Dominique-René de Lerma: Musical America Worldwide: Cincinnati Piano Competition Does a 180 [Awadagin Pratt is back as artistic director]

Awadagin Pratt www.awadagin.com Dominique-René de Lerma: Musical America Worldwide          Awadagin Pratt (pictured) is back as artistic director of the Cincinnati World Piano Competition, having been fired earlier this month by now former CEO and Executive Director Mark Ernster, who is out of a job. The board members who quit upon Pratt's dismissal are also back in the fold, including Chairman Jack Rouse. Pratt at the time reported that he had been "surprised"  to learn in an email from Ernster that his services  were no longer required, especially since Ernster gave  no explanation. The firing turned the heads of Competition partners  the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the University  of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (where  Pratt is piano professor and artist-in-residence);  Ernster did not consult with either of them--they  learned of his dismissal after the fact. They issued a  joint statement supporting Pratt's artistic leadership. Ernster's move is all the more puzzling, given the  increased attendance at this year's competition as well as  the sold-out finals.

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

Dominique-René de Lerma

http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com

For Schomburg Center Members, Digital Schomburg provides access to trusted information, interpretation, and scholarship on the global black experience 24/7

Digital Schomburg

Relying on the expertise of distinguished curators and scholars, Digital Schomburg provides access to trusted information, interpretation, and scholarship on the global black experience 24/7. Users worldwide can find, in this virtual Schomburg Center, exhibitions, books, articles, photographs, prints, audio and video streams, and selected external links for research in the history and cultures of the peoples of Africa and the African Diaspora.

Sergio A. Mims: For a limited time, hear an MP3 link of my WHPK-FM radio show about Maestro Paul Freeman with Renee' C. Baker

Renee' C. Baker

Sergio A. Mims:

I have sent  you the MP3 link to my WHPK-FM (Chicago) radio show Wednesday, July 29, 2015  which I dedicated to the late conductor Paul Freeman. And  I was so fortunate to have as my special guest composer and conductor Renee' C. Baker (a former member of the Chicago Sinfonietta for 24 years) who joined me in the studio to talk about Maestro Freeman and the profound influence he had not only on her but on everyone and on the field of classical music

Also I must add that the link only lasts about two weeks so I suggest to you and your readers that they should immediately save it on their desktop to listen to the program at their convenience

http://www.whpk.org/temp/201507291200

Sergio

Dominique-René de Lerma: BlumeHaiti.org Music Matters: 'Rachel Elizabeth Barton Foundation: Tugging on Our Global Heartstrings' by Carolyn Desrosiers

Shortly after the Instrument Loan Program was developed, the REB Foundation’s second program followed as a complementary way to help young artists pursue their musical careers. Grants for Education and Career are given to young artists in difficult financial circumstances for expenses not covered by traditional scholarships, such as lessons, entrance fees to competitions, audition recording sessions, accompanist fees, and instrument repair and maintenance. Currently the REB Foundation supports 25 different young artists through the Instrument Loan Program and the Grants for Education and Career. “That’s a lot to keep track of for one person,” says Hannah.

The REB Foundation does have one other staff member, but his time is dedicated solely to working on the Foundation’s third program, The String Student’s Library of Music by Black Composers, a substantial endeavor to research, commission, and compile classical works by composers of African descent. Rachel first became interested in this subject in 1997, when with the help of Chicago’s Center for Black Music Research, she compiled and recorded “Violin Concertos by Black Composers from the 18th and 19th Centuries” with the Encore Chamber Orchestra. Her goal now is to publish a curriculum for both beginner and professional musicians to acquaint them with the rich heritage of Black music. “We’re hoping to publish the first couple of books within the next year starting with Violin Book One which correlates with Suzuki Books One and Two,” Hannah shared. The books will be available on the REB Foundation website as well as in commercial music stores.                       

   A playlist of Rachel's performances of music by Black composers.

The fourth major component of the REB Foundation is the more recent Global HeartStrings program, which gathers supplies to support classical musicians in the developing world. The idea to add the Global HeartStrings program to the REB Foundation’s mission actually came from Hannah in 2009. “Rachel is an international soloist so she gets e-mails from a lot of different people…but she started getting these e-mails from people in Africa saying ‘Would you be able to send us your old discarded strings? We don’t have any strings.’ These people had not changed their strings in over 20 years…and they wrote asking for the strings that she considered worn out because they would still be so much better than what they had.”

Something needed to be done. Hannah was in college at Peabody at the time and saw an opportunity to hold a donation drive in the Conservatory. Donations included a trumpet, a lot of music accessories and sheet music, and later on a number of violins. The REB Foundation started asking people to hold drives of their own and little by little, they were able to amass enough instruments and materials to begin shipping overseas. (Learn how to hold a drive on their website.) Hannah says she’s always getting random boxes of donations in the mail, whether from the music sorority Sigma Alpha Iota or from the Eagle Scouts. She calls it “the crowdfunding of music accessories.”

“Every professional musician has something sitting in their closet that they no longer want…every music student has something that they’ve outgrown that they’re never going to use again. And we want those things. We want your half used rosin, your junk strings, that edition of music you bought that your teacher said ‘oh no, that’s not the right edition.’ All of that can be used; all of that is still good. And if everyone sends us just a little bit we’ll have a lot of stuff to give to people who need it.”

In addition to supporting programs in Haiti through BLUME Haiti, Global Heartstrings supports the Ghana National Symphony, and a professional string quartet in Nigeria. Both of those groups are made up of professional musicians, but they also do a lot of teaching. “We’ve sent a number of instruments to Ghana because we found out that the concertmaster had a studio of children who were coming to his house every day to practice since the only way they could practice was on his violin.” The REB Foundation is currently evaluating programs in Kenya, the Middle East, and South America for support. 

Rachel Barton Pine, Hannah Barton, Emmanuel, Daniel, and Taina.

BLUME Haiti President Janet Anthony found out about the REB Foundation through mutual colleague Dr. Dominique-René de Lerma, the world’s foremost authority on Black classical composers, who serves as the Chief Advisor for the Music by Black Composers program. Dr. de Lerma taught for many years at Lawrence University and still lives in Appleton. “After Dominique let me know about Rachel's work with musicians in Nigeria, I contacted her…we have been in touch over the years and, now that the Global Heartstrings Foundation is more established, she was able to ensure that a significant donation could be made,” said Janet.

I asked Hannah, “Why music?” She replied, “Music is important. Obviously everyone needs basic things like clothes and shelter and food, but music feeds your soul. It’s a universal need as much as food and clothing, maybe even more so for people whose lives aren’t the most wonderful thing in the world. I find that the more privileged we are, the more comfortable our lives, the less music means anything. I have students who practice once a week but then you look at the kids in Haiti and the kids in Ghana and they are making music a priority in their lives because they need it that much.”

We at BLUME Haiti agree that music is a universal need and we think that it should be a universal right. We are so grateful for the support the REB Foundation has given us through Global Heartstrings, and we applaud the work they do in all of their program areas. “The extraordinary donation we received from Global Heartstrings will impact students and teachers at most of the schools we support located all over the country. From instruments, to supplies, to sheet music and method books, this donation will keep many young musicians happily playing and learning,” said Janet.

Rachel and Hannah- thank you for making music happen across the globe! 

Retweeted
By Garrett Schumann (@garrt) 

Chicago Classical Review: Grant Park Music Festival continues to showcase American music with William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 3...“Sunday Symphony”

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

Thomas Wilkins

Chicago Classical Review

Photo: Norman Timonera

Chicago Classical Review

Wilkins, Grant Park offer a mixed night of lighter fare

By Lawrence A. Johnson

Thu. Jul. 30, 2015

You want weighty German repertoire, come to the Harris Theater this weekend when the Grant Park Orchestra plays Bruckner and Weber.

Wednesday night at the Pritzker Pavilion was an evening for lighter fare with Thomas Wilkins leading a pair of rarely heard symphonies, lightish in style with more charm than profundity, to a crowd estimated at 11,000 by festival officials.

Jerry Goldsmith’s Fireworks: A Celebration of Los Angeles set the populist tone for the evening. Written for a concert of the composer’s music at the Hollywood Bowl, it’s an energetic curtain-raiser, albeit with a superficial slickness suggestive of the TV and film music genre for which Goldsmith is best known. Wilkins led the orchestra in a lively  performance.

The Grant Park Music Festival continues to showcase American music with William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 3. The work’s title, “Sunday Symphony,” reflects the composer’s religious commitment, amplified further in the four movements: “The Awakening,” “Prayers,” “Relaxation,” and “Day’s End and A New Beginning.”

Even with that there is no palpable religious component in the music. As with his better-known “Afro-American Symphony” (No. 1) Still’s music is tuneful, piquant and attractively scored, as with the bluesy theme of the English horn in the second movement and the ensuing perky lilt to the scherzo.

Ultimately, Still’s symphony is a rather slender and lightweight affair, with an emphatic, clunky finale. Wilkins led an amiable performance that brought out its lyric charm.

Comment by email:
Thanks, Bill--I don't know what we'd do without your friendship.  [Judith Anne Still]

Errollyn Wallen Summer Newsletter 2015: Summer Greetings, Forthcoming Premieres of 'Hawks and Horses' 30 August & 'black apostrophe' October 4th

Comment by email:
Hello Bill!  How are you doing?  Thanks so much for posting the blog.  All best wishes,  Errollyn  [Errollyn Wallen]

Sergio A. Mims: Cincinnati.com: Awadagin Pratt, who was dismissed by...Mark Ernster on July 8, will continue in the role of artistic director; Ernster resigned...July 20

www.awadagin.com

Cincinnati.com

Janelle Gelfand

Cincinnati Enquirer

July 29, 2015

Leadership change reverses dismissal at World Piano Competition

In a stunning turnaround, the Cincinnati World Piano Competition has reversed the reported dismissal of its artistic director, saying that the action was not authorized or recognized by its board of directors.

Awadagin Pratt, who was dismissed by executive director and CEO Mark Ernster on July 8, will continue in the role of artistic director. The competition also announced on Wednesday that Ernster resigned from his position on July 20.

Board chair Jack Rouse, who had resigned on July 8, returned as chairman on July 26.

All are unpaid, volunteer positions.

Pratt, who is also a piano professor and artist-in-residence at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), said on Wednesday that he planned to “continue moving the competition forward.”

“I’m happy to continue working with the organization and the CSO and CCM,” he said.“We’ve been on a good track for the past three years, and I’m excited to continue that work, and bring the Young Art Division into the new fold.”

CBMR & the School of Music at the U. of Wisconsin–Madison announce that online early registration is open for the 13th Feminist Theory and Music conference.

August 6-9, 2015

The Center for Black Music Research and the School of Music at the University of Wisconsin–Madison announce that online early registration is open for the thirteenth Feminist Theory and Music conference. The conference theme Feminism and Black Critical Praxis in an Age of Scarcity is in conversation with the 2013 theme, New Voices in the New Millennium, and explores the sustainability of feminist and critical race work in a new century marked by diminishing resources. Full program information is available at http://www.femtheorymusic.org/.

Early registration fees are $125 for regular registration and $75 for student/retired registration. Do not register online after August 2. Walk-in registration fees at the conference during August 6–9 will increase to $150 for regular registration and $95 for student/retired registration. Please note that the registration fee includes the Thursday reception, Friday evening performance, and the Saturday Banquet. Students must present a valid student ID upon check-in.

FTM 13 will take place at the UW-Madison Pyle Center, with affordable conference lodging available at the Lowell Center. The Pyle and Lowell Centers are both located just blocks from the University’s Library Mall and pedestrian thoroughfare, State Street, which offers multiple restaurant options at reasonable prices. For additional information about the Pyle Center and The Lowell Center, please visit http://conferencing.uwex.edu. To make lodging reservations, please visit http://conferencing.uwex.edu/lodging.cfm.

Online Registration

Please go to CBMR’s Active Net login page at

https://apm.activecommunities.com/cbmr,

then select the appropriate FTM 13 registration by clicking on either the FTM Banner or “How Do I Register in Activities?”.

If you do not have a CBMR Active Net account, you will be prompted to create one. Once you have logged in, add the appropriate registration to your shopping cart. You may also choose to make a donation to FTM or to the CBMR (or to both), and/or begin a CBMR membership. Once you have completed your registration and additional options, go to your shopping cart, and then check out. You will receive an immediate registration confirmation by email from Active Net, and you may also view and/or print a receipt from the website.

We look forward to greeting you in Madison for a successful conference.

BaltimoreSun.com: New Jersey apartment fire leaves pianist Terrence Wilson stranded

Terrence Wilson

The Baltimore Sun

By Tim Smith

July 28, 2015

Terrence Wilson, a dynamic, affable pianist who has performed several times with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra since the mid-1990s, was among tenants displaced by a three-alarm fire Saturday night at an apartment building in Montclair, NJ.

The fire broke out on the second floor and quickly spread, reaching Wilson's apartment directly above on the fourth floor, where his piano and music scores, not to mention all his other personal belongings, were housed.

Wilson left the building around 6 p.m. Saturday to walk to a restaurant for some take-away. Returning about 45 minutes later, he smelled smoke and spotted fire trucks.

"I saw the fire in the windows of my living room," he said.

The pianist has been allowed to return briefly to his apartment.

"It didn't look good at all," he said. "Where there wasn't soot and broken glass, there was water. It's pretty devastating. In the next couple of days I'll have a chance to go back and make a more accurate assessment. I did not have renter's insurance, regrettably. I discontinued it a couple years ago, when I had to cut some expenses."

Baltimore audiences got to experience Wilson's talents early in his career. He was featured on the BSO's former "Live, Gifted and Black" series when he was 18 in 1994, playing a Liszt concerto, and the next year performing Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini."

The New York-born pianist participated in some of the orchestra's Martin Luther King tribute concerts, including one in 2002 that showcased his account of Ravel's Piano Concerto.

In 2001, Wilson was soloist in Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 on a BSO subscription program led by Daniel Hege. He performed Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" with then music director Yuri Temirkanov in 2005, the  same year the pianist joined Temirkanov and the BSO for a concert tour of Spain.

Sphinx President & Artistic Director, Afa S. Dworkin, has joined the faculty at Roosevelt University in its Master of Arts in Performing Arts Administration program.

Afa Dworkin

(Kevin Kennedy)

Sphinx President & Artistic Director, 

Afa S. Dworkin, has joined the faculty at Roosevelt University in its Master of Arts in Performing Arts Administration program.  

The curriculum of the program is designed to hone the skills of current and aspiring administrators and cultivate the next generation of great professionals within the field. 

Sphinx Performance Academy students. 

Photo Credit: Hector Hernandez.

The Sphinx Performance Academy took place from July 4-18 in partnership with Roosevelt University.  The program featured a masterclass with Chicago's native violinist and Sphinx Board member Rachel Barton Pine, along with an intensive chamber music and individual performance curriculum. Roosevelt University's support has been outstanding and we're so glad to partner in transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts. 

 Sphinx Virtuosi.
Photo Credit: Kevin Kennedy.

The Sphinx Virtuosi is excited to return to the Harris Theater on December 7, 2015 at 7:30pm. One of the nation's most dynamic professional ensembles, the Sphinx Virtuosi will join the Chicago Children's Choir for this second annual performance, which will mark the conclusion of the ensemble's national tour.

[Paul Freeman led] at Interlochen in 1984, '85, and '88, continuing his mission to lead young people and introduce them to important works by composers of color

Maestro Paul Freeman (1936-2015)

Byron Hanson writes:

Please accept my condolences on Paul's passing. At the beginning of my career he gave me a part-time job teaching Music Appreciation at the Hochstein School in Rochester which he headed for a few years. He also rehearsed the Eastman Wind Ensemble from time to time and conducted the Rochester Civic Orchestra in a concert or two that I was involved with. We hired him to guest conduct the World Youth Symphony Orchestra at Interlochen in 1984, '85, and '88, continuing his mission to lead young people and introduce them to important works by composers of color they would not likely have known but for his determination to bring this music to the stage. He was a true pioneer.

Byron   

Byron Hanson

Archivist

Interlochen Center for the Arts

www.interlochen.org

Comment by email:

Many thanks!  Like so many of us, I owe an awful lot to Paul! Dominique-René de Lerma http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com

Retweeted
By Regina Carter (@Regina_Carter)  

African Musical Arts: Maestro Paul Freeman was incomparably passionate about mutual intercultural appreciation and inclusion in the classical music industry.

Fred Onovwerosuoke writes:

Sadness is great in our hearts on the news of the passing of a great champion of  classical music. Maestro Paul Freeman was incomparably passionate about mutual intercultural appreciation and inclusion in the classical music industry. 

He was in a class of his own and exuded vision that will remain incomparable for years to come. We were apprised of his vision 22 years ago when our own African Musical Arts project began and were indeed honored by his magnanimity when he reached out to our founder FredO through one of his mentors, Prof Dominique-Rene de Lerma. Obviously, Maestro Freeman's vision through his seminal recordings widely reintroduced the works of Nigerian composer Fela Sowande to a much larger audience that otherwise never would have known of African composers of classical music. We know his performance of FredO's "Fanfare for Strings & Timpani" was instrumental to some of the success his works have enjoyed.  The world of classical music has lost a great mind. We mourn with our friends at the Chicago Sinfonietta. Our condolences and prayers to his widow, Cornelia and son, Douglas. Peace to all of you...

From all of us at African Musical Arts

3547 Olive Street, Suite 110

St. Louis, MO 63103

Web: www.africarts.org

Dominique-René de Lerma: 'Ben Holt: Apostle of Musical Enlightenment,' as related from Mrs. Mayme Wilkins Holt, author, to Nevilla E. Ottley, co-author

BEN

Dominique-René de Lerma

Ben Holt, apostle of musical enlightenment, as related through personal manuscript from Mrs. Mayme Wilkins Holt, author,  to Nevilla E. Ottley, co-author.  Largo [P. O. Box 7584, Largo MD 20792]: Christian Living Books, Inc., 2015. xi, 140p.  Paperback ISBN 9781562290757; eBook ISBN 9781562290764.  $16.99.

Benjamin Edward Holt, Jr., 1955-1990.  He was 34 when he died. But he was already with the Metropolitan Opera -- not just for Porgy and Bess -- and had a major career for almost a decade -- and the male voice only begins to reach maturity at that age.  Had his life span been what one would expect, he would have soared as the principal baritone with any opera company in the world, enduring for at least three decades of world-class artistry of  exceptional fame, with shelves of best-selling recordings of definitive performances of repertoire ranging from Monteverdi to composers not yet with finished educations.  But why a book?  No matter what would have surely been in store, Ben Holt created a monument of superb musicality and defined for others what is expected of an artist, of a noble human being, a matter of noblesse oblige.  A quarter century since his death, his influence remains solid, and now with this book the potential exists for its continuation.

It does not matter that he was a musician.  Whatever career he might have selected -- including that in medicine as his father initially hoped -- he would have left an indelible imprint.  No, he was not just a musician.

An advantage of an autobiography or a life story related by a family member is having access to unique materials and memories.  The former is particularly well served in this instance: a flourish of family, school, and studio photographs from 1960 to 1989 visually demonstrate Ben's warm personality and his uncanny portrayal of his opera roles -- including perhaps his major accomplishment as Malcolm X in the opera of Anthony Davis, and that whimsical picture climbing up a Central Park lamp post with Kathleen Battle.  Other documents amplify the biography.  A disadvantage is omission, either from oversight (Battle never neglected graciously to provide Mayme Holt with a ticket to her DC performances, even including post-concert dinners) or intent (mention is barely made of Ben's father or when the separation took place).  Dr. Holt was enormously proud of his son, seemingly not fully aware of Ben's status, and wished to be provided with copies of works Ben had sung (only in English, however).  He sent me a collection of his poems, including an elegy on Ben's death, but the publication was misplaced by an over-ambitious house care-taker during my prolonged absence about 2009.  When the anthology surfaces, the poem will be made available to the public.

Those engaged in the education of youth should translate the biography's drama for young minds -- the story can place Ben Holt's life as a model, particularly when comprehensible illustrations are drawn from available recordings and videos.  The impact would be most immediately strong in the instance of Black youth, but it should not be overlooked that Ben's heritage was also visibly Choctaw.  His life was not the time for selfishness or ego, it was the time to dedicate his gift to uplift the spirits of others, not just the concert-goers but those in homes for the aged and prisons for the inmates.  In his own way he was both missionary and civil rights activist.

The manuscript was originally proposed to a major publisher, but the typically long process of evaluation had not even begun when it was decided to offer it to a local firm.  It was issued in a few weeks, and it is handsomely produced.  Marketing will be a problem, in that the publisher has no known existing audience apart from its parochial orientation (not overtly evident, however), while its some of its regular customers might be lost in the citations of repertoire.  A mainstream publisher would have caught the split infinitives, repeated phrases and anecdotes, and asked for an expanded coverage.

The back matter lacks an index, which might be superfluous what with the brief chapters bearing identification of its contents.  There is the inevitable bit of name-dropping (Luciano Pavarotti, Thomas A. Dorsey, Lawrence Winters, Eileen Cline, Mary Europe), but there are meaty data from Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Andrew Frierson, Kevin Short, Cliff Jackson, Patricia Prattis Jenkins and other musicians of renown.  Offered, however, are appendixes whose reference value would have been intensified if organized into a composite unit -- a task that is projected to be undertaken: repertoire, roles, venues, and recordings.  This will be the time to add missing video materials, including at least one interview and an "informance" before a California audience in which Ben communicated so warmly by his words and performance to a highly receptive lay audience.

The publication also makes very abbreviated mention of the Ben Holt Memorial Concert Series at Lawrence University (it was quite incorrect to indicate funding was not provided by the campus; this is built into the Conservatory's annual operational budget).  Far more satisfactory is the "History of the Ben Holt Memorial Concert Series." A 16-page document covering 13 seasons, is readily available at http://www.benholtarchives.com/series/index.html, yet even this needs to be updated to include, for example, the performance by Audra McDonald in 2013.  This is one of many websites on Ben whose consultation might have been thought outside the scope of the narrative, but should all have been included in the bibliography (also missing).  There is enough material now for a true biography, to be supplemented and augmented by additional research. 

Because Ben was frequently sponsored by Wendell Wright (whose concerts were presented in a high Episcopal church, located in the heart of west Baltimore's deep ghetto), a large collection of his materials is within the Wright Collection of the Archives at Chicago's Center for Black Music Research.

This publication readily belongs within the holdings of all academic and public music libraries, and might well be appropriate for many school libraries. It will also be welcome in private collections, most certainly everyone in the worlds of opera and Black studies.

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

Dominique-René de Lerma

http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com

Retweeted
By BookChick (@bookchick1327) 

Sergio A. Mims: I will pay tribute to Paul Freeman on my radio show WHPK-FM 88.5 and livestream www.whpk.org, 12-3 PM (Central Time) Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Sergio A. Mims writes:

I wanted to let all your readers know that on my radio show next Wednesday, July 29th, 2015 I  will be playing some performances conducted by the late conductor Paul Freeman as a tribute.

The works will be 

Paul Creston Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra, Op. 32 (1942)

Joan Yarbrough, piano;

The Czech National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paul Freeman

 

and

Adolphus Hailstork: "Sonata da Chiesa" for String Orchestra (1992)

Paul Freeman conducting the Czech National Symphony Orchestra

Also on the program will be Detlev Glanert Theatrum Bestiarum,  Haydn Creation Mass and Richard Arnell Symphony No. 3

The show is broadcast on WHPK-FM Chicago 88.5 locally and livestream online at www.whpk.org 12-3PM (U.S. Central time) 

Sergio

Justin Holland, African American Classical Guitarist, Composer and Teacher, Was Born July 26, 1819; Many of His Works Are on YouTube & Douglas Back's CD

Justin Holland
(Provided by Douglas Back)

American Pioneers of the Classic Guitar: Douglas Back Plays Parlor Gems and Concert Works of William Foden (1860-1947)
Mento Music Press SMM 3023 (1994)

Scraps From The Operas Arranged For Two Guitars By Justin Holland 

© 2009 Donald Sauter

On Feb. 24, 2012 AfriClassical posted the final set of YouTube links as received from Donald Sauter:

 AfriClassical.com features classical guitarist, composer and teacher Justin Holland (1819-1887), who was born July 26, 1819. As a music teacher in Cleveland, he was considered the city's first African American professional.

Scraps From The Operas Arranged For Two Guitars By Justin Holland was copyrighted in 2009 by Donald Sauter. He has been sending us YouTube videos of the opera scraps in groups. Here is the final group:

“Hi Bill,

With a week to go in this Black History Month, I've wrapped up 
my project of getting all of Justin Holland's 'Scraps From The 
Operas For Two Guitars' on YouTube.

Here are handy links to all twenty, with the final five completed 
'scraps' labeled 'NEW'.”
1. Faust Waltz: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3pNizJwH4k
2. Faust March: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owo_y_Jeqyo
3. Fra Diavolo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edUcvDB9xHA
4. Freischutz: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAx8KSEuh54
5. Fille du Regiment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGheAKqdms8
6. Lucia di Lammermoor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPcAjWvveH4
7. Lucrezia Borgia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Yz-sP8Cqj4
8. Maritana: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36bjfsCl7eQ
9. Martha No. 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8u4M4o--Ms
10. Martha No. 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZNOo9E0J6I
11. (NEW) Masaniello: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu-WmulxO3U
12. Oberon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj1-mMrdNSg
13. Norma 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVobcsU77aQ
14. Norma 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJmUgb78hNI
15. Traviata: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ox2yuYSzRTI
16. Trovatore: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytlwa-8v_C4
17. (NEW) Sonnambula: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVsEX07tR6Y
18. (NEW) Vespers Siciliennes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWmgtBjm5x4
19. (NEW) La Favorita: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTbpF1K6BuM
20. (NEW) Crown Diamonds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn2zVDlwos

Donald Sauter