(left to right-Hazelita Fauntroy-Soprano, Cynthia
Cozette-Composer, Evette Rose-Soprano)
Photo by Hazel Lee 2016
Africa Enchants Me – Celebrating Black Heritage
Thru Opera and Poems
Thru Opera and Poems
(PHILADELPHIA, PA-April 25, 2016): Africa Enchants
Me is an exciting musical journey of stirring songs and
poems created by contemporary Philadelphia composer,
Cynthia Cozette, and her sister, Hazel Lee, to celebrate
their rich African American mixed cultural heritage.
Me is an exciting musical journey of stirring songs and
poems created by contemporary Philadelphia composer,
Cynthia Cozette, and her sister, Hazel Lee, to celebrate
their rich African American mixed cultural heritage.
Africa Enchants Me concert event will take place on
Monday, June 6, 2016 at 7:00PM in the Montgomery
Auditorium of the Parkway Central Free Library branch
located at 1901 Vine Street in Philadelphia. Admission
is free and open to the public. The program will feature
riveting poems and opera excerpts from Cozette’s one
act opera, Adea, and Cozette and Lee’s American Civil
War opera, Partway To Freedom. The concert
performance will be followed by a Question and
Answer Session with historical United States Colored
Troops reenactors of the 3rd Regiment. This concert is
sponsored by the Free Library Music Department
commemoration of Juneteenth Day, the day in 1865
where the end of slavery was finally enforced in Texas
occurring two years after the 1863 release of Abraham
Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. People of all ages
should enjoy the program.
Telling the heartfelt story of the African American mixed
cultural heritage thru opera and poems has been a
lifetime journey of the two sisters. Cozette’s modern
day opera, Adea, portrays the courage of a Black family
overcoming the despair of poverty. The Civil War opera,
Partway To Freedom, with music by Cozette and
libretto by Lee was inspired by their great grandfather
Sergeant Warren Garner’s heroism and dedication while
serving in the Civil War in the United States Colored
Troops, 4th Regiment, Company I. The enchanting lyric
voices of sopranos Hazelita Fauntroy and Evette Rose
will be heard in this performance along with magnificent
lyric tenor voices of Richard Smith and M. Barry
Currington.
Cozette states, “I am a Black American the result of many
cultures including African, European, Asian and Native
American. I express myself in tonal music. I believe it is
very important that the music one hears reflects and tells
the story of various cultures. As the first Black American
to receive a graduate degree in music composition from
the University of Pennsylvania in 1977, I believe the time
is right for my tonal style of contemporary classical music.”
For more information, contact the Parkway Central
Free Library Branch, Phone-215-686-5322; E-mail:
erefmus@freelibrary.org; Website:
or contact the composer, Cynthia Cozette, directly
at E-mail: CynLee215@yahoo.com
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