Roy F. Eaton Plays Piano in Bryant Park 'the week of August 5 from 12:30 to 2:30 with the exception of Thursday when I will be playing 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM'

Roy F. Eaton writes:

Here are the dates and times of my upcoming appearance in the Bryant Park "Piano in the Park" series.

I'll be playing every day the week of August 5 from 12:30 to 2:30 with the exception of Thursday when I will be playing 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM 

Love, 

Roy

http://purehistory.org/media/15757/roy-eaton.html
www.tinyurl.com/royausradio
www.CDBaby.com/artist/Royeaton
www.royeaton.net, www.tinyurl.com/royeaton
www.advertisinghalloffame.org

A Note on Roy Eaton

Roy Eaton has a most impressive career. His first Carnegie Hall performance was in 1937, and he won the first ever Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Award in 1950. Two years in the Army, and 30 years as the first Black "Mad Man" in Advertising at Young & Rubicam and Benton & Bowles "temporarily" interrupted his career as a recitalist. His latest album I Play for Peace on RHAHM was released on 11/11/11. Other current albums include: Joplin Rags on Sony Classical; Keyboard Classics for Children on Summit; 24/7+7 The Complete Preludes of Chopin, Gershwin; Still on Summit; and The Meditative Chopin on RHAHM - all are available at www.CDBaby.com/artist/Royeaton. March, 2010 Roy was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame. Hear him on Youtube.com at Royeaton.mov. 

Presented by:

Bryant Park Corporation

Sam Ash Music Stores

Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians

Jazz Center of New York

Grant from Employee Community Fund of Boeing California to offset Travel & Hotel Costs of Artists & Recording of 'SYMPHONY of BROTHERHOOD' Concert

John Malveaux of www.MusicUNTOLD.com writes:

Grant received from Employee Community Fund of Boeing California will offset artists travel & hotel expenses and recording of 50th Anniversary MLK Jr. 'SYMPHONY of BROTHERHOOD' Concert, August 18, 2013, Zipper Hall-Colburn School, 200 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles See attachment

John Malveaux

ASALH Meets 6 PM Thursday, July 25, 2013 at The Ritz Theater in Jacksonville, Florida

ASALH is holding its 98^th Annual Conference in historic Jacksonville, Florida, October 2-6, 2013, and we need your help! 

Whenever ASALH comes to town pulling together the segments of our conference, featuring our host city, we seek out the help and support of leaders in the community. Who knows better whom to contact for various services and skills we need to make the convention a success than you?

 ASALH will hold our next Local Arrangements Committee Meeting on the date below, and we invite you, your friends and associates from near and far to join us.  

  

THURSDAY, July 25, 2013

The Ritz Theater 

829 N. Davis St, Jacksonville, FL  

6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

   

TheRoot.com: 'Interracial Families in 18th-Century Mexico'

Unknown artist working in New Spain (Mexico), De español y negra mulata, oil on canvas, 36 by 48 cm (Museo de America, Madrid)

The Root

This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black in Western Art Archive at Harvard University's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research.

One of the most typical, revealing products of colonial Spanish culture was the casta painting. This Iberian term means "lineage," or "race," and in art refers to the comprehensive representation of mixed-race couples and their offspring. Produced in a series usually consisting of 16 family groups, casta paintings categorize the uniquely complex degree of racial variation that arose within the multiethnic population of the viceroyalty of New Spain, now Mexico. These works were produced almost exclusively in the major artistic and governmental centers of Mexico City and Puebla during the 18th century. About 100 sets of casta paintings survive today from what must once have been a considerably larger number.

...

The example shown here, No. 4 in its series, initiates the process of black and white racial mixing. We see the union of a white Spanish man and a black woman with their mulatto daughter. The scene takes place in the family's kitchen. A tile stove is seen on the right, with food steaming in large pots. The well-dressed man is being accosted by his wife with a knobbed kitchen implement. Their little girl tries in vain to restrain her mother.

...

The Image of the Black in Western Art Archive resides at Harvard University's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. The director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute is Henry Louis Gates Jr., who is also The Root's editor-in-chief. The archive and Harvard University Press collaborated to create The Image of the Black in Western Art book series, eight volumes of which were edited by Gates and David Bindman and published by Harvard University Press. Text for each Image of the Week is written by Sheldon Cheek.

Sphinx Board of Directors appoints Afa Sadykhly Dworkin as Executive and Artistic Director!

Afa Sadykhly Dworkin (Kevin Kennedy)

The Board of Directors of the Sphinx Organization has announced the appointment of Afa Sadykhly Dworkin as Executive and Artistic Director of the organization. For the past 15 years, Dworkin has served as Artistic Director and VP of Programming for the Organization, having also held the position of Director of Development during her tenure. In messaging to staff and constituents, Board Chair, Deidre Lambert Bounds said, “The Board is genuinely excited to welcome Afa to this new role. Afa represents the pinnacle of the key criteria critical to success in this position, chiefly, her solid knowledge of the arts industry, her unmatched knowledge and understanding of Sphinx’s mission and her capacity to inspire those around her are all qualities which contributed to the Board’s decision.” 

Dworkin will now oversee all programming and development efforts of this $3.5 million dollar organization with combined staff and faculty of more than 40. Dworkin is a professional violinist with early training from the Moscow Conservatory, as well as continued studies through the State Conservatory in Baku, Azerbaijan and Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees with distinction from the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater and Dance. With a background in teaching at all levels, she is a dedicated youth advocate and a frequent panelist and speaker on the topics of diversity, access and inclusion. Dworkin herself embodies a diverse mosaic of cultures, which have been reflected in her artistic convictions. A champion for new music as well as research and performance of works by past composers of color, Dworkin has already served as the organization’s artistic figurehead. 

Previously serving as a key development officer for Sphinx, she also possesses extensive knowledge in partnership development and management. Sphinx has enjoyed a national reputation for programmatic excellence under Dworkin’s artistic leadership, which she plans to retain in this new role. "I am both honored and thrilled to take on this leadership role at a time when we embrace the role of access and inclusion across all of the arts while at the same time, continuing with our robust programming ranging from putting the instruments in the hands of young people for the first time to providing unprecedented opportunities for professional empowerment of our artists!" Dworkin stated. 

All organizational finance, administration and governance will still report directly to Founder and President, Dr. Aaron P. Dworkin, who will now assume additional external duties as Sphinx evolves to meet the needs of its mission and long-term vision.

Sphinx is the national organization dedicated to transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts. Through its programming, Sphinx reaches approximately 20,000 young people and 2 million in live and broadcast audiences. 

Its flagship programs include the annual national Sphinx Competition, the Sphinx Virtuosi Tour highlighting performances at Carnegie Hall, the national convening for diversity in the arts, SphinxCon and yearlong grassroots efforts in music education. Learn more at www.SphinxMusic.org

BlackPastBlog.org: African Americans Serving the United States Abroad

Edward R. Dudley (1911-2005)

Ruth A. Davis 

Edith S. Sampson 

BlackPast.org Blog

Hazel Singer

July 17, 2013

African Americans Abroad

African Americans have a long history of serving their country in the Foreign Service. The following is a list of 'firsts': this list is by no means exhaustive and presents many people not commonly discussed.

The first such individual was William A. Leidesdorff, who was appointed in 1845 as Vice Consul at Yerba Buena (now San Francisco), when California was part of Mexico. In 1869, President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Yale graduate Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett as Minister Resident and Consul General in Haiti. From this point on through the 1930s, African Americans served as ministers, consuls, and other officials in Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. These officials included such luminaries as Frederick Douglass, James Weldon Johnson, Archibald Grimke, George Washington Ellis, and Henry Francis Downing.

Lester Aglar Walton can be considered the first African American Ambassador, even though his title did not officially use that term. He was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Liberia in 1935. His successor, Edward R. Dudley, was appointed Minister to Liberia in 1948 and promoted to Ambassador to Liberia in 1949, thus becoming the first African American to officially hold the title of Ambassador.

The first African American woman to hold the post of Ambassador was Patricia Harris. She was appointed by President Lyndon Johnson as Ambassador to Luxembourg from 1965-1967. Ruth A. Davis is the first African American woman to be promoted to the rank of Career Ambassador, the highest rank in the 

Foreign Service. Ambassador Davis joined the Foreign Service in 1969 and served her country during the Clinton Administrations.

James Carter and William Yerby were the first African Americans to enter the regular career Foreign Service. Their colleague, Clifton Reginald Wharton Sr. joined the Foreign Service in 1925. He became the first African American Foreign Service Officer to become chief of a diplomatic mission to a European country when he was appointed Minister to Romania in 1958 and served until 1960. He subsequently served as Ambassador to Norway from 1961-1964. His son Clifton R. Wharton, Jr. was the first African American to hold the number two position in the State Department as Deputy Secretary of State, 1973.

Dr. LaRae Washington Kemp was the first African American Medical Director, serving as Assistant Secretary of the Department of State for Health Affairs and Medical Director for the U.S State Department and Foreign Service (1991-1994). The first African American Civil Service employee to serve as an Ambassador is Barry L.Wells, who was appointed as Ambassador to the Republic of The Gambia in 2007.

The first African American Secretary of State was Colin Powell, appointed by President George W. Bush in 2001. The first African American woman to be Secretary of State was Condoleezza Rice, appointed in 2005 by President George W. Bush. Barbara M. Watson had a distinguished career in the Foreign Service, starting as Administrator of the Bureau of Security and Consular Affairs in 1968. In 1977, she became Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs and served until 1980. She was the first woman to hold the title of Assistant Secretary. She also served as Ambassador to Malaysia, 1980-81.

Andrew Young is trumpeted as the first African American Ambassador to the United Nations, appointed by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. However, Edith S. Sampson was an African American diplomat who was appointed by President Harry Truman as an alternate U.S. delegate to the United Nations in 1950, thus making her the first African American to be hold this position.

The final entry for this discussion is Pamela Spratlen, Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic. BlackPast.org is proud to list her as a contributor to the website. For individuals wishing to peruse a longer list of African Americans in the Foreign Service, the information can be found at the U.S State Department History Archives, some of which is compiled here.

AOP Composers & the Voice: 'TRUTH, An American Opera about Sojourner Truth' with Baritone Jorell Williams, August 9, 12, 16, 17 & 25, 2013

Jorell Williams, Baritone

 (Julie DeMarre Photography)

AOP Composers & the Voice: 2013-14 Season

TRUTH, An American Opera about Sojourner Truth

Once in a Blue Moon Music

Writer: Music by Paula M. Kimper, Libretto by Talaya Delaney

Director: Linda McInerney and Lori Holmes Clark

Illuminating the life and legacy of a brilliant African American woman, a former slave who became an Abolitionist. She sets herself free and dedicates her life to freeing others. The score is lyrical, and many of the words Sojourner's own. 

1h 30m   Local   Manhattan, NY   

Musical   Drama   

Discover: Inspiration-History & Bios   

www.paulakimper.com   truthopera2013   
VENUE #7: Theatre 80
FRI 9 @ 3:00  MON 12 @ 4:15  FRI 16 @ 7:45  SAT 17 @ 9:15  SUN 25 @ 5:45  

Jorell Williams Biography

Jorell Williams, acclaimed by The New York Times for his "magnificent, rich toned" baritone and ​his"perfect" comic timing, is gaining international success on both the opera and concert stages. His 2013 season begins with the role of the Nurse/Lawyer in the world-premiere of Anthony Davis' opera Lear on the second floor at the Conrad Prebys Music Center in San Diego, Maximilian in Candide with Amarillo Opera, Buddenbrooks Buff in ​​Mozart's​ Impressario with Wendy Taucher Dance Opera Theater, Belcore in L'elisir d'amore with the Martina Arroyo Foundation’s Prelude to Performance, Frederick Douglass in Paula Kimper's Truth with the New York International Fringe Festival, Wynton Marsalis' U.S. tour of Abyssinian Mass with Chorale LeChateau and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem with the Omaha Symphony.  This fall, he returns as a Resident Artist for American Opera Projects 2013-2014 Composers & the Voice series.

Waundell Saavedra in Indiegogo Campaign to Fund Manufacturing of CD 'Stained Glass Windows'

Waundell Saavedra writes:

Hello, Colleagues and Friends,

My first CD, Stained Glass Windows is a project I created in 2011 not sure when I would perform it.  I got that chance January 2012 in New York and again July 2012 in San Francisco.  Now, this recital has become a recording project. 

I am running a fundraising campaign on indiegogo.com to help raise funds for the manufacturing costs of the physical CDs, which should be ready in a couple of weeks. There are many wonderful gifts available to those that can donate to help make this dream a reality.  You can check out the campaign here.

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/my-first-cd--2/x/3483468

This CD is also now available for digital download at CDBaby.com.

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/waundellsaavedra

I also have some of my original music now available for purchase.  I am honored and humbled that so many of my colleagues have expressed their joy to sing my music.  The first piece being made available is the song, "Love Me 'til September" (1992) for voice and piano.  You can hear a sample on my website. Another song, "When the Day is Done" will be made available very soon.

http://www.waundellsaavedra.com/#!store

After our Summer Nights event this weekend, I am heading south to Savannah to work with the legend, Sherrill Milnes.  This is an exciting time for me and I will keep everyone updated.

Thanks!

Waundell

www.waundellsaavedra.com

www.empireopera.org

eBook: 'A Father's Triumphant Story' on raising Classical Musicians Demarre and Anthony McGill

Demarre McGill writes:

Mr. Zick,

This is to inform you of my new eBook, "A FATHER'S TRIUMPHANT STORY: Raising Successful African American Men In Contemporary Urban Times." (Classical musicians Demarre and Anthony McGill)

Currently, the interactive "Multi-Touch" book can only be read on an iPad. The Kindle and print versions will be published soon.

See...afatherstriumphantstory.com for a preview and links to the iBookstore.

Thank you,

Demarre McGill

AllMusic.com: 'Ulysses Kay was the first notable African American composer to establish himself in the white cultural mainstream'

Ulysses Kay: Works for Chamber Orchestra

Metropolitan Philharmonic Orchestra

Kevin Scott, Conductor

Troy 961 (2007)

All Music

Ulysses Kay

Artist Biography by James Reel

Ulysses Kay was the first notable African American composer to establish himself in the white cultural mainstream with scores that almost never employed the jazz blues colors or pictorialism employed by others, such as William Grant Still. He was very much a member of the musical establishment, with a college post and a style that evolved along the lines of his contemporary, William Schuman.

Kay was the nephew of jazz cornetist and bandleader King Oliver. 

...

Kay obtained his bachelor's in music from the University of Arizona in 1938, then went on to obtain a master's in 1940 at the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Bernard Rogers and Howard Hanson. During the following two summers, he studied with Paul Hindemith at the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood. After wartime service in the Navy (during which he played flute, saxophone, and piccolo in a Navy band and piano in a jazz band), he studied composition with Otto Luening at Columbia University (1946 - 1949). As a winner of the American Rome Prize, he was affiliated with the American Academy in Rome from 1949 to 1952.

...

Kay became a model for minority composers who wished to be taken seriously in a white world. He did this by blending in stylistically; his music sounded "American" in its rhythmic verve, but it almost never employed blues, jazz, or African elements. 

...

In the 1950s, he generated a far more varied output: the first two of his five operas; the first two of his three string quartets; a great many songs; and a number of substantial orchestral works, including the Sinfonia in E major, Concerto for Orchestra, and Serenade. 

[Ulysses Simpson Kay, Jr. (1917-1995) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features a comprehensive Works List and a Bibliography by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com.]