Radio Website Based in France Devotes Page to 'Richard Alston, Concert Pianist'

Pianist Richard C. Alston:

Hello Family and Friends,

I have just received notice that Franck Doristil has created a RICHARD ALSTON, CONCERT PIANIST page on his radio site in France! Please go to this link to view the page:

http://www.radioeben-ezerinternationale.com/richard-alston-pianist-concertist.html

Soprano Gweneth-Ann Jeffers sings excerpts from 'Flyting: a Concert Suite' by Matthew Rooke on SoundCloud

Gweneth-Ann Jeffers

Composer Matthew Rooke sends a SoundCloud sample of soprano Gweneth-Ann Jeffers performing three pieces from Flyting: a Concert Suite with a total time of 13:12, (01) Mungo's Journey, (02) At Boussa Falls, (03) Flyting segue into The Waterfall:

Flyting: a Concert Suite by Matthew Rooke


Dear William given your interest in Africans in classical music, I thought you might be interested in hearing something from Scotland.

This work also features the fine black soprano Gweneth-Ann Jeffers alongside distinguished Scottish Bass, Donald Maxwell.



With best wishes,

Matthew Rooke



http://soundcloud.com/matthewrooke/sets/flyting-a-concert-suite/s-UOL3i

Shared from the SoundCloud iOS app. Get it for free here: http://itunes.apple.com/de/app/soundcloud/id336353151?mt=8

Comments by email:

Here's more about her: http://www.gwenethannjeffers.com/  Sergio  [Sergio A.  Mims]

Dear Bill thank you so much for this listing - I think you are doing a fantastic job showing that people of African descent have been part of the history of western 

classical music for hundreds of years. Gwen is represented by her agent, Steven Swales...With best wishes, Matthew Rooke

Independent.co.uk: 'The Proms: Five rising stars' include Soprano Gweneth-Ann Jeffers

Gweneth-Ann Jeffers

The Independent

Saturday, 29 June 2013

The Proms: Five rising stars

Gweneth-Ann Jeffers (soprano): 11 August, 1pm, Proms Chamber Music

Jeffers has risen through the ranks of the Royal Opera House's Young Artists' Programme and sings one of the best song-cycles of the 20th century, Messiaen's Harawi. Show off to your neighbours pondering the funny words amid the French by telling them that they're in the Quechua language, from Peru. 

Hale Smith Remembered as Influential Composer of Classical Music and Jazz on Anniversary of Birth June 29, 1925

Black Composers Series

Hale Smith: Ritual and Incantations (14:59)

Sony Music Custom Marketing Group 

DSO-1111 (2002)

Hale Smith (1925-2009), an African American composer, pianist and professor, is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features a comprehensive Works List and a Bibliography by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com.  Four years after the passing of composer Hale Smith, references to his career continue to appear frequently in music media.  What follows is a sampling from AfriClassical posts of the past year:


October 17, 2012: Soprano Icy Simpson and Pianist Artina McCain Record Spirituals and Art Songs on CD 'I, too' on Longhorn Music Label  The disc included Hale Smith's arrangement of Amazing Grace.

February 5, 2013: News12LongIsland: 'Freeport composer Hale Smith's inspiration lives on'

February 11, 2013: 'ANTHOLOGY: The Black Composers Series' by Dominique-René de Lerma  The post discussed Hale Smith's Ritual and Incantations (14:59), which is on the disc pictured above.

February 28, 2013: Dominique-René de Lerma wrote of a Black Music broadcast on Bill McLaughlin's Exploring Music: "The CD of Natalie Hinderas was welcomed back for Hale Smith's Evocation.  Time did not allow a richer exploration of this classic figures' output -- his Ritual and incantations  being even more evocative."

Comments by email:

Thank you so much for the remembrance.  Juanita  [Juanita Smith]

Hey, Bill: Thanks for the link. I celebrated Hale Smith’s 88^th birthday via a poem I wrote and read at a poetry reading ziz curated. When I get a chance, I’ll send it to you. All the best… Peace, Regina [Regina Harris Baiocchi]

MyJoyOnline.com: 'Nyaho set to serenade piano lovers in two nights' in Ghana, 7 PM June 30 and July 1, 2013

Dr. William Chapman Nyaho (b. 1958)
is featured at AfriClassical.com.
His performance website is http://www.nyaho.com/
and he has a Facebook Page.

MyJoyOnline.com

Nyaho set to serenade piano lovers in two nights

From: Ghana          Published On: June 28, 2013, 11:31 GMT A sensational world-renowned pianist, William Chapman Nyaho, is set to serenade lovers of jazzy and piano music in a rollicking concert dubbed “An evening with Nyaho.” The concert which is in collaboration with ChorkorHeights and Old Achimotan Association is scheduled to take place at Sweetie’s Lounge in Airport Hills off Flower Pot junction, Spintex Road on Sunday June 30, 2013 and Monday July 1, 2013. Chapman, a Ghanaian American resident in Seatle, USA, is ready to serve his Ghanaian audience and fans with his repertoire of solid, soothing, sumptuous, selection of music. ... Nyaho’s recitals will feature music primarily by composers of African descent including those from European composers.  He will also perform music by West African composers such as Joshua Uzoigwe and Fred Onovwerosuoke using indigenous musical practices and melding it with the western cultural musical practices.  Chapman will also serve patrons with composition from the Caribbean, such as Oswald Russell, and African American composers such as Florence Price.

PPulse.com: Harpist Faye Seeman performs William Grant Still’s 'Ennanga' in Birch Creek, Wisconsin June 28 and 29, 2013

[Africa: Piano Music of William Grant Still; 

Denver Oldham, piano; 

Koch International Classics 3-7084-2H1]

Peninsula Pulse

Birch Creek, Wisconsin

by Sally Slattery
Birch Creek Celebrates "An American Birthday"

June 28, 2013

Birch Creek continues its Symphony session with Faye Seeman, featured harp soloist, performing William Grant Still’s Ennanga during the Power of Transformation concerts on June 28 and June 29. Other featured repertoire by the Birch Creek Symphony Orchestra includes Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 77 by Brahms.

On July 4, the Birch Creek Symphony Orchestra celebrates “An American Birthday” during its annual Pops Concert Event. The annual free pie and ice cream social begins at 5:30 pm and features freshly baked Door County apple and cherry pies with ice cream, all donated by local Birch Creek supporters.

[William Grant Still (1895-1978) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features a comprehensive Works List by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com Recordings, sheet music and books of William Grant Still are available at www.WilliamGrantStill.com, which is operated by the composer's daughter Judith Anne Still]

PositivelyGospel.org: Patrick D. McCoy: Gifted Musician Continues to Soar

In this article at PositivelyGospel.com Patrick D. McCoy is interviewed on his current position as Music Director at Trinity Episcopal Church:

http://www.positivelygospel.com/2013/06/27/patrick-d-mccoy-gifted-musician-continues-to-soar/

Renee' Baker Among Honorees at 16th Annual Black Music Month Breakfast of Vivian G. Harsh Society, 9 AM Saturday, June 29, 2013

Renee' Baker

Upcoming Events for the Vivian G. Harsh Society
The 16th Annual Black Music Month Breakfast
Excellence in Music and Community Service
Theme: "Music: A Pathway to Civility"
Saturday, June 29, 2013
9:00 – 11:30 am
Doors open at 8:30am
Apostolic Church of God Banquet Hall
6320 South Dorchester Avenue, Chicago, IL

Tickets: $40 each

Honorees include:

Renee Baker, Composer & Musician
William James, Jr., Musician & Actor
Selena Williams, Musician & Visual Artist
Silas Woods, Chicago Police Officer
Arcilla Stahl, Retired Administrator

Guest Speaker: Jashed Fakhrid-Deen, Educator
Keynote Speaker: Renee Baker
Master of Ceremonies: Clifford Kelley

For more information, please call the Society: 312-544-9188 or email VGHS

Renee' Baker

Principal Violist, Co-Founder/Project Manager - Project Inclusion, Chicago Sinfonietta
Musical Conductor and Artistic Director of the Chicago Modern Orchestra Project

A stellar list of Chicago leaders will be honored, including Renee Baker, composer, former director and curator of the Chicago Sinfonietta Chamber Ensemble, who will receive the Charles E. Walton Award. Baker, who is also Director of CMOP, the Chicago Modern Orchestra Project and Mantra Blue Free Orchestra, will serve as keynote speaker. Jashed Fakhrid-Deen, chair of mathematics and the CIS Department at Harold Washington College, will serve as guest speaker.

Baker will focus her address on the "The Spellbinding Effect of Black Women in Music". Noted for her masterful improvisation, Baker has utilized some of the finest classical musicians the world has known as well as jazz greats and crafted a group of the best traditionalists and married them to dedicated improvisers. She has performed and recorded with Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble, Karl E. H. Seigfried's New Quartet and Galaxy String Quartet, the David Boykin Expense, Orbert Davis, George Lewis, Mwata Bowden, the Great Black Music Ensemble, the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic and the Chicago Jazz Orchestra. She is a member of the Chicago Chapter of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians.

Abyssinian Development Corporation Provides Photo of Harry Belafonte and Dr. Calvin O. Butts, III from Harlem Renaissance Day, June 19, 2013

“Harry Belafonte and Reverend Dr. Calvin O. Butts, III” 

(Photo Credit: E. Lee White)

On June 26, 2013 AfriClassical posted: Harry Belafonte Among Recipients of Abyssinian Development Corporation Renaissance Awards June 19, 2013, Harlem Renaissance Day.  Subsequently, ADC kindly offered us the above photo taken by E. Lee White at the June 19, 2013 event.

Composer George Walker Celebrates 91st Birthday With 'Our American Roots: Gershwin, Barber, Walker, Copland' from Delos

Our American Roots: Gershwin, Barber, Walker, Copland

Emmanuel Feldman, cello; Joy Cline Phinney, piano

Delos 3449 (2013)

The composer and pianist George Walker was born in Washington, D.C. June 27, 1922, is featured at AfriClassical.com and has a website at http://georgetwalker.com/  He made history in 1996 as the first African-American Pulitzer Prize Winner in Music.

Peter Nelson-King writes Re-Composing.blogspot.com.   On Wednesday, April 17, 2013 he posted: George Walker - a Self-Styled "Great American Composer",  in which he writes at length of the composer's works.  He notes: "Walker initially gained fame as a piano prodigy, entering Oberlin Conservatory at age 14, moving to Curtis Institute of Music and eventually getting his doctorate from Eastman School of Music."

George Walker has recorded prolifically; ArkivMusic.com lists 27 CDs under his name. An impressive number are devoted entirely to his compositions, as is the case for George Walker: Great American Orchestral Works, Vol. 3 (2012). The composer's most recent release is his first on the Delos Music label, and was released just a month ago, on May 28, 2013: Our American Roots: Gershwin, Barber, Walker, Copland; Delos 3449.

ArkivMusic.com calls the disc "A varied program of seldom-heard American cello sonatas and well-crafted arrangements of beloved musical Americana."

DelosMusic.com notes the recording includes "a pair of rarely heard (and recorded) cello sonatas by Samuel Barber and George Walker." "George Walker, Sonata for Cello and piano (1957); Allegro passionato, Sostenuto, Allegro."