historians -- if any could be located -- but ran out of time and budget. 

Still, I think it is important to raise awareness of SC-T's continued legacy in Baltimore through this school named in his honor. This is an untold chapter of "SC-T and His Music in America," and perhaps the administration and students of the school will at some point be interested to learn more about their history, which continues to resonate.

Charles

DaytonaTimes.com: Choral festival "featured one of America’s leading composers – Dr. Adolphus Hailstork, in the performance of his work, 'I Will Lift Mine Eyes'’’

DaytonaTimes.com: Dr. Gregory Broughton, a tenor soloist and head of voice at the University of Georgia Athens, is pictured left of Dr. Adolphus Hailstork, eminent Scholar at Old Dominion University. They were at the Southeastern African American Chorale Festival held Sunday.  (DUANE C. FERNANDEZ SR./HARDNOTTSUNIVERSITY.COM)

Dr. Adolphus C. Hailstork
  is featured at AfriClassical.com

(Photo provided by Rose Grace)

BY ASHLEY D. THOMAS
DAYTONA TIMES

In partnership with the Southeastern African American Chorale (SEAAC) Festival and the Mary McLeod Bethune Cultural Heritage Arts Festival, the Community Performance Series at Bethune-Cookman University presented its last performance of the season on Sunday at the Mary McLeod Bethune Performing Arts Center in Daytona Beach.

The performance featured one of America’s leading composers – Dr. Adolphus Hailstork, in the performance of his work, “I Will Lift Mine Eyes.’’ Tenor soloist Gregory Broughton and B-CU Director of Choral Studies Damon Dandridge also performed.

Comment by email:
Thanks Bill.  [Dr. Adolphus C. Hailstork]

Music of Ellington, Gershwin, and the Billie Holiday Songbook by Lara Downes, piano & the Musical Art Quintet 8 PM Sat. May 2, 2015 Piedmont Piano Co., Oakland, CA

Dear Bay Area friends-

Yesterday was Duke Ellington's birthday, today is International Jazz Day, and on Saturday night I'll be celebrating giants of jazz in Oakland, together with the fabulous Musical Art Quintet.

Please come out and join us for a concert including music by Ellington, songs from my new CD A Billie Holiday Songbook, and a brand new arrangement of Gershwin's spectacular Rhapsody in Blue.

I hope to see you!

Best,

Lara

Saturday, May 2, 2015 at 8pm 

at Piedmont Piano Company

1728 San Pablo Ave. (at 18th), Oakland, CA

$15 General/$25 VIP Pass (VIP Pass includes signed copy of Lara Downes' A Billie Holiday Songbook CD) - To reserve tickets with your credit card, please call (510) 547-8188

http://piedmontpiano.com/concerts/150502laradownes.html

Lara Downes
www.laradownes.com
YouTube
Soundcloud
Facebook
Twitter:@laradownes
Skype: LaraD88

Michael S. Wright on William Grant Still's opera 'Troubled Island': This Landmark Recording is being distributed in a most unethical way!

William Grant Still (1895-1978) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features a comprehensive Works List by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com

William Grant Still Music Item No. CD-OPERA-TROUBISL-WGSM3001
http://www.williamgrantstill.com/Troubled-Island/dp/B00O05IMBU

$21.95

Product Details

A reproduction of the 1949 New York performance of this William Grant Still opera in collaboration with Langston Hughes and Verna Arvey. Available on CD, this recording is a 50th anniversary tribute to the first opera by an Afro-American to be staged by a major American company. One of the first productions, with all of its technical flaws, is presented here.

The following review of William Grant Still's opera Troubled Island is by Michael S. Wright:

This Landmark Recording is being distributed in a most unethical way!

This is THE landmark recording. This is in fact the ONLY recording available and Cantus-Line (DA Music) a German company are doing no favours by issuing it. However, the bargain price CD's have in fact been issued without any royalties being paid to the owners. This unethical dealing was revealed to me by the publishers, William Grant Still Music check out - www.williamgrantstill.com will supply legal copies.

The plot of "Troubled Island" is the troubled history of Haiti in 1790's portraying Jean Jacques Dessalines  and the corruption of his leadership in the Haitian revolution. As self proclaimed emperor of  Haiti, he was 'bumped off' by his opponents. A great plot for starters! This an opera in three acts was composed by William Grant Still (1895-1978), with a libretto begun by poet Langston Hughes (1902-1967) and completed by Verna Arvey (1910-1987).

The New York City Opera premiered this on March 31, 1949, notably making it the first grand opera composed by an African American to be produced by a major company and it received 22 curtain calls. However, evidence has been clearly shown that the New York critics intentionally panned Troubled Island due to racism. As a result, there were just two additional performances.  Despite the fact that there were potentially ideal African-American soloists available at the time, the starring roles played by Robert Weede and Marie Powers put on 'black' make-up for the premiere....... oh dear! Had racism not taken priority in this way, I feel there was a good chance that this would have deservedly gone down in history as a milestone in American opera.

I have known this opera and this recording for 20 years or so after obtaining cassettes from the composer's daughter and good friend, Judith Anne Still. On first hearing it, I was quite 'blown away' by its impact. Despite the very limited sound quality of a live recording of the period (which has been improved in a legal copy of a remastered CD that I later obtained from WGS Music) you will hear some very fine musical writing. This is the sound of a really great opera. Whilst the NY performance is patchy and flawed in a number of ways - more rehearsal and better direction - there are some very engaging performances by the soloists. 'Troubled Island' is 'essential listening' to anyone who wishes to gain an insight into the trailblazing history of American opera. I have not purchased this 'rip off' version and cannot vouch for its sound quality. I urge all who are interested to hear this amazing work to order a legal copy from William Grant Still Music and avoid this so-called bargain version. By buying the legal copy instead you will help William Grant Still Music to continue in existence with the hope of more music emerging in the future, hopefully, new opera productions. By buying the cheap copy here, you will be helping to destroy the publishers and deny the world further opportunities to hear the works of the pioneering composer, William Grant Still. I urge all who appreciate 'big' opera in the late romantic mode to hear this and then explore further because William Grant Still wrote 9 more operas and those who explore the William Grant Still website will find a lot more exciting material on offer! This includes other opera and symphonic premieres, Try also 'Highway One' a studio performance with Louise Toppin, Robert Honeysucker, Ray M. Wade, Pamela Dillard and Philip Brunelle with VocalEssence Ensemble and the St. Olaf Orchestra is available on a modern recording - Albany TROY 734.

African Musical Arts: "The Epic Piano Duel" Annual Gala, Parkway United Church of Christ 6 PM-9:30 PM Sat., May 9, Concert & Dessert Reception or Concert & Dinner

What: "Epic Piano Duel" Annual Gala Where: Parkway United Church of Christ                2841 North Ballas Road                St. Louis, MO 63131 When: Saturday May 9th, 6:00 PM-9:30 PM (CDT) Ticket Cost: $25 for concert dessert reception, $50 for concert and dinner African Musical Arts would like to invite you to join us for the “Epic Piano Duel” Annual Gala, a wonderful evening featuring dinner, a silent auction, concert and dessert reception. Dinner and the silent auction begin at 6:00 PM, and the concert begins at 7:30 PM.  This year's concert features fabulous performances by Peter Henderson, St. Louis-based pianist with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and Michelle Cann, a dynamic piano prodigy featured on the NPR program, “From the Top.”  Our silent auction will also be available online for those who either cannot attend the Gala or simply can't wait to start bidding!  Starting May 2nd you can bid on fabulous items from local restaurants, businesses, sports teams, and more! You can find the silent auction at the following link: http://www.32auctions.com/africanmusicalarts Purchase Tickets Online: http://www.eventbrite.com/ e/epic-piano-duel-annual-gala-tickets-16490315979?aff =eac2 We hope you can make it! Cheers, African Musical Arts

Copyright © 2015 African Musical Arts, All rights reserved.

Composer George Walker is Nominated in the Arts & Letters Category for the 2015 New Jersey Hall of Fame; Voting Deadline is June 7, 2015

2015 Nominee
Arts & Letters

George Walker (b. 1922) 

has a website at http://georgetwalker.com/

and is featured at AfriClassical.com

Composer George Walker forwards a link to the list of names of nominees for the 2015 New Jersey Hall of Fame:

http://njhalloffame.org/2015-nominees/

Comment by email:

Thank you, Bill.  George  [George Walker]

Dominique-René de Lerma: It's Not Just Baltimore, It's Not Just The Police

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

(ConsciousMagazine.co)

IT'S NOT JUST BALTIMORE, IT'S NOT JUST THE POLICE

            Before 1824 it was possible to auction off the poor to serve as indentured servants.  After that, those unable to pay their debts were imprisoned in poorhouses (despite the irony of taking them out of the job market and thus making it impossible to earn money to care for the debts).  We have the same type of situation today: deprive people of an income then blame them for being poor, force them to live in substandard housing and criticize them for their social conditions, provide poorly-equipped schools and castigate them for being jobless, minimize the role of a husband and then blame them for single-parent families, pay them a sub-standard wage then criticize them for living in poverty.  And then also for being angry?

            No, it's not just Baltimore, or Ferguson, or New York.  It's the United States, the land of the free and the home of the brave, the greatest nation in the world's history (so orated before a cheering [selected] crowd).  And it's not just some police or the judicial system (which made the Klan obsolete).

            One spokesman, after Baltimore began to cool off, expressed the belief that things could now return to "normal," like back in the good old days!  That's like taking as aspirin to address the symptoms and ignoring a fatal illness!

            Paul Robeson was vilified for being "unAmerican;" Viola Liuzzo was murdered for trying to get rid of Jim Crow in the voting booth; Martin Luther King was followed by the FBI for Communist inclinations.  And the U.S. Government did not enact anti-lynching laws until 1965, by which time 4,000 Black citizens had been shot, hanged, quartered, burned and/or castrated.

            Race riots of protest and frustration began in 1783.  If Baltimore and the rest of the nation return to "normal" this will not be the end.

            Even though we may understand how so many levels of rage have stimulated these outbursts, no one can claim these have not had criminal elements or that neighbourhoods have not lost the stores that served them. 

            But we can thrill to the manifestation of "soul" -- that same quality that prompted the touring singers from Fisk University to donate all of their small income to victims of Chicago's 1871 fire -- revealing that indigenous sense of community and compassion this country too rarely calls forth from those who inherited this legacy.

            The social revolution of the 1960 ended too soon.  The entire fabric of American society and culture must be subjected to more and constant consideration, and a dramatic change must result.

            Dr. King, Malcolm, Dr. DuBois, Fannie Lou Hamer, John Brown, Nat Turner ... these were not unAmericans, they were proAmericans.

           

Dominique-René de Lerma

Appleton WI                                                      

------------------------------------

Dominique-René de Lerma

http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com

Comments by email:

1) Bravo Dominique! Bravissimo!  [Suzanne Flandreau]

2) Thanks for posting.  I wasn't sure it was appropriate.  I sent it to Baltimore 
Afro-American for which I used to write.  Dominique-René de Lerma             http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com

Pianist Clipper Erickson seeks support on Kickstarter for completion of a 2-CD recording of the complete published piano music of R. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943)

[R. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943) 

 is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which 

features a comprehensive Works List 

and a Bibliography by Dr. Dominique-René de Lerma, 

 www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com. 

(Photo: Library of Congress)]

Click here to learn more about the project

Clipper Erickson writes:

Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943) was a great figure in American music, not only because he was one of the earliest important composers of African descent, but because he was one the first composers to find their own voice by using American musical materials. Dett used Negro spirituals and spiritual-influenced musical themes.  "My cup runneth over" quotes Psalm 23 - this psalm is the text for Dett's final piano piece, Madrigal Divine. Dett's own musical cup indeed was full.

His piano music not only reflects his genius for melody and harmony but also his wonderful sensitivity to pianistic color and beautiful sound. His works also express his interests in other cultures; ancient Hebrew legends, African chants, and Hindu poets all have a place in his creations. Particularly toward the end of his life, Dett’s music contains a narrative of human oneness, which speaks to people now with the same meaning and urgency that it did in his time.

Surely such an important composer should have his complete piano output represented on CD, but until now, there has been no complete recording. For several years it has been my dream to realize this. The project is now in the final stages. PARMA Recordings, with distribution through Naxos, will release the recordings in late 2015. 

Michael S. Wright: The live recording of William Grant Still's 'Troubled Island' can be obtained [from the website of William Grant Still Music for $21.95]

William Grant Still (1895-1978) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features a comprehensive Works List by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com

[AfriClassical has found it necessary to remove the cover art and purchase information of "Still Troubled Island," catalog number DA 

1954043, at the request of William Grant Still Music]

William Grant Still Music Item No. CD-OPERA-TROUBISL-WGSM3001
http://www.williamgrantstill.com/Troubled-Island/dp/B00O05IMBU

$21.95

Product Details

A reproduction of the 1949 New York performance of this William Grant Still opera in collaboration with Langston Hughes and Verna Arvey. Available on CD, this recording is a 50th anniversary tribute to the first opera by an Afro-American to be staged by a major American company. One of the first productions, with all of its technical flaws, is presented here.

The following review of William Grant Still's opera Troubled Island is by Michael S. Wright:

This Landmark Recording is being distributed in a most unethical way!

This is THE landmark recording. This is in fact the ONLY recording available and Cantus-Line (DA Music) a German company are doing no favours by issuing it. However, the bargain price CD's have in fact been issued without any royalties being paid to the owners. This unethical dealing was revealed to me by the publishers, William Grant Still Music check out - www.williamgrantstill.com will supply legal copies.

The plot of "Troubled Island" is the troubled history of Haiti in 1790's portraying Jean Jacques Dessalines  and the corruption of his leadership in the Haitian revolution. As self proclaimed emperor of  Haiti, he was 'bumped off' by his opponents. A great plot for starters! This an opera in three acts was composed by William Grant Still (1895-1978), with a libretto begun by poet Langston Hughes (1902-1967) and completed by Verna Arvey (1910-1987).

The New York City Opera premiered this on March 31, 1949, notably making it the first grand opera composed by an African American to be produced by a major company and it received 22 curtain calls. However, evidence has been clearly shown that the New York critics intentionally panned Troubled Island due to racism. As a result, there were just two additional performances.  Despite the fact that there were potentially ideal African-American soloists available at the time, the starring roles played by Robert Weede and Marie Powers put on 'black' make-up for the premiere....... oh dear! Had racism not taken priority in this way, I feel there was a good chance that this would have deservedly gone down in history as a milestone in American opera.

I have known this opera and this recording for 20 years or so after obtaining cassettes from the composer's daughter and good friend, Judith Anne Still. On first hearing it, I was quite 'blown away' by its impact. Despite the very limited sound quality of a live recording of the period (which has been improved in a legal copy of a remastered CD that I later obtained from WGS Music) you will hear some very fine musical writing. This is the sound of a really great opera. Whilst the NY performance is patchy and flawed in a number of ways - more rehearsal and better direction - there are some very engaging performances by the soloists. 'Troubled Island' is 'essential listening' to anyone who wishes to gain an insight into the trailblazing history of American opera. I have not purchased this 'rip off' version and cannot vouch for its sound quality. I urge all who are interested to hear this amazing work to order a legal copy from William Grant Still Music and avoid this so-called bargain version. By buying the legal copy instead you will help William Grant Still Music to continue in existence with the hope of more music emerging in the future, hopefully, new opera productions. By buying the cheap copy here, you will be helping to destroy the publishers and deny the world further opportunities to hear the works of the pioneering composer, William Grant Still. I urge all who appreciate 'big' opera in the late romantic mode to hear this and then explore further because William Grant Still wrote 9 more operas and those who explore the William Grant Still website will find a lot more exciting material on offer! This includes other opera and symphonic premieres, Try also 'Highway One' a studio performance with Louise Toppin, Robert Honeysucker, Ray M. Wade, Pamela Dillard and Philip Brunelle with VocalEssence Ensemble and the St. Olaf Orchestra is available on a modern recording - Albany TROY 734.

Groundbreaking book on Dominican history authored by prominent Dominican thinker published in English for the first time; Launch 5 PM May 29, Caribe Hilton, San Juan

Blacks, Mulattos, And The Dominican Nation
Franklin J. Franco

Routledge – 2015 – 122 pages

Routledge

Originally published in 1969, Franklin J. Franco’s Blacks, Mulattos, and the Dominican Nation was the foundational study on the role of Afro-descendants in Dominican society.  Franco’s work was originally written in the midst of a socially committed thought erupting in the Dominican Republic after the breakdown of the conservative worldview sustained by the Trujillo regime and the second military intervention by U.S. forces in the country. Blacks, Mulattos and the Dominican Nation is in perfect harmony with the early efforts for the establishment of Black Studies in the United States’ academia.  Franco’s insurgent scholarly contribution and vindication of Dominican Blackness and Africanness, voiced from his homeland in Spanish, remained inaccessible to those English-speaking students, scholars and others interested in Black Studies as it unfolded beyond the U.S.

Now, more than 40 years later, Routledge puts in the hands of new generations the very first translation in English of a popular book that in 2011 had already been reprinted eleven times in the Dominican Republic without any alteration.  Blacks, Mulattos, and the Dominican Nation, translated by Dr. Patricia Mason, includes an introduction by Dr. Silvio Torres-Saillant that contextualizes Franco's work.

This exciting translation is part of Routledge’s new Classic Knowledge in Dominican Studies series, “a series that aspires to bridge on a permanent basis the shores of scholarship between the U.S. and the Dominican Republic, to ensure that transcendental writings that have marked Dominican thought become available to an English-speaking audience that otherwise may have no access to these important texts,” says Ramona Hernandez, the series’ editor and  Director of CUNY Dominican Studies Institute, the City College of New York.

  

The editorial board of Classic Knowledge in Dominican Studies series is constituted by distinguished scholars Alejandro Paulino, Archivo General de la Nación, Dixa S. Ramírez, Yale University, Mu-Kien Sang Beng, Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, Rubén Sillié, Dominican Ambassador to the Republic of Haiti, Silvio Torres-Saillant, Syracuse University.

What scholars are saying about Blacks, Mulattos, and the Dominican Nation:

“Finally! U.S. scholars and students interested in a fuller, more complex understanding of blackness in the Americas will have English-language access to Franklin J. Franco’s seminal account.  Blacks, Mulattos and the Dominican Nation is indispensable reading for anyone interested in the relationship between slavery-based capitalism, competing colonial projects, and the development of racial systems and ideologies in the Americas.  As importantly, Blacks, Mulattos and the Dominican Nation reminds readers that anti-Haitianism and negrophobia provide as much evidence of unremitting black freedom struggles on the island, as of the pathologies of white supremacy in the Hispanic Caribbean.”  Ginetta E. B. Candelario, author of Blacks behind the Ears: Dominican Racial Identity.

“The reissue of Franklin Franco’s Blacks, Mulattos and the Dominican Nation demands a new look at the African base of the Dominican Republic, and the vexed question of race in that country.  It brings to light long held silences of racial oppression, and turns accepted notions of history on its head. At a time of deep misgiving between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, the book reveals a fascinating account of the impact of Toussaint Loverture’s presence in the Dominican Republic and his contribution to the development of a consciousness of the Dominican nation.  This is a must read for Caribbean scholars.” Linden F. Lewis is a Presidential Professor of Sociology at Bucknell University and past President of the Caribbean Studies Association.  His most recent work is as the editor of the anthology Caribbean Sovereignty, Development and Democracy in an Age of Globalization

.

"Franklin J. Franco’s analysis challenged the idea that Hispanic benevolence birthed racial harmony when he made enslaved people, violence, and plunder central to Hispaniola’s colonial history. Franco can now assume his well-earned place among English-language scholars who broke new ground in the study of slavery and the African Diaspora in the Americas." April J. Mayes, author of The Mulatto Republic: Class, Race and Dominican National Identity.

“Written in 1969, Franklin Franco’s book remains an important synthesis of Dominican history during the colonial and Haitian periods. It illuminates Santo Domingo’s place as an extraordinary part of the Afro-Caribbean world: its role as the first slave plantation society in the Americas (in the 1500s); its mostly enslaved, maroon, and African-descended population since that time; and its political integration with Haiti, which was embraced by many Dominicans as a more liberal and modern nation during the early 1800s.  A new introduction by Silvio Torres-Saillant situates this classic work beautifully and expansively in Dominican historiography.” Richard Turits, author of Foundation of Despotism: Peasants, the Trujillo Regime, and Modernity in Dominican History.

  

Please join Ramona Hernandez and Alejandro de La Fuente, Director of the Afro-Latin American Research Institute, Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University, for a special launching at the Latin American Studies Association annual meeting in San Juan.

  

The presentation will take place on Friday, May 29 from 5:00pm to 5:30pm, in the Exhibit Hall of the Caribe Hilton, San Juan, Puerto Rico. 

'Peter Henderson: Twenty-Four Studies in African Rhythms, works for piano by Fred Onovwerosuoke' is released on AMP Records, Excerpts at www.ampublishers.org

Fred Onovwerosuoke, Composer

Founder, African Musical Arts
http://fredomusic.com/

PETER HENDERSON: Twenty-Four Studies in African Rhythms,
works for piano by Fred Onovwerosuoke
AMP Records AGCD 2504 (2015)

On March 1, 2015 AfriClassical posted:

Dr. Wendy Hymes: African Musical Arts, Founded by Dr. Fred Onovwerosuoke, Receives $50,000 Innovation Grant from Regional Arts Commission

Fred Onovwerosuoke writes:

Peter Henderson's CD of my 24 Studies in African Rhythms was officially released yesterday and I very much would like to send you copies. We've posted announcement along with a few audio excerpts at www.ampublishers.org. It's been a great week here in St. Louis.

Fredo

African Music Publishers

Just released on AMP Records, PETER HENDERSON: Twenty-Four Studies in African Rhythms, works for piano by Fred Onovwerosuoke. A world premiere recording of all 24 piano studies. Liner notes by Dominique-René de Lerma. Order your copy today at African Music Publishers.

Comment by email:

Blessings to you, Bill. This CD release really is one of our greatest accomplishments. Again, thanks! Fredo  [Fred Onovwerosuoke]

Eastman School of Music: Pianist Leonard O. Hayes Performs Works of Howard Swanson & George Walker in Links Scholarship Concert 3 p.m. Sun., April 26, Kilbourn Hall

Leonard Otis Hayes

(Facebook)

Howard Swanson (1907-1978)(Image Courtesy of Howard Swanson Papers,
Amistad Research Center,
New Orleans, Louisiana)

Papers

Amistad Research Center

New Orleans, LA

- See more at: http://www.blackpast.org/aah/swanson-howard-1907-1978#sthash.UQfgN2Rj.dpuf

Image Courtesy of Howard Swanson

Papers

Amistad Research Center

New Orleans, LA

- See more at: http://www.blackpast.org/aah/swanson-howard-1907-1978#sthash.UQfgN2Rj.dpuf

George Walker (b. 1922) 

has a website at http://georgetwalker.com/

and is featured at AfriClassical.com

Eastman School of Music

News Room

April 7, 2015

Pianist Leonard O. Hayes Performs Links Scholarship Concert

Pianist Leonard Otis Hayes, this year’s recipient of the annual scholarship awarded by the Rochester, New York Chapter, The Links, Incorporated, to an Eastman School of Music student, will present a recital at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 26, in Kilbourn Hall.

The award, a cooperative effort between the Rochester, New York Chapter, The Links, Incorporated, and the Eastman School of Music, recognizes and celebrates the extraordinary talent and academic achievement of an African-American scholar musician.

  

Hayes’s recital is free and open to the public. He will be joined by fellow Eastman student Mary Russek, a violinist, in select movements from Brahms’s Violin Sonata Op. 78 in G major. Hayes’s longtime colleague Derrell Acon, a lyric bass who is a doctoral student at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, will join him to perform “Come dal ciel precipita” from Verdi’s Macbeth, Howard Swanson’s “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” and an arrangement of “Deep River” by Moses Hogan.  In addition, Hayes’s solo performances include Beethoven’s Piano Sonata Op. 31 No. 2 in D minor; George Walker’s Piano Sonata No. 1; and Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz No. 1 in A Major.

  

A native of Dallas, Texas, Hayes received first prize in the 2009 and 2011 Debose National Piano Competitions and the 2011 Badger Collegiate Piano Competition, and honorable mentions in both the 2013 Schubert Club Scholarship Competition and the 2010 Zelpha Wells National Piano Competition for Collegiate Artists. He was a winner of the 2009 Neale Silva Young Artist Competition and a third prizewinner of the 2009 National Association of Negro Musicians Piano Competition.

  

Hayes has performed in solo master classes for acclaimed pianists such as Richard Goode, Robert McDonald, Jon Kimura Parker, Nelita True, Jade Simmons, and Gilbert Kalish. In March 2011, he was invited to perform in both solo and collaborative master classes at the Music Teacher’s National Association Convention, with Robert Weirich and the duo of Warren Jones and Denyce Graves. As a summer music festival participant, Hayes attended the Adamant Music School, the Green Lake Music Festival, and the Gijon International Piano Festival.

  

Hayes earned a Bachelor of Music Degree from Lawrence University, where he studied under the guidance of Catherine Kautsky and Dmitri Novgorodsky. He also studied abroad at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Dutch pianist Matthijs Verschoor.

  

Currently, Hayes is pursuing a Master of Music Degree in Performance and Literature at the Eastman School of Music in the studio of Douglas Humpherys. At Eastman, Hayes serves as a graduate assistant in studio accompanying and is a residential advisor in the Eastman Student Living Center.

The Links, Incorporated, founded in 1946, is one of the oldest and largest volunteer service organizations of women who are committed to enriching, sustaining and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African Americans and other persons of African ancestry. The Rochester, New York Chapter, The Links, Inc. was established in 1984 and supports programs in the arts, services to youth, national trends and services, international trends and services, and health and human services.

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 Many thanks, Bill.  Best regards.  George  [George Walker]