Roland Carter on Scott Joplin's 'Treemonisha' at UTC: '...we are using the T.J. Anderson orchestration.'

[Roland M. Carter; In Bright Mansions Above: The Choral Music of Roland M. Carter, vol. 1; The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Chamber Singers; J. Kevin Ford, conductor (2009) (MP3)]

Earlier today AfriClassical posted: “Chattanooga Production of Scott Joplin's 'Treemonisha' on 40th Anniversary of First Modern Performance in 1972.” We sent the post to Roland Carter of the University of Tenneessee at Chattanooga, and he responded:

“Thank you so very much and please we are using the T.J. Anderson orchestration.”

We are delighted to learn that The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is making use of the orchestration done by composer T.J. Anderson for the first modern production of Scott Joplin's opera Treemonisha in Atlanta in 1972.

Roland Marvin Carter

“Teacher, Composer-Arranger, Conductor

“Carter is founder and CEO of MAR-VEL, a publisher specializing in music and traditions of African American composers, and a life member of the National Association of Negro Musicians Inc.(NANM).

“ABOUT ROLAND CARTER (1942-)

Distinguished composer, conductor, educator, and pianist, Roland Carter is the Ruth S. Holmberg Professor of American Music in the Department of Music at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC). His accomplishments as a leading figure in the choral arts include concerts with major choruses and orchestras in prestigious venues nationwide; as well as lectures, workshops, and master classes. From presidential inaugurations to the smallest church, from scholarly presentations for national gatherings of musicians, educators, and preservationists to private coaching with individual singers, Mr. Carter lends his keen ear, bright mind, and talented hands to projects of every sort.

“In recognition of his stature, he has served on National Endowments for the Arts’ Heritage, Access and Choral Panels and received an honorary Doctor of Music degree from Shaw University. He was one of the 2003 Tennessee Governor’s Arts Awards in the Distinguished Artist category. In 2004, Carter was elected to honorary membership of the internationally acclaimed Morehouse Glee Club, joining the ranks of only two other musicians so honored during the history of the award – Robert Shaw and Leonard DePaur. Historic Abyssinian Baptist Church (NY) honored Carter with a program of his arrangements and composition in July 2005. For his outstanding contributions to American Music, Carter was given honorary membership in the nation’s largest music fraternity, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and elected to the charter class of Signature Sinfonians. Most recently, he served as guest conductor of the 2008 Yale University High School Festival, and his arrangements were featured in a special recognition program by the 175th Anniversary committee of the Metropolitan AME Zion Church of Hartford, CT. In summer of 2009, The Chamber Choir of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, under the direction of Dr. Kevin Ford, released the Volume I of THE CHORAL MUSIC OF ROLAND CARTER.

“Carter is especially noted as an authority on the performance and preservation of African American music, having produced and appeared on programs for national and international radio and television networks in support of these aims. He is founder and CEO of Mar-Vel, a music publisher specializing in the music of African American Composers and traditions. Carter has directed the Chattanooga Choral Society for the Preservation of African American Song for 19 years, and served as music advisor and principle guest conductor of the Houston Ebony Opera Guild, Houston, TX for twelve years.”

AfriClassical.com Updates Page on Scott Joplin, Opera Composer & King of Ragtime (c. 1867-1917)

[Dancing to a Black Man's Tune: A Life of Scott Joplin; Susan Curtis; University of Missouri Press (2004)]

AfriClassical.com is proud to replace its page on Scott Joplin (c. 1867-1917) with a much more comprehensive examination of his life in music, based principally on Dancing to a Black Man's Tune: A Life of Scott Joplin, written by Susan Curtis, PhD, Professor of History and American Studies at Purdue University. In her book, Prof. Curtis stresses Scott Joplin's role in the creation of an American school of music. Susan Curtis has kindly agreed to contribute a blog post on the composer

Roy F. Eaton is a pianist who specializes in the piano music of Scott Joplin. His CD Joplin: Piano Rags is part of the Sony Essential Classics series. The revised Joplin page features brief music samples from four works on the recording: Maple Leaf Rag, The Entertainer, The Cascades and The Chrysanthemum.

Scott Joplin wrote three major classical works, but the only one which has survived intact is his opera Treemonisha. A growing number of productions of this work have recently been staged in a variety of locations, with more performances and at least one new set of recordings in the works. Anthony Tommasini, Classical Music critic for The New York Times, wrote on June 7, 2011 that Treemonisha is “...a serious American grand opera.”

Almost as soon as Scott Joplin was nicknamed the "King of Ragtime", he began to turn his attention to classical music, including opera, in which he had been tutored in his youth. Joplin spent the rest of his life struggling to escape the confines of the narrow role to which he was consigned by publishers, producers and theater owners. By the end of the 19th century, the United States and the world had an African American composer of opera.

Today his opera Treemonisha is being performed in front of appreciative audiences in Europe as well as in North America and the Caribbean. Scott Joplin never lived to see one of his operas fully staged, but nine decades after his untimely death, the music world is beginning to recognize Joplin as much more than the "King of Ragtime."

NYTimes.com: 'Treemonisha' 'is not a rag opera or a folk opera, but, as Joplin intended, a serious American grand opera'

[“Excerpts from the opera 'Treemonisha' were sung by, from left, Kevin Thompson, Krysty Swann, Kenneth Overton and Robert Mack at the Schomburg Center in Harlem.” (Richard Termine for The New York Times ]

NYTimes.com

Critic’s Notebook

For City Opera, Spare Show May Signal Future

By Anthony Tommasini

Published: June 7, 2011

“If New York City Opera were a thriving company with stable finances, a clear vision and a home base, the gratifying program it presented on Monday night at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem would have come across simply as a successful effort at community outreach.

“The event was a celebration of Scott Joplin’s 'Treemonisha,' with excerpts from the opera performed by five gifted young singers, along with five dynamic dancers, accompanied by the pianist Bradley Moore. The pianist and Joplin champion Roy Eaton was the host for the program and also played two of the composer’s popular piano pieces, 'Solace' and 'Maple Leaf Rag.' An enthusiastic audience filled the inviting 340-seat Langston Hughes Auditorium.”

“It was touching to hear the excerpts from 'Treemonisha' performed in the neighborhood where Joplin lived when he wrote this opera, which he considered his major work, though it was never performed in his lifetime, and he had to publish the piano/vocal score at his own expense. He moved to New York in 1907, and, Mr. Eaton said, his last residence was not far from the Schomburg Center. The son of a former slave and a free-born black woman, Joplin died in 1917 at about 50. (His birth date is uncertain.)

“Though there are jaunty ragtime songs and dances in 'Treemonisha,' this is not a rag opera or a folk opera, but, as Joplin intended, a serious American grand opera, with an extensive overture, instrumental preludes to the second and third acts, formal arias with beguiling vocal writing, recitatives and elaborate ensembles. With a libretto by Joplin, the story is set in 1866 on a plantation in Arkansas surrounded by a dense forest. It tells of Treemonisha, an 18-year-old woman, the adopted child of ex-slaves, who has had a private education and become a source of enlightenment to her community.”

“The singers conveyed their respect for the piece through their heartfelt and handsome singing: the soprano Marsha Thompson as Treemonisha; the mezzo-soprano Krysty Swann as Monisha; the bass Kevin Thompson as Ned; the tenor Robert Mack as Remus; and the baritone Kenneth Overton in a delightful double turn as the shifty conjurer Zodzetrick and a wise, though verbose, minister named Parson Alltalk.” [Scott Joplin (1868-1917) was a Ragtime and Classical composer and pianist of African descent who is profiled at AfriClassical.com]

NorthJersey.com: Teaneck “duet in 'A Real Slow Drag,' from Scott Joplin's 'Treemonisha'"

[Scott Joplin's Treemonisha; Original Cast Recording; Polygram 435709 (1992)]

Scott Joplin (1868-1917) is profiled at AfriClassical.com:

NorthJersey.com

Opera concert a resounding success

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Teaneck Suburbanite

“The auditorium of Teaneck High School was filled with an enthusiastic audience on Sunday afternoon, Jan. 23 responding to the performances of the Teaneck Community Chorus and the Teaneck High School Madrigal and Concert choirs, in a concert entitled 'A Night at the Opera: It’s More than Grand.'"

“Featured on the concert was tenor soloist, Jon Garrison, a Teaneck resident who has sung 21 roles in more than 200 performances at The Met and has also performed with innumerable opera companies and 90 different symphony orchestras around the world.”

“Audience members were especially moved by Garrison’s performance of 'Serenade,' from The Student Prince, by Sigmund Romberg, in which he was joined by the men of the Community Chorus and the Madrigal Choir. Teaneck Community Chorus sopranos Gail Smith and Peggy Hannis sang the duet in 'A Real Slow Drag,' from Scott Joplin's Treemonisha, an opera that because of the racist prejudices of the time was not performed during his lifetime. Hannis was joined by Garrison in the duet from 'Make our Garden Grow,' from Candide, performed by the Community Chorus."