'19th Annual Black Heritage Concert Returns to Cleveland Institute of Music' Feb. 7, 2010

[ABOVE: The Collected Piano Works of R. Nathaniel Dett; Summy-Birchard (1973); BELOW: Dr. William B. Woods]

AfriClassical had the privilege of interviewing Dr. William B. Woods for a concert last May, and is happy to post news of the Black Heritage Concert he will conduct.

CIM.edu
Cleveland Institute of Music
The 19^TH ANNUAL BLACK HERITAGE CONCERT featuring ensembles from the Cleveland School of the Arts, is Sunday, February 7 at 4:00 p.m. in CIM’s Kulas Hall. The R. NATHANIEL DETT CONCERT CHOIR, with director WILLIAM B. WOODS and the CHAMBER ORCHESTRA, with director DIANA RICHARDSON, will perform in this annual favorite. Seating passes are required for this event and may be reserved by calling 216.791.5000 one week prior to the event.

WILLIAM B. WOODS is a native of Gadsden, Alabama and received his early training in music at Carver High School. He then studied organ and choral music with the late Walter Blodgett at Tennessee State and Western Reserve University. He received an Honorary Doctorate from CIM in 1999. His musical impact at Cleveland School of the Arts is felt throughout the Greater Cleveland Community and beyond. The Dett Choir has enhanced the reputation of the school by establishing a model of excellence in performance. Among the most noted compositions of the Choir’s repertoire are Handel’s Messiah, Requiems by Mozart and Fauré, Beethoven’s Christ on the Mount of Olives, The Creation by Haydn, I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes and Four Spirituals by Adolphus Hailstork. However, the mission of his Dett Choir is validated by its devotion to the presentation and preservation of music and music idioms of the African American Culture.

DIANNA RICHARDSON is the orchestra director and head of the music department at the Cleveland School of the Arts. She received a Bachelor of Music degree from CIM. In 1998, Ms. Richardson received the Heidi Castleman Award for Excellence in Teaching and Performing Chamber Music. This award, presented by Chamber Music America, encourages and rewards the dedication, effort and success of educators who lead exceptional chamber music programs for students ages 6-18. Ms. Richardson is also the director of the string ensemble and string orchestra in the Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory of Music Preparatory department and principal bassist of the Grammy Award-winning Cleveland Chamber Symphony. [R. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, where a complete Works List by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma is featured.]

19th Annual Black Heritage Concert
R. Nathaniel Dett Concert Choir
CIM Chamber Orchestra
William B. Woods
Dianna Richardson
R. Nathaniel Dett

Irene Britton Smith's 'Sonata for Violin and Piano' is available from Vivace Press

[Irene Britton Smith (Courtesy Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College Chicago)]

Irene Britton Smith (1907-1999) was an African American Composer who taught in the Chicago Public Schools for more than 40 years. Because of her remarkable success as an elementary school teacher, she became a specialist in the teaching of Reading. The principal source for the AfriClassical.com page on Irene Britton Smith is the book From Spirituals to Symphonies: African-American Women Composers and Their Music, written by Prof. Helen Walker-Hill and published by the University of Illinois Press (2007).

Dr. Walker-Hill describes the indirect manner in which she learned that Irene had done her own composing: “Only in passing did it emerge that she herself composed. As she brought out her meticulously copied compositions, it became evident that hers was a highly trained and sensitive talent. She had learned her craft in relative obscurity during years of dedicated study with some of the leading musicians and teachers of the twentieth century. Although music and composing may have been the love of her life, most of her energy was required in her profession of teaching in the public schools.”

One of Irene's works, her Sonata for Violin and Piano (15:07) was published by Vivace Press in 1996 and is included on the CD Kaleidoscope: Music by African-American Women; Leonarda LE 339 (1995). The performers are Helen Walker-Hill, piano, and Gregory Walker, violin. Notes, the Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association called the CD: “...good music that has been overlooked and underrepresented in the traditional repertory...” Today AfriClassical received a request for the name of the publisher of the work.

Earthquake Destroys Haiti's École Sainte Trinité, Where Julio Racine Taught Music, 1974-2001

[Belle Ayiti - Mizik Savant Ayisyen; Tangente au Yanvalou; Sonate Vodou Jazz; Haitian Folk Songs; Zanmi Ansanm Mizik Ayisyen (Friends Together For Haitian Music) (75:29) (2007)]

Haitian composer Julio Racine is profiled at AfriClassical.com. Our recent interviews with him have highlighted the importance of the Episcopalian school in Port-au-Prince known as École Sainte Trinité, or Holy Trinity School, to Music Education in Haiti. Julio was on the faculty of the school from 1974 to 2001. Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma of Lawrence University Conservatory is our principal adviser and a colleague of Prof. Janet Anthony. Today he informed us:

“Haiti's École Ste. Trinité, whose students have been the object of so much dedication and work by Prof. Janet Anthony and her colleagues for many years, has been totally destroyed by the earthquake.”

Haiti's École Sainte Trinité Destroyed+by+Earthquake
Haiti's Holy Trinity School Destroyed by Earthquake
Janet Anthony
Julio Racine
Haitian Composer
Belle Ayiti

Composer Regina Baiocchi and the Late Hale Smith, Part 3

(Part 2 ended with Regina's departure from the post of Director of Public Relations at Chicago Theological Union, when she won a composition grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.)

I gather you never went back?
No, I haven't been back there. But they've hired me on occasion to do free lance work, which I enjoy doing, but I've never gone back there as a permanent, full-time employee.
Right.
From there I was working on two projects. One was a piece for African hand drums, an orchestral work, which was what the National Endowment of the Arts grant was.
That was the Percussion Concerto?
It's actually a hand drum concerto.
Okay.
Because it's all African hand drums. It's for Ashiko, Bata, Conga and Djembe, those four families of African drums. Of course each instrument represents a particular country and a particular sound, but as in most instrument families, there's a soprano, alto, tenor and baritone version of each drum. The performer is called upon to perform those four families of instruments within the context of an orchestral setting.
Oh!
The piece has been performed a couple of times by the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Marsha Mabrey. She is someone who I met at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra around the same time that I met Hale Smith.
Did you meet him there also?
Yes, I met him actually in Detroit. The Detroit Symphony Orchestra was performing a piece of mine, and interestingly, he came up to me and said "That's a very attractive piece that you've written!" I thought that was a choice word for it, "attractive."
You thought that was code?
Yes, and it was! Of course I probed him and it was interesting because I got many accolades for the piece. It's called "Orchestral Suite," and most of the people in the audience really loved the piece. It was something that I wrote in reaction to "Operation Desert Storm." I don't fare well when it comes to all wars. I just think they're senseless and unnecessary and I feel that if two countries are at odds, if those two leaders of those countries got in a ring with boxing gloves on, war would never happen, because most heads of state are either cowards or definitely not fighters. It's always easier to send somebody else's kid to take a bullet for you, but...
So there was a strong ideological reason for the composition?
It was. I had a friend who was teaching at St. Thomas. He sent me a note saying he came across a list of young men who were stationed in Operation Desert Storm. They did not have families. Either they were orphaned or had lost track of their families or were estranged from their families. They wanted people to write to these young men. I chose a couple of names and I started writing to them. One of the young men I wrote to was Native American, I found out. He was 19 years old and he unfortunately lost his life there.
Oh!
But I had come to know him through his letters. I thought it was senseless that this child really who was brought into the world and then orphaned, and then further abandoned by his country, to be dropped off someplace that he probably couldn't even point out on a map, to lose his life, and he probably did not know why...
So your relationship with him drew you further into your awareness?
Absolutely! I think one of the reasons that war is so prevalent is that we don't have a personal face that we can put on it. You know it's something that's happening somewhere else, with some other people. Of course people who have sons and daughters who are in military service are aware of it; they have first-hand knowledge of it. But people like myself - I've really had no family member who's ever fought in a war in my lifetime. Having these young men as pen pals really kind of brought things home. In each case I noticed that they really had no idea what they were in for. The recruiters are very persuasive. You think that it's a way for you to go to school or to see the world, and of course you realize very early that you're basically a hired killer and unless you're very, very good at it, and very lucky, you usually end up being killed yourself. So I wrote this piece, "Orchestral Suite." It's a three-movement piece. I. "Against the ODS" (Operation Desert Storm/Shield), II."Mother to Nique" (A lullaby), III. "Thunder," which is probably the most-performed movement of that piece. As the name implies, it's a very loud, bombastic piece that includes a thunder sheet and a lot of percussion, a lot of brass. Anyway, I finally discovered what Hale meant by "This is an attractive piece." Interestingly enough, he made comments about the strength and weakness of the music, never having seen the score, and was able to pinpoint some strengths and weaknesses. Of course I as composer knew exactly where they were. To have someone who has an ear that's keen enough to hear it, who has the wherewithall to discuss that in detail...
The diagnosis of a master!
Absolutely! On the first hearing! It kind of reminds me of things I have read about Leonard Bernstein where he would go to a musical or a play or some opera, a premiere, and he'd come home and play the whole thing from memory!
Wow!
Having gone to a premiere, hearing it one time! That's the kind of talent and training I think people in Hale's generation got, that people of my generation did not necessarily get. So I was very interested in talking to him because the teachers that I studied with in undergrad did not really understand Regina Harris Biaocchi, the artist. They wanted me to be in a box really! I was often told, "You know this is a conservatory, we teach people how to write this type of music. I was not able to express myself as a popular musician, a jazz musician, as a classical musician.
That was not welcomed then?
No, it really wasn't. It's interesting, I did an interview once with the "Chicago Reader," a newspaper.
Right.
They talked extensively about that, but I've since spoken to my teachers, so I think initially when the "Reader" piece came out they were a little hurt by my comments, because I was very candid. I was the only Black student and the only female student in the Composition and Theory Department at Roosevelt University at the time I came there. It's not like I was the first Black student, because they had had other Black students before me, and then once I got there there were other people who came, but most of those people were interested in studying European Classical Music. I was interested in studying European Classical Music, but I also wanted to study Jazz, Gospel, Blues and Popular Music because I have respect for all genres but it was not necessarily...
Well you had different paradigms!
Yes! And there was no mutual respect. I was told that "We do not teach popular music here," so for me to write a popular tune and submit it as my lesson or my piece for the week, it was unacceptable. So I learned how to write what I called "head music" and "heart music." "Head music" is music that I wrote for my grade and "heart music" is music that I heard, music that I felt in my heart and I learned to leave that on the piano stand at home.
Well that was an accomplishment in itself!
It was, and I cannot take the credit for it because I've always been very close to my parents and when I told my father what was happening to me at Roosevelt University, he is the one who made the suggestion. He was saying "If you write the music that you don't feel or that you don't hear, and you suppress the other stuff, you are going to basically commit artistic suicide!"
That's interesting!
Yes it is! Rather than commit artistic suicide, he suggested that I learn how to write "head music" and "heart music." So that's what I did. I don't think it's anything different, because I think Black people in America have always been bilingual, bicultural. We've always had to - Dunbar talks about our wearing a mask, having a public persona...
Right.
And a private persona. I think that was an extension of that.
I see.
So I have my Dad to thank for that!
Was your Dad musically inclined?
My mother always sang in the choir and I think that's why she put us in choir. She always wanted to learn piano. She did study organ for a while as an adult, but she never really got proficient at it. My father played Bluegrass fiddle and harmonica. He is from Kentucky, and my mother is from Tennessee. Their musical exposure is a reflection of the culture in the state in which they lived.
Sounds like authentic folk music!
It definitely was! As kids, we were embarrassed that our Dad played harmonica and Bluegrass fiddle -versus violin - those instruments were not popular in our circle at that time. Motown was all the rage! Of course now I have a great love for blues, and I think it's one of my most favorite genres, if not my favorite genre! And I realize this is from listening to it as a child in my home. Of course it's the foundation for jazz, so related to spirituals and work songs and all of the other Black American music!
Yes!
It was interesting that Hale Smith was courageous enough to say what he said to me, because I think if someone else had said it or the wrong person had said it the wrong way, I would have taken it as hurtful or some sort of attack on me as a composer. To say that on my opening night, that kind of thing really took a lot of courage.
It did!
And I'm glad he did, because it was the beginning of a very long relationship and Hale Smith was the first teacher I've had who had the interest, the capacity and the stamina to teach Regina Baiocchi the complete artist! He understood how I can be a poet, a writer and a composer. Every other teacher that I've had has either suggested that I choose or insisted that I choose one or the other. He never did.
So he was not insisting on the type of specialization that others did?
No. Just like my parents, he said "Write what you hear." So if you wake up this morning and you hear a poem,you should go with that. If you wake up and you hear fiction, or you have a burning desire to write a nonfiction piece or to write an opera, a blues tune or a jazz tune. I think one of the reasons he was able to do that was because he lived that himself. If you look at his canon, he's written music that was performed by people like Eric Dolphy, Betty Carter, alongside of music that was performed by the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra.
That's true!
There are very few people in the world who can say that! In his case he did all of them equally well! There are so many discoveries that I made after I met him, I felt cheated that I had not met him before!
Is that right?
Yes, I really did! I wish I had met him when I first started in music. I would be a much, much better musician than I am today!
That's interesting!
Yes, I do. He and I talked about it and he would always blow it off and say "Oh, don't worry about that! This is where I am now; work from here."
Yes.
I worked on my opera with him, I worked on my novel with him; there was nothing that I was interested in doing that he could not help me with! Part 4

Orchestral Suite of Regina Baiocchi Detroit Symphony Orchestra Head Music & Heart Music Regina Baiocchi, The Complete Artist Composition & Theory Department Hale Smith Could Help With Anything

Nigerian Pianist Sodi Braide Heard on WHPK-FM Radio and Online, Jan. 19, Noon - 3 PM

[Sodi Braide: “Franck, œuvres pour piano”; Lyrinx\Talents LYR 249 (2006)]

AfriClassical has reported on the Nigerian pianist Sodi Braide for years. An audio sample of his César Franck CD can be accessed from the home page of the blog. Sergio Mims sends us this news:

"I wanted you all and all your readers of AfriClassical to know that on my upcoming Jan. 19th Tuesday WHPK-FM (Chicago) classical music radio show I'll be playing selections from Sodi Braide's AFFA France Musiques solo recital CD. I'll be playing his performances of Liszt's Dante Sonata and Debussy's Trois Preludes along with Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex and The Firebird. The show is on from 12 noon - 3PM on WHPK-FM (heard locally in Chicago at 88.5FM) and live streamed worldwide on http//www.whpk.org. Sergio Mims"

Afrocentric Sounds to Honor Still on Martin Luther King Day

(William Grant Still; Photo is the sole property of William Grant Still Music, and is used with permission.)

AfriClassical has received a program announcement from Randye Jones of Afrocentric Sounds, an online radio station:

“Afrocentric Sounds radio will pay tribute to American composer William Grant Still with a broadcast of the composer's works on this year's Martin Luther King Holiday. The broadcast, to be presented on January 18th, will include a wide range of Still's compositions for solo instruments, voice, as well as chamber and large ensembles.

“Known as the Dean of African American composers, Still's educational and professional career spanned both popular and Classical music as he worked with musicians from W. C. Handy, Sophie Tucker, Paul Whiteman, and Artie Shaw to George Chadwick and Edgard Varese. Still broke many barriers, such as becoming the first African American to have a symphony performed by a major symphony orchestra, the first African American to conduct a major symphony orchestra in the United States, and the first African American to have an opera produced by a major American company.

“Still is credited with over 150 compositions, including art songs, operas, ballets, symphonic and chamber works. He composed and arranged music for radio and for motion pictures, including the 1936 film, Pennies from Heaven and 1937's Lost Horizon.

“The Internet radio station Afrocentric Sounds launched in November 2009. It is the second station launched by music researcher Randye Jones, whose recent performances and work have focused on African American musicians. Jones currently serves on the library staff at Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa.

“The 'All Is Still' program has been made possible by the generous donation of numerous recordings by the composer's daughter, Judith Anne Still. The broadcast may be heard by accessing the station at http://www.live365.com/stations/singin1?site=live365. For more information about Afrocentric Sounds, visit http://www.afrocentricsounds.com.” [William Grant Still (1895-1978) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, where a complete Works List by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma is found.]

Chicago Classical Review: 'Young Conductor takes a low-key approach to life and music'

[Kazem Abdullah (Photo from ChicagoClassicalReview.com)]

Kazem Abdullah has appeared in numerous posts on AfriClassical. He will conduct the Chicago Sinfonietta in Naperville Jan. 16, River Forest Jan. 17 and Chicago Jan. 18. Abdullah will also conduct Alabama's Huntsville Symphony on Feb. 6.

ChicagoClassicalReview.com
Wed Jan 13, 2010 at 1:33 am
By Bryant Manning

“Last fall at the Harris Theater, the young American conductor Kazem Abdullah led a group of Brazilians through rehearsal like a stoic military general. 'We need a much bigger diminuendo,' he said calmly, barely audible from even the second row. Moments later he broke into fragmented Portuguese and all the string players from the Orquestra de Sao Paulo smiled widely back at him. Running out of vocabulary, he coolly switched back to English. 'Now, experiment with the slow movement so you almost can’t hear yourself,' he suggested during Bartok’s 'Miraculous Mandarin.'

“Abdullah’s rehearsal style is similar to the way he gives interviews. He’s meticulously detailed, at times taciturn, even monosyllabic, and low on exuberance and hubris. Which is pretty unusual given that so many 'young rising stars,' as he is now regularly called these days, embrace the spotlight and milk their publicity opportunities for all their worth. Not this soft-spoken 30-year-old from Dayton, Ohio. It should be interesting then to see this young musician take on the gargantuan Beethoven Ninth Symphony next week with the Chicago Sinfonietta. It will be his first appearance with Chicago’s 'most diverse orchestra' and also his first public performance of the symphony.”

“Kazem Abdullah leads the Chicago Sinfonietta, soloists and Northwestern University Chorus in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at 8 p.m. Jan. 16 at North Central College in Naperville; 2:30 p.m. Jan. 17 at Dominican University in River Forest; and 7:30 p.m. Jan. 18 at Symphony Center. http://www.chicagosinfonietta.org; 312-236-3681”

Comment by email
I see that you posted about Maestro Abdullah conducting Beethoven Nine in Chicago. My wife and I sang all three concerts with Mr. Abdullah. The Maestro is wonderful - easy to follow and clear in what he wants. The performance at Symphony Center on Monday was a night I shall always remember - singing a symphony about brotherhood, just as Dr.King said in his I Have A Dream Speech. Michael Pettersen

TimeOutNY.com: 'Light as a feather: Magali Léger makes her New York debut'

[Magali Léger (Photo from TimeOutNY.com)]

TimeOutNY.com

Posted in The Volume by Olivia Giovetti on January 11th, 2010 at 10:49 am
"While happy to send us their suspect pop music, it seems France has been holding out on us with soprano Magali Léger. Doe-eyed, irrepressibly adorable—imagine Audrey Tautou with high Cs—and blessed with Michelle Obama arms, Léger left us somewhat agog after her New York debut last night in an overdue recital.

“Performing with the Ensemble du Monde and its music director, Marlon Daniel, Léger gave the Merkin Concert Hall a preview of April’s Saint-Georges International Festival of Guadeloupe, a four-day event to honor the composer dubbed 'the Black Mozart.' Like Joseph Boulogne, the Chevalier de St. Georges, Léger is a native of the island of Guadeloupe, and perhaps it’s this shared balance between French Caribbean and French Baroque that made her an ideal interpreter for these rarely heard works.”

“Presenting two arias from the same opera, Léger was the embodiment of her last name (French for 'light') with a liberating coloratura that skyrocketed to the upper register effortlessly. Hers was a Riviera soprano, mixing the warmth of sun-baked ochres with the coolness of rippling azures to create an irresistible tone. The connection she fostered with the cozy audience allowed her to shine, even when the orchestra seemed unable to curb its enthusiastic dynamics (which hovered near forte for most of the evening).” [Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799) is the subject of an extensive biographical essay, as well as discussions of his fencing and recordings, at AfriClassical.com]

Composer Regina Baiocchi and the Late Hale Smith, Part 2

(Part 1 ended with Regina's return to Chicago after a year at a Catholic boarding school in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.)

I left there and went to Paul Laurence Dunbar Vocational High School in Chicago, and that's where I really realized that I could do this; I could become a composer, I could become a writer. I always knew that I wanted to be a composer before I knew what it was, because I had been writing songs probably from age 7 or 9. My teachers at Dunbar High School were very supportive. I was able to write things for small string ensemble, for marching band, for jazz band, and I played trumpet and French horn..
You wrote for all those ensembles yourself?
I did! I started because I have a very distinctive and often described as impeccable handwriting.
Oh!
It was very natural for me to become a copyist. Often I would copy the parts for my teacher who arranged things. In Marching Band we played all of the popular tunes. In other words, whatever was on the Billboard charts, like a James Brown tune, he would arrange that for Marching Band. I would copy the parts and when I first started out I was copying and, as any copyist will tell you, you're going along copying and all of a sudden you see this note - that basically says now you've switched from being copyist to arranger and they say "Oh do this for so-and-so; do that for blah-blah! And once I passed the test, he kind of took me under his wing and my duties and responsibilities expanded.
You made the transition then!
Oh, absolutely! I knew that one of the things about functioning as an ensemble, you have to be able to listen to what the other instruments are doing. I really took that to heart! When the teacher said to us "You need to listen to other people, make sure that you fit in, that you blend in, know what they're doing." Very early I learned what the transposing instruments are, how to write for them, what concert pitch means, et cetera. How certain voicings will evoke a certain style and type of music. Dr. Willie Naylor, who was my first Band Director and first trumpet teacher at Dunbar, is still living; he's retired here in the Chicago area. The last I've heard from him he was living in Country Club Hills, a suburb of Chicago. But Dr. Willie Naylor and Burgess Gardner, who was also a trumpet player, Dr. Nathaniel Green, who was my counterpoint and chorus teacher, Judith Cammon was a great pianist and one of my general music teachers - those four teachers really gave me a great foundation on which to build. I had two student teachers that really kind of shaped where I went to college. One of them was a man named Stanley Paluck, who was a student at DePaul University and he was a member of a group that was to become known as "Chicago"...
The singing group, the popular music group?
Yes, "Chicago"! They did records like "25 Or 6 To 4."
I thought that was a pretty prominent group!
Absolutely! As a matter of fact, my husband is a big Chicago fan, so we have all of their CDs! But Stanley Paluck was an early member of "Chicago." And then there was another guy, Lionel Borderlon. Lionel Borderlon and Stanley Paluck were instrumental in me going to Roosevelt University and later on, DePaul. Lionel Borderlon was a student teacher and a student of James Mack; I later met James Mack's daughter. James Mack was a flute player, a baritone, a great choir master and just a phenomenal arranger and conductor! I think all of his degrees are in Vocal Performance and Composition and Theory. He influenced so many young Black students in Chicago who either studied with him at Crane High School, or Loop College, which is now Harold Washington College. Aside from people like Lionel Borderlon, he had students like members of "Earth, Wind and Fire"...
Is that right?
Oh yes, Curtis Mayfield, I mean people of all stripes studied with this guy! He was often called upon to write and conduct scores for the Essence Music Awards, the NAACP Award; he was a member of the Bozo Circus Orchestra! I don't know if you remember them?
No.
Bozo Circus was taped at WGN-TV in Chicago. He was actually the only Black member of the orchestra. He was playing piccolo and I think they hired him because he was such a huge man! To see this man, well over 6 feet tall, well over 300 pounds, playing a piccolo kind of fit in with that whole circus thing visually because of course whenever he walked out on stage with that little instrument, the kids would just roar with laughter!
I bet!
He was an excellent musician, and I later met his daughter at Roosevelt University. Getting back to my story, Lionel Borderlon was a Music Ed major who concentrated on theory. That's when I realized that my love was Composition and Theory of Music! I always stress that, because I think it's important because so many people either do not like or do not understand the importance of Music Theory and Musicology, especially in the world of the composer. Without Music Theory, without musicologists, composers really would be dead in the water! They are the people who really keep our music alive, when all the performances are not readily available or when all the performances are not taking place, it's the musicologists who continue to study and write about our compositions that keep them alive!
Sounds a little bit like the role played by Dominique-René de Lerma!
Yes.
A musicologist who keeps the music alive even when it's not being performed.
Exactly! And there are so many musicologists on the scene today who really should be applauded for that. You know people like Guy Ramsey. There are two musicologists, Horace Maxille - he's at the Center for Black Music Research now - and there's Rae Linda Brown. She's in California...
She recently made a substantial career change if I recall, in the last year or two.
Oh, okay, where is she now?
I believe she went to Loyola Marymount, the last I recall.
Okay, in L.A.?
Yes.
Oh that's good! Loyola is a good school!
That's what I understand.
I'm sure she'll be effective wherever she is!
Absolutely!
There's another musicologist, Tammy Kernodle. It's really important for us to know these musicologists, the Dominique-René de Lermas of the world, Horace Maxilles of the world, because they are the ones who keep our music alive and keep the music in front of educators and other researchers. Lionel Borderlon really helped me understand the importance of Music Theory within my world as a composer. I think I always knew that I did not want to be, nor did I have the time to be, a performer, and there are times when I have performed, not only as a trumpet player, French horn player, I studied Jazz flute for a while, and I of course needed a minor in piano for my music degrees.
Sounds pretty diverse!
It is, but you know that if you don't put in the time, you're just doing a great disservice to yourself and to the instrument! That's why I don't perform in public more often. I do try to keep my piano chops up! I enjoy playing Gospel and Jazz more than anything else but occasionally I'll play Classical Music. I just have some things that Juanita Smith sent me, music by Hale...
Oh!
I've decided that I'm going to learn them, just to keep myself active. There's one piece called "Two Kids" for mixed chorus, and even though it's an a cappella piece, of course he has a piano part for rehearsal purposes.
Right.
So I'm learning that, "Beyond the rim of day," which is three songs that he wrote for voice and piano, and the words are by Langston Hughes and the piano part is pretty demanding and it's probably nothing that I'll ever play in public but who knows? It's a good sight reading exercise.
Let's see (referring to Works List of Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma on Hale Smith page at AfriClassical.com) "Beyond the rim of day, for medium voice and piano," composed in 1950.
Yes.
With words by Langston Hughes like you said.
Yes.
"March moon" and so on?
"March moon" and "Troubled woman" and "To a little lover lass." Now he has written on this part "Three songs for high voice and piano."
That's a little different from what Dominique has.
Yes, maybe he arranged it for medium voice. I'm looking at the notes here, and this is definitely "high voice." Then I also have a copy of "The valley wind," which is four songs for medium voice and piano. Of course, in addition to being a great mentor, Hale was of course a great composer, but I'm getting a little ahead of myself. After I graduated from Dunbar High School, I went to Roosevelt University.
When was that?
June 10, 1974 I graduated from high school.
We didn't get your date of birth, did we?
July 16, 1956 - Oh, it's all over the Internet; I couldn't hide it if I wanted to! After I graduated high school I went to Roosevelt University, Chicago Musical College, which is now called Chicago College of Performing Arts, which is a combination of Music, Theater and Dance. Still at Roosevelt University, but they've combined those three disciplines, whereas when I was there, I actually went to Chicago Musical College. I majored in Composition and Theory, and after I left there I started working at Dunbar High School as a teacher, Summer programs, teaching Music Theory.
About how long did you do that?
A year. It was just for a particular Summer program.
I see.
After that I actually went to the Archdiocese of Chicago where I started teaching Math. I love Math, I always have! And I love teaching Math. I was teaching primarily junior high school, of 7th through 9th grade.
About how long did you do that?
I taught 6-7 years.
Okay.
Then I went to Public Relations...
Was that at a seminary?
Yes, it was at Catholic Theological Union (CTU), the largest graduate school of Ministry in North America. As the name implies, the Union is made up of 32 religious brothers and priests groups and 40 different religious orders of sisters. It's the place where people send their nuns and priests and brothers to be educated on a graduate level. CTU has students literally from six different continents! There are very few countries in the world that have not been represented by CTU students.
Wow!
It was a very interesting place. I knew about it as a youngster because the seminarians that we had working in our church, St. Elizabeth's, came from CTU and did their practicums at our church. So we were familiar with the school. It's located in Hyde Park, that's a neighborhood in Chicago, near the University of Chicago. Chicago is rich in seminaries! In Hyde Park there are 8-10 seminaries, including the University of Chicago. I left St. Thomas the Apostle School where I was teaching Math, and I went right down the street to Catholic Theological Union. They hired me as Director of Public Relations. I was there for another 6 or 7 years and I won a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, NEA, to write music. I took a leave of absence and I remember when I took that leave, they said "Oh, you're not going to come back!" I said "I'll be back next year!" That was in '94. You know, one thing leads to another, and it's been an interesting ride! Part 3

Paul Laurence Dunbar Vocational High School Chicago Musical College Roosevelt University Chicago Theological Union St. Thomas the Apostle School Math Teacher

Sphinx Competition Presented by DTE Energy Foundation To Honor Top Musicians, Feb. 3-7, 2010

[Anthony D. Elliott, Professor of Cello of the University of Michigan, will conduct the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra at the Honors and Finals Concerts of the Sphinx Competition, Feb. 3-7, 2010]

Alison Piech of the Sphinx Organization sends us this:
“Thanks very much for helping to spread the word about Sphinx’s new Chicago SPA program.

“I wanted to share with you the most recent press release regarding the 13^th Annual Sphinx Competition for young Black and Latino String players which will take place February 3-7^th, 2010, culminating in the Finals Concert at Orchestra Hall in Detroit at 2p.m. on February 7.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 12, 2009
“Nation’s top young Black and Latino string musicians compete for solo performances and other prizes
The 13^th Annual Sphinx Competition Presented by the DTE Energy Foundation will bring 18 of the country’s top young Black and Latino string players to Detroit and Ann Arbor, Michigan. Selected from a national pool of applicants, 18 Semi-Finalists will compete for prizes including solo engagements with major orchestras and scholarships to leading institutions to further their music studies. The Sphinx Competition, to be held February 3-7, 2010, will feature performances in Ann Arbor and Detroit, an evening of chamber music, and professional development opportunities for all participants.

“Junior Division Laureates will compete for first place at the Honors Concert on February 5 at 12:00PM at Ann Arbor’s Rackham Auditorium in partnership with the University Musical Society. The Senior Division culminates in the Finals Concert February 7 at 2:00PM at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Detroit.

“Both the Honors and Finals Concerts will feature the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra conducted by Anthony Elliott, a prominent conductor and professor of cello at the University of Michigan. The all-Black-and-Latino Sphinx Symphony Orchestra brings together renowned professional musicians from around the country, including past and present members of the New York Philharmonic, Detroit, Atlanta, St. Louis, New Jersey and New Mexico symphonies and others.

“Featured guest artists the Harlem Quartet also will perform at the Finals Concert in Detroit. The Harlem Quartet, praised for its 'panache' by The New York Times, is an ensemble comprising First-Place Laureates of the Sphinx Competition for young Black and Latino string players. The Harlem Quartet and Sphinx Symphony Orchestra will present the world premiere of Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra by acclaimed composer Michael Abels at the Finals Concert.

“The Sphinx Competition provides an important spotlight for gifted young Black and Latino musicians to share their talents with an audience of thousands who might not otherwise have the opportunity to hear and appreciate their artistry,” said Fred Shell, DTE Energy vice president of corporate and government affairs and president of the DTE Energy Foundation. “Supporting programs like the Sphinx Competition that promote diversity and enhance awareness of the contributions of diverse cultures is a priority for the DTE Energy Foundation. We are very pleased to serve as its presenting sponsor.”

“This year the Sphinx Organization welcomes to the Jury former violist of the Cleveland Quartet, Atar Arad; renowned concert violist Nokothula Ngwenyama; the first Black member of the New York Philharmonic, Sanford Allen; Atlanta Symphony Bassist and Sphinx Competition alumnus Joseph Conyers; former cellist of the Cleveland Quartet and New England Conservatory of Music faculty member Paul Katz; violinist of the Juilliard Quartet and President of the Cleveland Institute of Music, Joel Smirnoff; and multi-year Grammy Award winning composer and conductor, Jose Serebrier.

“Each year, young Black and Latino string players from around the country audition for the competition, which has awarded more than $1 million in prizes and scholarships since 1998. General admission tickets are $12 with discounts available for groups of ten or more. To purchase tickets, please visit http://www.sphinxmusic.org or call the Max M. Fisher Music Center box office at 313-576-5111.

“The DTE Energy Foundation is the philanthropic arm of DTE Energy, continuing the legacy of community support and involvement of its principal operating subsidiaries, Detroit Edison and MichCon.” “The Sphinx Organization is the national non-profit organization committed to building diversity in classical music through year-round programming in arts education, awareness and presentation.”

13th Annual Sphinx Competition
Feb. 3-7, 2010
Harlem Quartet
Michael Abels
Sanford Allen
Anthony Elliott