American Composers Alliance: 'The Music of H. Leslie Adams, a visit with the composer in person at Oberlin Conservatory, May 28'

[Composer H. Leslie Adams (left) with Choral Conductor James John]

AfriClassical wrote that “The Music of H. Leslie Adams” would be presented by the composer personally at Kulas Hall, Oberlin Conservatory on Saturday, May 28 at 2 PM. The appearance was also announced by the American Composers Alliance, which listed some of his works:

“Two all-Adams CDs, have become especially popular. 'Love Rejoices: Songs of H. Leslie Adams' features the internationally-known tenor Darryl Taylor. It was chosen as one of the ten best recordings of the year by American Record Guide, and is now in its second printing. The composer's 'Twenty-six Etudes for Piano' was recorded in part (12) by the brilliant pianist, Maria Corley. 'Nightsongs' a collection of songs by H. Leslie Adams, on poetry by African-American poets, is one of ACA's most popular sheet music collections, year after year.” The composer's website is: http://www.hleslieadams.com/. [H. Leslie Adams (b. 1932) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features a comprehensive Works List by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma of Lawrence University Conservatory]

Baritone Ralph Cato and Countertenor Darryl Taylor in 'Akhnaten' of Opera Long Beach

[ABOVE: Ralph Cato BELOW: Darryl Taylor]

John Malveaux of MusicUNTOLD sends this news:

“Baritone Ralph Cato was cast in Opera Long Beach production of AKHNATEN to sing the role of Aye, Father of Neferttiti and advisor to the Pharaoh. The March 27, 2011 performance also included countertenor Darryl Taylor replacing Jochen Kowalski in the role of Akhnaten. Congratulations to Cato and Taylor.”

The website of Ralph Cato tells us:

“A native of New Orleans, Louisiana, Cato moved to southern California to attend Northridge State. He went on to the University of Southern California and then to the University of California, Los Angeles, where he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree.”

Darryl Taylor is Founder of The African American Art Song Alliance. His many CDs include a January 2011 release: How Sweet the Sound: A Charm of Spirituals; Darryl Taylor, countertenor; Brent McMunn, piano; Albany Records Troy1244 (2011).”

John Malveaux: “The piano performance by Dr. Hansonia Caldwell on 'For Every Mountain' was compelling”

[Dr. Hansonia Caldwell]

John Malveaux of MusicUNTOLD.com tells AfriClassical:

“I attended the twenty-sixth commemorative concert in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr presented by Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. & Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. at Trinity Baptist Church, Los Angeles, California.

“The program featured the Alpha Kappa Alpha Chorus, Dr. Hansonia Caldwell, director, the Delta Sigma Theta Choraliers, Mrs. Danellen Joseph, director, the United Methodist Male Chorus, Mr. Perry Hayes, director, the Pan-Hellenic Chorus 2011 and featured guest artist Nicholas King. Nicholas attends The Glenn Gould School at The Royal Conservatory of Music.

“Several choral performances generated standing ovations. 'For Every Mountain' composed by Kurt Carr, Jennifer George, soloist generated an intensive and long continuing standing ovation to close the program. The piano performance by Dr. Hansonia Caldwell on 'For Every Mountain' was compelling and penetrating. Mrs. Danellen Joseph choral directing during the program denied age with poetic movement and expression.”

The African American Art Song Alliance

http://www.darryltaylor.com/alliance/displayArtist.php?artistId=29

“Dr. Hansonia Caldwell is a recently retired professor of music at California State University Dominguez Hills, with academic specialties in music, African-American music history, piano, choral conducting and humanities. Dr. Caldwell, who holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Boston University and the MM and PhD degrees in Musicology from the University of Southern California. Over the years, she has taught at USC, at CSU Long Beach, and at Santa Monica City College.” “Most recently, Dr. Caldwell has become Founding Director of the Program for the Study of African Diaspora Sacred Music and Musicians, an organization that has as its primary mission the study of the life and work of African Diaspora musicians in the field of sacred music and the preservation and performance of their music.”

Albany Records: 'Darryl Taylor and Brent McMunn have assembled a superb collection of classics'

[How Sweet the Sound: A Charm of Spirituals; Darryl Taylor, countertenor; Brent McMunn, piano; Albany Records Troy1244 (2011)]

On January 6, 2011 AfriClassical posted a news release from Albany Records on the new CD of countertenor Darryl Taylor and pianist Brent McMunn, How Sweet the Sound: A Charm of Spirituals, Troy1244 (69:03). We have since obtained the CD. Here are some excerpts from the liner notes written by Jared Sexton:

“WILD NOTES.”

By Jared Sexton

“What are these songs and what do they mean?

I know little of music and can say nothing

in technical phrase, but I know something of

men [sic], and knowing them, I know that

these songs are the articulate message

of the slave to the world.”

“In his 1935 magnum opus, Du Bois declares the spiritual to be 'the loveliest thing born this side of the seas,' reprising his earlier treatment of the subject in the 1903 collective that provides our epigraph.” “In his magisterial two-volume Book of American Negro Spirituals, first published in 1925, the Harlem Renaissance polymath James Weldon Johnson wrote: 'Nobody thought of questioning the Negro's title as creator of this music until its beauty and value were demonstrated.'”

“Thus, the documentation and performance of Negro spirituals as African American art song has served a dual purpose for roughly one hundred and fifty years now: on the one hand, establishing the aesthetic achievements of African-derived populations in a post-emancipation society and, on the other, challenging the perennial appropriation of black expressive culture as a component of 'the tragic continuities between slavery and freedom' theorized so finely by Saidiya Hartman.”

“Darryl Taylor and Brent McMunn have assembled a superb collection of classics from the still growing corpus of spirituals, including a number of arrangements by key figures in the history of black musical composition. For instance: Margaret Bonds (trained at Northwestern University and the Juilliard School, she is remembered well for her many collaborations with poet Langston Hughes, including her 1942 The Negro Speaks of Rivers); Hall Johnson (polyglot virtuoso best known for his 1939 Broadway musical, Run, Little Chillun, and the 1951 performance of his Hall Johnson Choir for the International Festival of Fine arts in Berlin at behest of U.S. State Department); the late Moses Hogan (winner of the 28th Annual Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Piano Competition, founding conductor of the renowned Moses Hogan Singers, and editor of the milestone 2001 Oxford Book of Spirituals) and Hale Smith (accomplished jazz pianist, former University of Connecticut Professor of Music and member of the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences); George Walker (child prodigy, graduate of the Eastman School of Music – in my hometown – and first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his 1996 Lilacs); and Jacqueline Hairston (alumnus of the Juilliard School, Howard University and Columbia University, longtime vocal coach to the stars, and winner of a 2007 Jefferson Award for Public Service for her contributions to the University of California's Young Musicians Program). Importantly, they have also carried forward Henry Burleigh's landmark 'Deep River,' the first spiritual arranged for voice and piano, expressly for the concert stage, in 1916.” [Margaret A. Bonds (1913-1972), Harry T. Burleigh (1866-1949), Hale Smith (1925-2009) and George Walker (b. 1922) are profiled at AfriClassical.com]

Collaborative Piano Blog: “Darryl Taylor and Maria Corley Perform H. Leslie Adams' 'For You There Is No Song'”

[ABOVE: Anthology of Art Songs by Black American Composers, compiled by Willis C. Patterson; Edward B. Marks Music. BELOW: Darryl Taylor, countertenor, and Brent McMunn, piano, in iSing, University of California Irvine, May 8, 2010]

Chris Foley provides a unique and invaluable service to those who appreciate Classical Music, Classical Music Blogs. It is a PageFlakes.com page which lists 257 blogs on Classical Music, links to each blog, and provides miniature views of the home pages of many of the blogs, including AfriClassical. Chris Foley is also passionate about Collaborative Piano and New Opera. On the home page of The Collaborative Piano Blog, he writes:

“Based in Toronto, Canada, I'm a pianist, teacher, vocal coach, and blogger. At the Royal Conservatory of Music, I teach piano, vocal coaching, collaborative piano, and vocal literature, as well as serving as head of the voice department in the Conservatory School. I'm also honored to be a member of the Studio Company at Tapestry New Opera Works, where I'm involved in the creation, rehearsal, and performance process of many new works for the opera stage.”

The Collaborative Piano Blog

The piano in ensemble. The piano in real life.

Saturday, May 01, 2010

“Darryl Taylor and Maria Corley Perform H. Leslie Adams' For You There Is No Song

I've really been enjoying this 2007 video of countertenor Darryl Taylor and pianist Maria Corley performing H. Leslie Adams’ For You There Is No Song at the East Cleveland Public Library. It’s worth noting that Darryl Taylor is also the founder of the African American Art Song Alliance, an organization dedicated to the promotion of the art song written by African American composers. If you find this repertoire as fascinating as I do, a good place to start exploring would be Willis C. Patterson’s Anthology of Art Songs by Black American Composers, in addition to the resources that can be found on Darryl’s AAASA site, AfriClassical.com and the AfriClassical blog.” HOMEPAGE: http://www.hleslieadams.com and http://www.hleslieadams.net

Press-Telegram: 'Black artists showcase music diversity' at Cal State Long Beach

[Darryl Taylor]

On Dec. 20, 2009 AfriClassical posted: “'Out of the Margins' With Darryl Taylor Feb. 15 California State Long Beach.” We posted the complete program, and linked to the AfriClassical.com pages on H. Leslie Adams and George Walker, whose works are included. We received the program from John Malveaux, who has alerted us to this article as well. Visit http://www.DarrylTaylor.com for details on the Feb. 23, 2010 performance "Daryl Taylor & Friends: A Fresh EnCounter."

By Greg Mellen, Staff Writer
Posted: 02/13/2010
“Singer Darryl Taylor performs Monday.
LONG BEACH -- This week, in conjunction with several African-American Heritage Month events, two very different styles of music will be performed. On Monday, countertenor Darryl Taylor will present a show featuring selected pieces from under-represented African-American composers at Cal State Long Beach. And on Thursday at Long Beach City College, a couple of "roots" performers, poet Sufia Giza and reggae veteran Claudius Linton, will play an outdoor concert. The idea of presenting two divergent forms of African-American music was intentional, according to John Malveaux, who helped broker the events.

“Taylor's performance, at 6:30 p.m. at the Gerald Daniel Recital Hall at Cal State Long Beach, will feature a wide range of music from arrangements of Negro spirituals, such as 'Guide My Feet,' as well as work by trailblazer George Walker, the first African-American composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1996. According to Taylor, black composers are producing world-class music that 'gets neglected or relegated to one or two scant performances that are not done well.' Similarly, Taylor's countertenor voice is often relegated to baroque music, none of which is in his show.

"'Black composers don't want to be identified by race but by the excellence of their work,' Taylor says. And his show is meant to not only display that excellence, but a variety of styles that go beyond race. 'Ultimately, the idea the that humanity is diverse - deliciously diverse,' he says. Taylor brings a wide repertoire of experience and styles, including classical, opera, jazz and gospel. He is also an academic and lectures on music and is on the faculty at UC Irvine.”

Comment by email:
Thank you for the excellent review of Darryl Taylor's performance at Long Beach U. Delighted to know my art songs were so well received. H. Leslie Adams

Darryl Taylor Offers Condolences on Passing of Composer Hale Smith

[“Music of Hale Smith”; CRI 860 (2000)]

John Malveaux informs AfriClassical: “Darryl Taylor sent a message to the members of African American Art Song Alliance":
"Subject: Hale Smith, June 25, 1925 - November 24, 2009
It is with a heavy heart that I must announce the passing of the brilliant composer/arranger, Hale Smith. Hale passed away on November 24th. I will forward service information when it becomes available. In the meanwhile, I'm sure I am joined by a host of you who knew and loved the man and his music. Our heartfelt condolences go to his wife and steadfast companion, Juanita."

"H. Leslie Adams Listening Party" Returns Sept. 9, 2007

Music of the African American composer H. Leslie Adams for voice, piano, string quartet and cello will be heard on Sept. 9, 2007 in "H. Leslie Adams: A Listening Party, Return Engagement". Featured performers will be the Cavani String Quartet; Maria Corley, piano; Darryl Taylor, countertenor; William Clarence Marshall, bass; and Kent Collier, cello. The location is the Greg Reese Performing Arts Center, East Cleveland Library, 14101 Euclid Avenue, East Cleveland, Ohio. Phone: 216-541-4128. Admission is $10.

Pictured above are Greg L. Reese, Executive Director, East Cleveland Public Library (far left); Maria Corley, pianist (3rd from left); Kent Collier, cellist (4th from right); Darryl Taylor, countertenor (2nd from right); Jonathan Stuckey, bass (far right); H. Leslie Adams, composer (center); Cavani String Quartet (in purple jackets).

H. Leslie Adams lives in Cleveland, where he was born in 1932. He is a composer, pianist and professor whose career as a professor of music and a choral director has been quite varied. His page at www.AfriClassical.com includes links to six sound samples. Five are from Love Rejoices: Songs of H. Leslie Adams, recorded by Darryl Taylor, tenor, and Robin Guy, piano, on Albany Records Troy 428 (2000). The sixth audio excerpt is from Twelve Etudes, performed by pianist Maria Corley on Albany Records Troy 639 (2004).