Hannibal Lokumbe's 'WITNESS: In The Spirit Of Being' 4 PM Feb. 19, 2012 in VocalEssence 2011-2012 Season

[Hannibal Lokumbe]

Malia Cole of VocalEssence sends a News Release from which we present excerpts:

FOR RELEASE Friday, March 11, 2011

VOCALESSENCE ANNOUNCES ITS 2011-2012 SEASON

A musical travel adventure with Philip Brunelle and VocalEssence

MINNEAPOLIS, MN (March 13, 2011) — VocalEssence proudly announces the 2011-2012 Concert Season — a year of musical exploration and adventure. Under the direction of Artistic Director and Founder Philip Brunelle, the 43rd season includes seven subscription concerts, two special events, and one community concert.

Season tickets go on sale beginning Friday, March 4, 2011. VocalEssence subscribers receive premium seating and save 15% off regular single ticket prices. Subscriptions can be ordered online at http://www.vocalessence.org or 612-371-5642.

2011-2012 Season highlights include:

§ Thrilling new music by Grammy Award-winning composers William Bolcom and Michael Daugherty — co-commissioned by VocalEssence.

§ An all-Minnesota Homecoming Concert, following a statewide tour along Highway 23.

§ The world premiere of Joyce Awards-winning composer Hannibal Lokumbe’s In the Spirit of Being.

§ A collaboration with The Rose Ensemble, bringing traditional and contemporary sounds together for Música de México.

§ New music by British composers Tarik O’Regan and Jonathan Dove with Copper Street Brass Quintet.

§ The Chorus America Conference Opening Gala Concert, welcoming a multitude of Minnesota choirs to Orchestra Hall.

Season images are available at http://www.vocalessence.org/media/images.

Season Subscription Performances

The Gift of Fire

Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 4 pm

Orchestra Hall, 1111 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis

Concert Conversation at 3 pm with William Bolcom and Michael Daugherty

North Star Tour: Homecoming Concert

Sunday, November 6, 2011 at 4 pm

Welcome Christmas

Five performances: December 3, 4, 9, 10 & 11, 2011

WITNESS: In the Spirit of Being

Sunday, February 19, 2012 at 4 pm

Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, 345 Washington Street, Saint Paul

Concert Conversation at 3 pm with Hannibal Lokumbe

Composer Hannibal Lokumbe, trumpet

VocalEssence Chorus & Ensemble Singers

Children’s Choir

Jazz Quintet (trumpet, piano, bass, and African percussion)

Philip Brunelle, conductor

Funded through a major award from The Joyce Foundation, VocalEssence is commissioning Hannibal Lokumbe (Dear Mrs. Parks, WITNESS 2007) to create a new musical work for the 2012 WITNESS concert. Titled In the Spirit of Being, the sixty-minute, four-movement piece will represent the stages of the human experience — birth, struggle, forgiveness/resolution, and peace — as seen through the eyes of the composer. During the world premiere, each movement will be introduced by a spiritual leader from the community.

Música de México

Friday, March 9, 2012 at 8 pm

Saturday, March 10, 2012 at 8 pm

Brits & Brass

Friday, April 13, 2012 at 8 pm

Chorus America Conference: Opening Gala Concert

Wednesday, June 13, 2012 at 8 pm

Orchestra Hall, 1111 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis

As the host of the 2012 Chorus America Conference, VocalEssence will welcome a multitude of Minnesota choirs to join them on stage for a colossal choral concert celebrating Minnesota composers. It promises to be an unforgettable night — the perfect season finale for any choral music lover.

2011-2012 Season Special Events

Star of Wonder

Family Holiday Concert

Saturday, December 10, 2011 at 10 am

｡Cantaré! Community Concert

Tuesday, May 22, 2012 at 7 pm

The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass

Thursday, June 14, 2012 at 8 pm

VocalEssence has released thirteen commercial recordings, including four WITNESS CDs of music by African American composers and artists available on the Clarion label.

'WITNESS Sweet Honey In The Rock': 'Give Me Your Hand' by John W. Work, III, Saint Paul, Feb. 14, 4 PM

[John Wesley Work, III (1901-1967); Photo from The Peachite Vol. II, No. 2, Folk Festival Number, March 1944]

The program for this concert indicates selections will include the VocalEssence Chorus in John Wesley Work, III's “Give Me Your Hand” and Rosephanye Powell's “I Dream A World.”

VocalEssence.org

WITNESS – Sweet Honey In The Rock

Philip Brunelle, conductor

Charles Kemper, piano

Sunday, February 14, 2010 at 4 pm

Ordway Center for the Performing Arts

“A vital and innovative presence in the world’s musical culture, Grammy-nominated a cappella vocal ensemble Sweet Honey In The Rock joins the VocalEssence Chorus and conductor Philip Brunelle for an uplifting celebration of hope, love, and justice. Inspired by African American legacy and traditions, Sweet Honey In The Rock mixes blues, spirituals, gospel, African chants, Hip Hop, ancient lullabies, and improvisation to create the soulful harmonies and intricate rhythms that have made them famous.

John Wesley Work, III

“Composer, educator, choral director, and ethnomusicologist John Wesley Work III was born on June 15, 1901, in Tullahoma, Tennessee, to a family of professional musicians. His grandfather, John Wesley Work, was a church choir director in Nashville, where he wrote and arranged music for his choirs. Some of his choristers were members of the original Fisk Jubilee Singers. His father, John Wesley Work Jr., was a singer, folksong collector and professor of music, Latin, and history at Fisk, and his mother, Agnes Haynes Work, was a singer who helped train the Fisk group. His uncle, Frederick Jerome Work, also collected and arranged folksongs, and his brother, Julian, became a professional musician and composer.”

"What a mighty God; Spirituals and gospels for chorus" by Dominique-René de Lerma

Introduction

Dr. Dominique-René de Lerma is an oboist and musicologist who has been a Professor of Music and a prolific author for more than half a century. For the past four decades he has specialized in Black classical music. The review of the series of four CDs appears in the August 2007 eNewsletter of the Myrtle Hart Society and is used by permission of its Founder/Director, Rashida Black, an African American harpist. The eNewsletter is free and may be requested by E-mail to enewsletter@myrtlehart.org

Witness, the soul of American music
By Dominique-René de Lerma; Part 3 of 4

What a mighty God; Spirituals and gospels for chorus

VocalEssence Ensemble; Philip Brunelle, conductor; liner notes by Dominique-René de Lerma; texts; series note; performer bios.

Abels, Michael. What a might God. Moore by Four; VocalEssence Chorus; Sanford Moore, piano; Joe Pulice, drums; Gordon Johnson, double bass. (4:14).
Adelmann, Dale. Swing low, sweet chariot. Steve Burger, baritone. (3:27).
Burleigh, Harry T. My Lord, what a morning. (3:40).
Dennard, Brazeal W. Hush! Somebody's calling my name. Yolanda Williams, soprano. (4:40).
Hailstork, Adolphus. Crucifixion. (5:14).
Hairston, Jester. In dat great gittin' up mornin'. Yolanda Williams, soprano. (3:03).
Halloran, Jack. Witness. Sigrid Johnson, conductor. (3:27).
Harris, Robert A. Go down, Moses. Yolanda Williams, soprano. (5:12).
Hogan, Moses. Elijah rock. (3:42).
Moore, Sanford. Go, tell it on the mountain. Robert Commodore, drums; Jay Young, double bass. (5:04).
Moore, Sanford. This train. Moore by Four. (7:39).
Scholz, Robert. Were you there? Brian Link, Tenor. (4:00).
Smallwood, Richard. Jesus, lover of my soul. Moore by Four; Philip Brunelle, piano. (5:22).
Smith, William Henry. Walk together, children. Sanford Moore, piano. (2:33).
Thomas, André. Death is gonna lay his cold, icy hands on me. James Bohn, baritone; Sanford Moore, piano. (3:45).
Thomas, André. Go where I send thee. Michael Morgensen, baritone; Charles Kemper, piano. (3:27).

Non-Black choruses and soloists are either fearless or inhibited when it comes to the performance of spirituals or texts with dialect. Is there any reason why they should avoid this music? If so, then in a parallel situation, a Black singer should avoid German Lieder and Italian opera, but what a loss it would be had Leontyne Price or Jessye Norman followed that restriction! Of course, these ladies had to deal with diction in the foreign language, but that is an obligation every singer must face. It is not a linguistic barrier facing the non-Black singer when the repertoire is enriched, it is political. Jessye Norman's French is so flawless that she was called on to participate in the 200^th anniversary of the French revolution, and no protest was registered to my knowledge from France, which has a very strong protectionist policy about its culture.

Brunelle's singers face the dialect straight on, and replicate the sonority of a fine Black college chorus. So also do the singers from St. Olaf, guided by Dr. Anton Armstrong.

The question arises about the setting of a traditional spiritual by one who is not Black, and that is exemplified in a few instances with this recording, but a critical listener would be no more able to identify those composers than one can signal the gender of a composer by the sound of the music.

Of course, we are blessed by the masterful settings of such classic figures as Burleigh (his My Lord might well be the most marvelously performed work here), Hairston, and the more recent figures such as Thomas, Dennard, Hailstork, and Harris. The gospel element enters with the performances of Moore by Four, a well-established ensemble, although some might feel this idiom is in strange company here.

Bach's Sheep may safely graze is merged with Jesus, love of my soul, a gospel synthesis so often beautifully performed in recital by the late Pearl Williams-Jones.

But who is Michael Abels? We first encountered his work in Detroit some years back, when Global warming heralded the emergence of a quite gifted young man. We do not even yet have a proper perspective on his output, where are found pieces for children performers and now he appears in gospel guise. One yearns to have him better represented on recordings.