William Grant Still (1895-1978)
By Savannah Maue
Feb. 3, 2018
Black History Month will provide the theme for this year’s School Day Concerts hosted by the Topeka Symphony Orchestra.
Two
performances — at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. — are scheduled for children in
fifth through eighth grades Thursday, Feb. 8, at the Topeka Performing
Arts Center, 214 S.E. 8th Ave.
The symphony will feature music
reflecting the achievements and lives of African-Americans. Music from
the opera “Porgy and Bess,” which was one of the first pieces of theater
written specifically to feature black performers in the leading roles,
and music from William Grant Still’s Afro-American Symphony, the first
symphony written by an African-American to be performed by major
orchestras in the U.S., will be among featured selections.
Students
attending the concerts will hear the influence of jazz, blues,
spirituals and folk music in these pieces that were intended to bring
black culture and arts to concert halls, which for decades had been
dominated by white performers, composers and artists.
Guest artist
and baritone Richard Todd Payne will sing several American spirituals
and deliver a rendition of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A
Dream” speech, accompanied by the Topeka Symphony Orchestra playing
elements of the songs “Precious Lord, Take My Hand,” which Mahalia
Jackson sang at King’s funeral, and the spiritual “We Shall Overcome.”
Last
year, more than 40 schools and nearly 3,000 students attended the free
concerts. Reservations are required for non-students. For more
information, call (785) 232-2032.
The TSO’s African American Heritage concert will be Saturday, Feb. 10, in White Concert Hall on the Washburn University campus.
The 7:30 p.m. program will be led by music director and conductor Kyle Wiley Pickett.
No comments:
Post a Comment