The  University  Of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hill  Department  of  Music    

And  Videmus        

Present        

A  Symposium  of  Celebration:    

Margaret  Allison  Bonds    (1913-­1972)    

           

 

 Saturday,  March  2,  2013  

 The  University  of  North  Carolina  Chapel  Hill                                  Person  Recital  Hall  

 9:30-­‐10:30   Welcome  and  an  introduction  to  Margaret  Bonds          10:30-­‐11:15   Discussion:    Bonds,  Price  and  the  Researcher    11:30-­‐12   Performance:  Discovering  Florence  Price         Richard  Heard,  tenor  (Wake  Forest  University)         Roy  Belfield,  piano  (University  of  Maryland,  Eastern  Shore)        12:00-1:00 Keynote Address: Florence B. Price and Margaret Bonds: Musical Lives and Enduring Friendship

Dr.  Rae  Linda  Brown  Vice  President  for  Undergraduate  Education    Loyola  Marymount  University    

 1:30-­‐3:00   Brown  bag  lunch    -­  "The  Price  of  Admission"  

Terrance  McKnight    WQXR  host  and  former  Morehouse  Professor  of  Music    

 3:30-­‐5:00   Discussion:  

Bonds  Between  the  Lines—Reflections  by  Her  Contemporaries  Charlotte  Holloman  (Howard  University)    

    Elvira  Green  (North  Carolina  Central  University)    

5:15-­‐  6:30   Lecture/Recital:    The  Jazz,  Musical  Theatre,  and  Art  Songs  of  Margaret  Allison  Bonds  

Alethea  Kilgore,  Mezzo-­Soprano    (Florida  A  &  M  University  and  ABD,  Florida  State  University)  Lindsey  B.  Sarjeant,  pianist  (Florida  A  &  M  University)  

 8:00                                  Concert  -­‐  Hill  Hall  Auditorium  

A  Concert  of  Celebration:  Margaret  Bonds  and  Florence  Price  Darryl  Taylor,  countertenor,  Louise  Toppin,  soprano    Jeanne  Fischer,  soprano,  Thomas  Otten,  piano,    Karen  Walwyn,  piano,  and  Deborah  Hollis,  piano        

 

     

Sunday,  March  3,  2013    

North  Carolina  Central  University    

Edwards  Music  Building  Room  201    

  12:00-­‐1:00   Lecture:  Reconstructing  the  Musical  Landscape  of  Margaret  Bonds         Tim  Holley,  (North  Carolina  Central  University)              1:15-­‐2:15   Lecture:  Bonds  and  Price  at  the  Keyboard  

 Gregory  Thompson,  piano  (Winston  Salem  State  University)      2:30-­‐3:30   Lecture:  The  Sacred  Works  of  Margaret  Bonds         Gerald  Knight,  (Elon  University)        3:45-­‐4:45              Lecture:    The  Ballad  of  the  Brown  King  

    Ashley  Jackson,  (ABD,  Juilliard  Conservatory)      

5:00-­‐6:00   B.  N.  Duke  Auditorium  Concert:  The  Sacred  Bonds                         Meisha  Adderly,  piano,  Tim  Holley,  cello     Lenora  Helm,  soprano,  Cornelius  Johnson,  tenor     Louise  Toppin,  piano     NCCU  concert  choir,  Richard  Banks,  conductor            

 

   

     

Saturday,  March  2,  2013    

Person  Recital  Hall    

11:30-­12      

Performance:  Discovering  Florence  Price    

Richard  Heard,  tenor  Roy  L.  Belfield,  piano  

   

An  April  Day  Sunset  

 Four  Encore  Songs  

Tobacco  A  Flea  And  A  Fly  

Come,  Come  Said  Tom’s  Father  Song  Of  The  Open  Road  

 I’m  Working  On  My  Building  My  Little  Soul’s  Goin  To  Shine  

Weary  Traveler  I’m  Goin’  To  Lay  Down  My  Heavy  Load  

 

 

   

Student  Performances    

Saturday,  March  2,  2013    

1:30-­‐3:00   Brown  bag  lunch    -­  "The  Price  of  Admission"  Terrance  McKnight    WQXR  host  and  former  Morehouse  Professor  of  Music        At  de  Feet  o  Jesus       Florence  Price  Trouble  Done  Come  My  Way    Emily  Spokas,  mezzo-­soprano  Valerie  Elvers,  piano    

     

3:30-­‐5:00   Bonds  Between  the  Lines—Reflections  by  Her  Contemporaries  Charlotte  Holloman  (Howard  University)    

    Elvira  Green  (North  Carolina  Central  University)       From  Songs  of  the  Seasons     Margaret  Bonds       Young  Love  in  Springtime       Poem  d’Automne       Kayla  Hill,  soprano     Louise  Toppin,  piano    

   

     

The African-American Spiritual Arrangements, Jazz and Art Songs of Margaret Allison Bonds (1913-1972)

Presented By:

Alethea Kilgore, mezzo-soprano

Lindsey Sarjeant, pianist

Saturday March 2, 2013

Person Recital Hall

5:15PM

PROGRAM:

I-Overview of Solo Vocal Works (1932-1972) II-The Jazz Compositions:

A. Margaret Bonds and The Tin Pan Alley B. Lyricist Andy Razaf

a. Peachtree Street, 1939* C. Lyricist Harold Dickinson

a. Spring Will Be So Sad, 1941*

III-The Art-Songs A. Overview B. Margaret Bonds As A Poet

a. Bound* C. The Poets of the Harlem Renaissance

a. Langston Hughes i. Songs of the Season

ii. Three Dream Portraits b. Langston Hughes and Arna Bontemps

i. Tropics After Dark c. Countee Cullen

D. The Other American Poets

a. Marjorie May b. Janice Lovoos and Edmund Penney

i. The Pot Pourri Songs c. Robert Frost d. Edna St. Vincent Millay e. Roger Chaney

i. Mist Over Manhattan* ii. Let’s Make a Dream Come True*

IV-The African-American Spiritual Arrangements

A. The Leontyne Price Commissions a. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot: Fourteen Spirituals, 1962 b. I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel To Be Free, 1971

V-Conclusion A. He’s Got the Whole World in His Hand*

*Performed by Alethea Kilgore and Lindsey Sarjeant

   

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Hill Hall Auditorium

8:00pm

A Concert of Celebration: Margaret Bonds and Florence Price

Darryl Taylor, countertenor

Louise Toppin, soprano Jeanne Fischer, soprano

Thomas Otten, piano Karen Walwyn, piano Deborah Hollis, piano

Program

Hold Fast to Dreams Florence Price Sympathy (1887-1953)

Louise Toppin, soprano Deborah Hollis, piano

An April Day Florence Price Out of the South Blew a Wind

Jeanne Fischer, soprano Deborah Hollis, piano

Night Florence Price To a brown girl dead Margaret Bonds Four Encore Songs Florence Price

Tobacco(Graham Lee Hemminger) A Flea And A Fly (Anon.) Come, Come Said Tom’s Father (Thomas Moore) Song Of The Open Road (Ogden Nash)

Darryl Taylor, countertenor Deborah Hollis, piano

Sonata in E Minor Florence Price Andante Andante Scherzo

Karen Walwyn, piano

Intermission

Spiritual Suite for Piano Margaret Bonds The Valley of the Bones (1913-1972)

(based on the spiritual Dry Bones) The Bells

(based on Peter go ring dem bells) Troubled Water

(based on Wade in the Water)

Thomas Otten, piano

The Pasture Margaret Bonds Feast Little David Stopping by Woods Summer Storm from Songs of the Season

Louise Toppin, soprano Deborah Hollis, piano

We would like to acknowledge the support and generosity of the Center for Black Music Research, The Schomberg Collection, Classical Vocal Reprints, Dr. Rae Linda Brown and Charlotte Holloman. All of these individuals were instrumental in providing access to the rarely performed scores on this concert.

Following the concert, please join us for a reception in the Lobby.

   

Sunday,  March  3,  2013    

B.  N.  Duke  Auditorium    

5:00pm    

The  Sacred  Bonds    

Cornelius Johnson, tenor Lenora Helm, soprano Timothy Holley, cello Meisha Adderly, piano

Aleen Pocock,  piano Louise Toppin, piano

NCCU choir, directed by Richard Banks

Program

My Dream Florence Price The Negro Speaks of Rivers Margaret Bonds

Lenora Helm, soprano Aleen Pocock,piano

Troubled Water, for cello and piano Margaret Bonds

(c.1964, transcribed for Kermit Moore) Timothy Holley, cello

Aleen Pocok,piano

Three Dream Portraits Margaret Bonds Minstrel Man Dream Variations I, Too Joshua Fit De Battle Margaret Bonds You Can Tell The World My Soul's Been Anchored In The Lord Florence Price

Cornelius Johnson, tenor Louise Toppin, piano

Fantasie Negre Florence Price Meisha Adderly, piano

Intermission

The Ballad of the Brown King (1954, rev.1960, text by Langston Hughes) Margaret Bonds

I. Of The Three Wise Men II. They Brought Fine Gifts III. Sing Alleluia! IV. Mary Had A Little Baby V. Now When Jesus Was Born VI. Could He Have Been An Ethiope? VII. Oh, Sing Of The King Who Was Tall And Brown VIII. That Was A Christmas Long Ago IX. Alleluia!

NCCU Operatorio Ensemble and Centennial Choir Richard Banks, conductor

Aleen Pocock, piano

We would like to acknowledge the support and generosity of the Center for Black Music Research and Elvira Green for providing access to the rarely performed scores presented on this concert.

Program Notes

Dr. Timothy Holley North Carolina Central University

Troubled  Water  

In the Appendix to her book on Black Women Composers: A Genesis, Mildred Denby Green includes mention of a fascinating “hidden gem” of the repertoire of African-American recital music: an undated work, “Troubled Water” for cello and piano of Margaret Bonds. While it was only mentioned as a piece for cello and piano, "Troubled Water" is originally the closing movement of Spiritual Suite for solo piano composed between 1952 and 1967. (The first two movements of the Suite are Valley of the Bones--based on "Dry Bones", and The Bells--based on "Peter Go Ring Dem Bells".) The solo piano suite received performances by Bonds and Joan Holley on their respective Town Hall recitals (1952 and 1962). The cello-piano “arrangement and transcription” of “Troubled Water” was done for the cellist Kermit Moore in the mid-1960s (an arrangement of “I Want Jesus To Walk With Me” was also done that same year, but sadly it has disappeared). Both Moore and Bonds had the same artist representative at the time, so they would get booked for tour dates together quite often. This work provided both “representative” repertoire for their varied recital programs, and it certainly showcased their compositional and instrumental strengths, both technically and musically. Like the original version for solo piano, it is based on the spiritual “Wade In The Water”; however, this work’s sense of musical flow and phrasing must be approached and handled in a different manner since the cello is given a variety of additional “chamber” and “orchestral” responsibilities. Aside from the reassignment of cello lines, two extra measures of transition are added for purposes of more effective phrasing and proportion. Moore and Bonds performed this work often in concert; Moore also performed it as part of Bonds’ ballet score, The Migration.

The Christmas cantata, The Ballad Of The Brown King, was composed in the early 1950s amid a flurry of musical, educational, theatrical and administrative activities for Margaret Bonds. Having moved from Chicago to New York in 1939, she was already a seasoned veteran of the busy life of a performing musician, balancing these and other activities that easily speak of a herculean creative drive and accomplishment. A longtime friend and collaborator with Langston Hughes, it is quite probable that the genesis of this work developed out of Hughes’ ongoing poetic expression of the desire to achieve and maintain social and political equality among African-Americans in the United States. The focus on the “brown-ness and Afro-ethnicity” of one of the wise men in Hughes’ adaptation of the original Biblical narrative is unmistakably reflective of that expressed mindset. Such influence resident within the text and music also speaks of the growing push for national independence and colonial emancipation in several African nations from European powers; it also forms a recognizable parallel to the Civil Rights Movement, both of which would culminate during the 1960s.

The Ballad was originally composed as a large song cycle for voice and piano, and then revamped as a choral work with piano (or orchestral) accompaniment. The music contains a variety of stylistic influences, but the popular Caribbean calypso melodies and rhythms can be heard ostensibly alternating with the traditional hymn-like choral style practiced in churches and schools. The narrative and contemplative focus of the text progresses like a silver thread between each of the work's nine movements; however, interesting varieties of treatment and "narrative voice" emerge with each movement. The tenor solo in the first movement announces the coming of the Brown King ("Of The Three Wise Men who came to the King, one was a brown man, so they sing"), while the mixed chorus in the second movement is a "corporate" description of the gifts brought by the three Wise

Men, and their adoration of the Christ-Child. The third movement is a brief a cappella chorus of praise to the Christ-Child; its early placement and brevity implies that it may have been intended for inclusion and "congregational" use in performance. The fourth movement diverts attention away from the Wise Men to Mary and the baby Jesus in the manger. This movement takes on the communal musical character of the Negro spiritual through its "conversational" dialogue between the soprano soloist and the chorus, speaking of the joyous optimism coming into the world with the Nativity of Christ.

The men's voices are featured as "narrative elders" speaking in the fifth movement--as if they "just happened to be in the general vicinity" when the Wise Men arrived inquiring, "Where is He that is born"? This movement's rolling accompaniment somehow describes the astronomical "stellar association" of the Wise Men to the Star that led them to the town of Bethlehem. The central question within the The Ballad Of The Brown King resides within the text of the sixth movement, which pays particular regard to the ethnicity of the Brown King among the Wise Men ("Could He Have Been An Ethiope"?). The introduction contains a strong Arab musical influence, clearly presaging specific mention of Arabia amid the line of questions that ensue between baritone, soprano and tenor soloists and the chorus. A double-edged joy radiates within the music of “Oriental” tone and flavor, oscillating reflectively between minor and major tonalities. As the men sang as "narrating elders" in the sixth movement, the seventh movement features the women (as admiring "ladies a-waiting") singing in praise of the Brown King crossing the desert on a caravan. The piano introduction contains some of the most harmonically arresting music of the entire work, reflecting the sheer exotic flavor of Saharan culture the Brown King brought with him to Bethlehem. The abbreviated eighth movement returns to a variant of the work’s opening melody as the narrative reprises itself in an effort to remind the listener of the whole story and the Brown King's place in it. In the final movement the brevity of praise in the third movement gives way to unrestrained "angelic" praise. In Langston's interpretation of Biblical narrative, the angels might have sung to those shepherds concurrently with the journey of the Wise Men to Bethlehem!! The musical effect of unrestrained praise, however, is somehow strangely "deferred" in its arrival: the praise starts at a pianissimo dynamic, taking almost half of the movement's duration to arrive at a forte--to the exultation of the “orchestral” piano interlude, only to begin the ascent again with a much greater sense of dramatic arrival the second time. The chorus--and full congregation indeed--share in the "total praise effect" of the completion of the Brown King's Ballad as the opening melodies used to weave the story together are included in the final "Alleluias".

The original version of The Ballad Of The Brown King received its premiere on December 12, 1954, at the East Side Settlement House in New York City by the George McClain Singers. This version would lay dormant for several years until Bonds returned to it, having been inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King's growing prominence as the leader of the Civil Rights Movement. She requested that Langston Hughes write two additional poems for her to set to music for inclusion in a revised version of the Ballad. The sense of wordplay in the work’s title was most appropriate—it was dedicated to Dr. King. The second version received its premiere on December 11, 1960, in New York City at the Clark Street YMCA, performed by the Westminster Choir of the Church of the Master (conducted by Theodore Stemp) and the New York City College Orchestra, with the composer conducting. The performance was also televised by CBS on a program Christmas U.S.A.

The choral score to The Ballad Of The Brown King was published by Sam Fox Publishers in 1961. A full orchestral score exists in manuscript form among the Helen Walker Hill Papers at the Center for Black Music Research in Chicago. In light of the fact that the score is in the CBMR Archives, the question remains a mystery as to whether of not any additional full choral and orchestral performances were done in the composer's lifetime. Fortunately, there have been numerous choral performances with piano, and there has been at least one performance in Chicago using a chamber orchestration by Michael Teolis (strings, piano, timpani and percussion) in 2012.

Artist Bios

MEISHA ADDERLEY is one America’s leading young pianists acclaimed by critics for her “calm restraint” and “tempestuous and stormy” playing. Her virtuosity has led to performances across the United States and abroad including Italy, Australia, and the United Kingdom. As an emerging artist,she won the Paul W. Hagan Concerto Competition and, most recently, completed a residency as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar at the University of Sydney’s Conservatorium of Music where she lectured and performed throughout the continent. Her first of a series of compact discs of contemporary piano duo works entitled Adderley & Holliday: Piano Duo Project, on which she was the first to record all of William Grant Still’s piano duo works among others by Afro-American composers, was released by Albany Records in 2012. An accomplished pedagogue, Dr. Adderley has presented her research and instructional methodology at national and regional conferences and symposia including those of the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy, College Music Society, Music Teachers National Association (MTNA), and Music Educators National Conference. With an active schedule as clinician, adjudicator, and soloist throughout the nation and abroad, her articles have been published in the Music Educators Journal and the Southern Music Education Journal. A master teacher and dedicated educator, she was awarded the “Lois Bailey Glenn Award for Teaching Excellence” by the National Music Foundation for a grant written for the implementation of an American Music project. She has received additional grant awards from the Community Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, South Carolina Arts Commission, and the Hamels Foundation for innovative educational projects for community music initiatives and the Charleston (SC) and Philadelphia Public Schools. Dr. Adderley earned a Performance Diploma from the University of Sydney Conservatorium of Music (Australia), the Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees in performance and pedagogy from the University of South Carolina, and the Bachelor of Music degree from Indiana State University in performance. She is a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music (NCTM) with the Music Teachers National Association and holds a professional teaching certificate in music with the South Carolina and Ohio State Departments of Education. She serves on faculty at the Capital University Conservatory of Music where she teaches piano and music theory. RICHARD BANKS, a native of Chicago, Illinois, is an alumnus of Lincoln University (MO) and The University of Michigan. Mr. Banks has a wealth of performance experience on the recital and operatic stages such as Chautauqua Opera (NY), Grand Rapids Opera (MI), and the Long Leaf Opera Company (NC); and including significant performances at Powell Symphony Hall in St. Louis, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., Harlem’s Apollo Theater and New York’s Carnegie Hall. A highly experienced pedagogue, choral director and conductor, Richard has conducted campus performances of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, William Grant Still’s Highway One, U.S.A., and George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, in celebration of the NCCU centennial in 2010. He serves as Assistant Professor of Music, Coordinator of Vocal Studies, and Director of the NCCU Touring Choir and Operatorio Ensemble. ROY L. BELFIELD, JR., a native of Petersburg, Virginia, began his undergraduate studies in Music at Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Masters’ degrees in Choral Music Education and Organ Performance from Florida State University in Tallahassee, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Organ Performance from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music. He has done additional studies in vocal pedagogy and choral conducting at the University of Alabama and Pennsylvania State University. Belfield studied choral conducting with David Morrow, Rodney Eichenberger, and Lynn Drafall. His organ teachers have included Carl G. Harris, Jr., Clarence E. Whiteman, Herman D. Taylor, Joyce F. Johnson, Michael L. Corzine, and John Obetz. Most recently, he accompanied Wake Forest University music faculty member and tenor Richard Heard, as they recorded a CD of art songs and spirituals by Florence B. Price. As composer and arranger, Dr. Belfield has written works for chorus, voice and piano, and organ. His choral and organ works are published by Hal Leonard Corporation, MorningStar Music, GIA Publications, and

Wayne Leupold Editions. Dr. Belfield’s scholarly articles have been published in The American Organist and the Choral Journal. His primary research includes the choral and organ works of Phillip McIntyre. Dr. Belfield is currently Director of Choral Activities and Associate Professor of Music at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Dr. Belfield frequently serves as a choral adjudicator, guest conductor, concert organist, and accompanist across the country. His performances venues have included the Andrew Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C, Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Center in New York, Bennett College, Fayetteville State University, Hampton University, Pennsylvania State University, Salem College, Spelman College, Virginia State University, Wake Forest University, and Winston-Salem State University. His European performances as a concert organist and accompanist have taken him to Schorndorf, Germany and Prague, Czech Republic. In 2006 and 2011, he was commissioned by Pennsylvania State University to compose works for Essence of Joy, a choral ensemble that promotes the African-American choral tradition. MARGARET BONDS, received her music education from composers Florence Price, William Dawson, Robert Starer, and Roy Harris, and at the Juilliard School of Music and Northwestern University, where she earned Bachelor and Master of Music degrees. Bonds was prolific as a composer, performer, editor, producer, and teacher. Bonds was a lifelong friend of Langston Hughes; and was inspired to set many of his poems to music, including The Negro Speaks of Rivers (1942) and Three Dream Portraits (1959). Her arrangements of spirituals are renowned for their syncopated rhythms, jazz chords, and ragtime influences. Her most frequently performed spiritual arrangement, He’s Got the Whole World in His Hand, was commissioned by Leontyne Price and recorded by her on a RCA recording of spirituals entitled Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. Bonds’s compositions include art songs, choral works, orchestral works, piano pieces, and popular songs. Her popular music was recorded by Glenn Miller and Woody Herman. Ms. Bonds was a dedicated spokesperson for the dissemination of African-American music, was an active member of the National Association of Negro Musicians, and supported the creation of wider opportunities for Negro artists and musicians. RAE LINDA BROWN, PH.D., has completed a biography of composer Florence B. Price and has been involved in editing many of Price’s scores for performance and recording, including on the Koch and Cambria labels. She works with orchestras nationwide, as well as solo performers, who are interested in performing the music of Florence Price. Dr. Brown has edited much of Price’s music for publication, including orchestral scores, art songs and arrangements of spirituals, piano and organ music. Professor Brown lectures nationwide on American and African American music. Her articles have appeared in American Music, Black Music Research Journal, Black Music in the Harlem Renaissance: A Collection of Essays (1990), and the New Grove Dictionary of Music. She was the music editor of the five-volume Encyclopedia of African American History and Culture (Macmillan, 1996). Prof. Brown serves as Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education at Loyola Marymount University and holds the faculty position of Professor of Music. Dr. Brown earned her B.S. in Music Education from the University of Connecticut, a M.A. in African American Studies, and a Ph.D. in musicology from Yale University. Prior to coming to LMU she held full-time faculty and administrative positions at the University of California, Irvine and the University of Michigan. In 2004-2005 she was a Fellow of the American Council on Education and served as a member of the President David Oxtoby’s leadership team at Pomona College. Soprano JEANNE FISCHER sings in a variety of classical genres ranging from baroque to modern. Her performances include appearances with The Bach Sinfonia, The Smithsonian Chamber Players, The Publick Musick, The Dryden Ensemble, Ensemble Courant, the Magnolia Baroque Festival, the Norfolk and Norwich Festival, and the Dartinton International Festival. She is the winner of national and international voice competitions, including the Voce Young Soloists’ Competition, the Royal Academy of Music’s Ethel Bilsland Singing Prize, and the University of Maryland’s Pomeroy Scholarship for achievement in 18th-century music. A native of North Carolina, Dr. Fischer holds degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (BA), the Royal Academy of Music (MMus), and the University of Maryland (DMA). Following her undergraduate studies, she was awarded a British Marshall Scholarship for graduate work at London’s Royal Academy of Music. There she received the DipRAM, the Academy’s highest honor, given for an exceptional final recital. She was also selected to sing at St. Martin-in-the-Fields, as part of their Outstanding Young Artists’ Series. Her teachers and coaches have included Linda Mabbs, John Greer, Beatrice Unsworth, Ian Partridge, Iain Ledingham, and Donald Milholin. Dr. Fischer is currently a Senior Lecturer in Voice at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she teaches studio voice and diction. She has also served on the summer faculties of Oberlin’s Baroque Performance Institute and the Magnolia Baroque Festival and Institute at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. ELVIRA GREEN, a native North Carolinian and alumna of NCCU, spent more than forty years on the worldwide operatic, concert and musical theatre stages. Two historical recordings featuring Elvira are housed at the Smithsonian Performing Archives: Handel’s Messiah with original instruments, and Victor Herbert’s Naughty Marietta. While living in New York City, Elvira premiered Music of Women of African Descent at Merkin Concert Hall, with subsequent performances throughout the United States. In collaboration with Wynton Marsalis and Kathleen Battle, Elvira organized and presented Sylvia Speaks--three evenings at CAMI Hall with the eminently renowned musical

coach, the late Sylvia Olden Lee. For the past seven years, Elvira has served on the faculty at her alma mater as Artist-in-Residence. LENORA HELM HAMMONDS is a jazz vocal musician, composer, lyricist and educator with over two decades of performing and composing experience, garnering international acclaim. A former U.S. Jazz Ambassador under the auspices of the State Department and Kennedy Center, With six solo recordings and her own recording and publishing company, Zenzalai Music, she can be heard on numerous recordings with the biggest names in Jazz. Though most of her 25-year span of musical achievements as a Jazz Vocal Musician specializing in traditional jazz standard and original repertoire to critical accolades, she also has touring, recording and performing credits in many genres -- including R&B, Neo-Soul, and Pop, Theater and Opera. As a TV and film music composer, notable music credits include several compositions featured in the 2012 Black History Month promo campaigns on ESPN. Amidst a busy performance and composing career, Ms. Hammonds is passionately involved in a number of educational initiatives - emerging as a respected leader in arts education and online curriculum development. In 2011, Lenora began working on her new book, Vocal Jazz Performer Readiness Guidebook, and in 2012 was asked to write a vocal jazz syllabus for the University of South Africa, Pretoria (UNISAThis work lay the foundation for the 2013 launch of VocalJazzOnline.com, an online membership community of musicians and music educators committed to enhancing musicianship for singers. A graduate from Berklee College of Music with a Bachelor of Music degree in Film Music Scoring/Voice, and a Master of Music degree in Jazz Performance from East Carolina University, Helm is on the music faculty at North Carolina Central University in Durham, and co-directs their NCCU Vocal Jazz Ensemble. Her touring trio includes pianist Ryan Hanseler, bassist Lance E. Scott, Jr., and drummer Larry Q. Draughn, Jr. Their latest release, I Love Myself When I’m Laughing is available on CDBaby and iTunes and was noted amongst an elite list of jazz releases (and the only vocal bandleader release) as "30 for 2012" recordings by Independent Ear. This recording also joined the distinction with her previous releases (in 2003 and 2004) garnering inclusion on the 2013 Grammy ballot for consideration of nomination in vocal jazz and arranging categories. Visit her at www.LenoraHelm.com and www.VocalJazzOnline.com Lyric tenor RICHARD HEARD, 2009 Silver Medal Winner in the American Traditions Voice Competition, is Associate Professor of Music at Wake Forest University in Winston Salem, North Carolina. A regional finalist of the Metropolitan Opera Auditions, he has received prestigious awards and grants from the National Society of Arts and Letters, Rotary International, the Fuchs Opera Awards and Mu Phi Epsilon. A graduate of Southern Methodist University and University of California, Mr. Heard made his operatic debut at the Aspen Music Festival and has since won praise for his characterizations of leading tenor roles in Italian Bel canto opera and in all of the major Mozart repertoire. His performance of Nemorino in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’amore was pronounced “… clear, strong and effortless. He drew the most sustained applause of the evening when he unleashed his full power…” (Press Citizen, Iowa City). As a concert singer, Mr. Heard has been engaged by orchestras across the western, mid-western, and southern regions of the United States, specializing in the works of Back, Handel, Haydn and Mozart. Mr. Heard has appeared with Carolina Baroque Orchestra, Charlotte Repertory Orchestra, Choral Society of Greensboro, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, Lake Charles Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Mississippi Symphony, Piedmont Chamber Singers, Raleigh Oratorio Society, Roanoke Symphony, Salisbury-Rowan Symphony, Virginia Beach Symphony and Winston Salem Symphony. Mr. Heard’s recital appearances include Bennett College, Cameron University, Davidson County College, Elizabeth City State University, Fayetteville State University, Gardner-Webb University, High Point University, Grinnell College, Jackson State University, Mississippi College, Morehouse College, North Carolina A&T University, St. Mary’s College of the Plains, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Southwest Missouri State University, Spelman College, Tougaloo College, University of Arkansas, University of Northern Iowa, University of Southern Mississippi and Wake Forest University. Mr. Heard made his European debut in December 1994, performing concerts in Merzig, Emden and Berlin. He has returned to Europe on several occasions performing concerts of Spirituals with Spiritual Voices, an ensemble based in Dallas, Texas. In the summer of 1996 he made his debut with Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional in Costa Rica performing the role of Remus in Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha. In 2000, he gave the world premiere performance of William Banfield’s opera Luyala with Triangle Opera Company. Mr. Heard released his first compact disc in October 1998 featuring Art Songs by African-American Composers. He is a member of Mu Phi Epsilon, National Association of Teachers of Singing, National Association of Negro Musicians, and serves as Director of American Singers Opera Project (ASOP), a two-week summer opera workshop held at Wake Forest University. In June 2012, Mr. Heard released My Dream, a CD of art songs and spirituals by Florence Price. An anthology of selected Florence Price art songs and spirituals will be forthcoming in 2014. TIMOTHY HOLLEY, cellist is a graduate of Baldwin-Wallace College and the University of Michigan where he studied with Regina Mushabac, Jerome Jelinck, Jeffrey Solow and Erling Blondal Bengisson. He was a member of the Toledo Symphony Orchestra for twelve years and also performed with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. His doctoral dissertation focused on the cello music of African-American composers and he remains active in the study and performance of African American concert music. He has given lectures on the poetry of Langston Hughes and its connective influence on the music of Howard Swanson, and the “misconnected history” of Beethoven, Bridgetower and

the Kreutzer Sonata. He has made cello transcriptions of works by William Grant Still, and contributed encyclopedia entries on the Negro String Quartet and the Symphony of the New World. He has given premiere performances of works by T. J. Anderson (Spirit Songs, written for the cellist Yo-Yo Ma), William Banfield (Soul Gone Home for soprano and chamber ensemble with Nneena Freelon), and Trevor Weston (Life Goes for soprano and chamber ensemble with Louise Toppin). He has also performed Valerie Capers’ Song of the Seasons for soprano, cello and piano with Louise Toppin, at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York. He is an Associate Professor of Music at North Carolina Central University. CHARLOTTE WESLEY HOLLOMAN, soprano, holds a bachelor of Music from Howard University, a Master of Arts in Voice and Music Education from Columbia University, wih additional studies at the Guildhall School of Music, London, England, and the Berkshire Music Center, Tanglewood, MA. She was awarded a grant from the Martha Baird Rockefeller Foundation for study and concert appearances in Europe which led to study with master teachers and coaches in New York, London, Berlin and Milan, and continuous contracts with the German Opera. Her concert debuts in New York and London brought extraordinary acclaim. The New York Times reported a "vocal range and facility nothing short of phenomenal", and the Times of London headlined its review "a rare Strauss voice." Her other appearances include concert performances as soloist with the Boston Symphony, the Dayton Philharmonic, the Cosmopolitan Symphony of the Air, and the New York Chamber Players. Among other performances, Holloman created major operatic characters in more than thirteen operas in Germany, Switzerland and France with distinction and praise. Her extensive repertoire includes twenty-two operas. She also generated credits for her roles in musical theater, both on Broadway and off, as well as on tours. Upon her return from Europe, Holloman joined the adjunct faculty of Lehman College (CUNY), where she served for five years and initiated her long carerr in higher education. She has further had the privilege of associations and service on the faculties of The Catholic University of America, Northern Virginia Community College (Annandale), the University of the District of Columbia and Howard University. Spanning a period of more than thirty-five years, she continues with the last named institutions, while maintaining a full private voice studio. A native of Washington, DC, Charlotte Holloman is the daughter of Dr. Charles H. Wesley who was a member of the Fisk Jubilee Singers (1908-1911) and appeared alongside the famed tenor Roland Hayes, and who served Howard University for thiry years as professor, head of the History Department and dean of the Graduate School. Pianist DEBORAH LEE HOLLIS has established herself as one of North Carolina Triangle’s most prominent pianists. Esteemed by colleagues for her sensitivity and skill as a collaborative partner, she is in demand by singers and instrumentalists alike. Hollis began her career in Chicago where she was pianist for the Chicago Symphony First Chair Series. She served as the official accompanist for the Long Leaf Opera Company, the Eastern Music Festival master classes with Ryan Anthony and David Krakauer, and is currently pianist for VOICES, the Chapel Hill Community Chorus and Cantari. More recent concert highlights include performances with soprano Lucy (100) Hoyt at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, Houston Orchestra flutist Aralee Dorough, and Elizabeth Pitcairn performing on the Stradivarius “Red Violin.” Hollis holds piano performance degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, and received her Doctor of Musical Arts in Collaborative Piano from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She has participated in master classes with collaborative pianists Rudolph Jensen, Martin Katz, John Wustman, Warren Jones, and Clifford Benson. Previously on faculty at Guilford College and The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Dr. Hollis is currently a collaborative pianist and coach at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. ASHLEY JACKSON, harpist, age 26, is a resident of New York City. She is currently a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts at the Juilliard School, studying with Nancy Allen. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale College and a Master of Music degree in harp performance from the Yale School of Music. During her five years at Yale, Ashley was the winner of the William Waite Concerto competition, the Berkeley Orchestra concerto competition, and the Yale Friends of Music Recital competition. Upon graduation from Yale College in 2008, she was the recipient of the Bach Society Prize from the Yale Department of Music and received an award for excellence in artistry from the Afro-American Cultural Center at Yale University. In April 2012, Ashley received an award from the Theodore Presser Foundation to present a series of lecture recitals titled “Music, Society, and the New Negro.” Ashley has performed with the New York Philharmonic and the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra. She has also performed at Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Symphony Space. As an educator, Ashley is an Adjunct Artist at Vassar College, and she currently writes program notes for Bowdoin International Music Festival.

Tenor CORNELIUS JOHNSON’S voice has been described as “expressive and soaring” (The Post Standard). Operatic career highlights include performances at the Opera Bastille in Paris, La Scala in Milan, the Bunkamura Theater, with the Tokyo Philharmonic, Houston Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago “Opera In The Neighborhoods”, Chautauqua Opera, Connecticut Opera, Chamber Opera Chicago, Elgin Opera, Lake George Opera Festival, Opera Memphis, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Shreveport Opera, Teatro Real in Madrid, and the Ravinia Music Festival. Mr. Johnson has performed both leading and supporting roles in Carmen, La Boheme, The Magic Flute, Porgy and Bess, Tosca, and Don Pasquale. On the concert stage Mr. Johnson has performed at Atlanta's Symphony

Center, and Spivey Hall, in New York at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall and The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and with the Racine, Wheaton, New Millennium, Chicago Chamber and the Robert Shaw Festival Orchestras. A classically trained tenor, Mr. Johnson performs a wide variety of genres of music with a particular interest in music of the African-American experience. In addition to a busy performance schedule, Mr. Johnson is also the Artistic Director of the South Shore Opera Company of Chicago and an Assistant Professor of Music with the City Colleges of Chicago. Mr. Johnson holds memberships in several organizations including the Chicago Music Association (Branch #1) of the National Association of Negro Musicians. A native of Chicago, Mr. Johnson received degrees from Morehouse College and Northwestern University. ALETHEA KILGORE is an Assistant Professor of Vocal Studies at Florida A & M University. Kilgore is also a member of the National Association of Teachers for Singing and the Florida Music Educators Association. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music and a Master of Music from Florida State University College of Music where she will complete her Doctor of Music. She has performed as a jazz and classical artist in Haiti, Europe, and the United States. Kilgore’s Doctoral Treatise is entitled, The Life and Solo Vocal Works of Margaret Allison Bonds (1913-1972). GERALD R. KNIGHT earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Music Education from Benedict College, a Bachelor of Music Degree in Voice Performance and a Master of Music Education Degrees from the University of South Carolina, and a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Music Education / Choral Conducting from The Florida State University. Additionally, Knight has studied at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, The Citadel, Charleston, South Carolina, Salzburg College in Salzburg, Austria, and the Studio Lirico, Cortona, Italy. Knight has spent recent summers studying in Europe at the Goethe Institute in Freiburg, Germany and studying voice and vocal pedagogy with renowned opera singer Ms. Grace Bumbry. Knight currently is Assistant Professor of Music at Elon University and he serves as the Coordinator of the Music Education Program and Associate Director of Choral Activities. He teaches courses in music education, voice, and he directs the Elon University Chorale THOMAS OTTEN, pianist and Associate Professor at UNC Chapel Hill, has appeared in recital and as orchestral soloist in such venues as the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the National Press Club, the German Embassy, and the Chautauqua and Brevard Summer Festivals; he has also performed at Severance Hall with the Miami String Quartet. His performances have been broadcast on both coasts, including WQXR New York, WGMS Washington, and KUSC Los Angeles. He has concertized in Germany numerous times, including a television performance and a debut at the Gasteig in Munich. Dr. Otten has been the recipient of numerous national and international prizes. A student of master teachers John Perry and Nelita True, Dr. Otten holds performance degrees from the University of Southern California (DMA, MM) and the University of Maryland, College Park (BM, summa cum laude). Dr. Otten chaired the piano division at UNC Chapel Hill for five years, where he is currently on the faculty. From 1997-2002, he headed the piano area at Kent State University. His students have been prizewinners in competitions throughout the U.S. and abroad. Dr. Otten is in demand as a performer and clinician, giving recitals, master classes, and workshops throughout the U.S. He has performed at the national conventions of the Conductors’ Guild, the National Federation of Music Clubs, the World Piano Pedagogy Conference, and the American Liszt Society. Dr. Otten’s debut CD, Tristan und Isolde: Piano Transcriptions of Franz Liszt, was released by MSR Classics in 2005. FLORENCE PRICE, born in 1888, is considered the first black woman in the United States to win recognition as a composer. Her parents, both artistic, carefully guided her early musical training, and at age fourteen, she enrolled in the New England Conservatory of Music with a major in piano and organ. She studied with George Chadwick and Frederick Converse, writing her first string trio and symphony in college, and graduating in 1907 with honors and an artist diploma and a teaching certificate. She taught in Arkansas from 1907-1927 and married Thomas J. Price, an attorney, in 1912. After a series of racial incidents in Little Rock, the family moved to Chicago where Price began a new and fulfilling period in her compositional career. She studied composition, orchestration, and organ with the leading teachers in the city and published four pieces for piano in 1982. Her friendship with the young composer, Margaret Bonds, resulted in a teacher-student relationship and the two women began to achieve national recognition for their compositions and performances. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Frederick Stock, premiered her Symphony in E Minor on June 15, 1933. Price wrote other extended works for orchestra, chamber works, art songs, works for violin, organ anthems, piano pieces, and spiritual arrangements. Some of her more popular works are: Three Little Negro Dances, Songs to a Dark Virgin, My Soul’s Been Anchored in de Lord, and Moon Bridge. Florence Price died in 1953. LINDSEY SARJEANT is an Associate professor at Florida A&M University and serves as Director of Jazz Studies, director of jazz ensembles and arranger for the famous March “100” Band, symphonic Band and jazz ensemble. He is a brilliant jazz pianist, composer, jazz lecturer, jazz historian, adjudicator and jazz keyboard clinician. Mr. Sarjeant has played with many professional jazz roups and has accompanied jazz greats such at Nat Adderley, Archie Shepp, Larry Coryell, Phil Wilson, Slide Hamilton, Della Reese, Wynton Marsalis, Marcus Roberts, Angela Winbush, Jean Kahn,

Phil Perry, Ronnie Laws and many others. His group toured the Soviet Union and gave five major performances in Leningrad and Moscow. DARRYL TAYLOR’S performances have been noted for their compelling artistry and authority. His is an international career highlighted by performances of art song, opera and oratorio. His repertoire extends from Bach to Britten, and beyond. Recent performance highlights include singing the title role in Phillip Glass’s Akhnates for Long Beach Opera, Pergolesi and Vivaldi Stabat Maters with Lyra Baroque Orchestra of St. Paul, Minnesota. He was also heard with composer Robert Owens at the piano, for Radio Bavaria, with jazz great Kenny Burrell at Royce Hall in Los Angeles, and in recital at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.,DC.. Founder of the African American Art Song Alliance (www.darryltaylor.com), Taylor has debuted numerous works. His recordings on Naxos and Albany record labels have received critical praise. He is currently Vice President of the Board of Videmus. Pianist, GREGORY THOMPSON, is Associate Professor of Music at Winston Salem State University in Winston Salem, NC. He received the Bachelor of Arts in Piano Performance from Limestone College, Gaffney, SC, the Master of Music in Piano Performance from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, and the Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC. Dr. Thompson has held professorships at Morris College, Benedict College, Claflin University, Johnson C. Smith University, and Central State University. Dr. Thompson has performed as a solo and collaborative artist in the United States, Europe, and Asia. His New York Debut at Carnegie Hall was praised for his “intuitive feeling for phrase shapes, how to make a melodic line sing and how to inflect it with delicate rubato effects”. Thompson’s performance career has afforded him the opportunity to perform in many important venues including The Steinway Gallerie, Schloss Leopoldskron, and The Marmolle Hall in Salzburg Austria. He has also performed with the Peabody Symphony, The Baltimore Symphony, The Charlotte Philharmonic, and The South Carolina Philharmonic. In June of 2012, Dr. Thompson performed in recital in Paris, France. His US performances have included Southern and Midwest regions of the country. As a collaborative artist, Dr. Thompson has collaborated with various artists, including Tayo Aluko, Grace Bumbry, Derek Ragin, Wilhelmenia Fernandez, Louise Toppin, Alvy Powell, Gordon Hawkins, Allan Glassman, Don Krim, Sam Cook, Leslie Burrs, and other vocalists and instrumentalists. Thompson has presented master classes in the US and Asia. He is also Head of Staff Pianists for the University of Miami at Salzburg Summer Program in Salzburg, Austria.

LOUISE TOPPIN has received critical acclaim for her operatic, orchestral, and oratorio performances in the United States, Europe, Asia, South America, the Caribbean and New Zealand. Recital appearances include Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center and Merkin Hall. Orchestral appearances include: the Czech National Symphony, Mälmo Symphony Orchestra (Sweden), Tokyo City Orchestra (Japan), The Montevideo Philharmonic (Uruguay), and the Scotland Festival Orchestra (Aberdeen) and many US orchestras. Opera roles include: the title role in the world premiere of the opera Luyala by William Banfield; Treemonisha in Scott Joplin's Treemonisha; Mary in William Grant Still’s Highway One, USA; Maria in the world premier of Joel Feigin’s opera Twelfth Night; The Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Magic Flute; Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni; and Clara in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. Recently, she was contracted to sing Clara for Opera Carolina and Baltimore Opera. She toured with “A Gershwin Party” with pianist Leon Bates and Bill Brown and appeared on such series as the Minnesota Pops Cabaret and NPR’s Performance Today. She appears on 16 commercial CDs including: Songs of Illumination, (Centaur Records), Ah love, but a day (Albany), More Still (Cambria), Witness (Albany) with the Czech National Symphony, Highway One (Albany), Poetry Preludes (Albany), He’ll Bring it to Pass (Albany), A Hall Johnson collection published by Carl Fisher (2003) and Heart on the Wall with the Dvorak Symphony Orchestra (2011) Represented by Joanne Rile Artists Management, she is Professor and Area Head of Voice at UNC-Chapel Hill and the Director of Videmus. www.louisetoppin.com and www.videmus.org (respectively) KAREN WALWYN, concert pianist/composer and recording artist for Albany Records, recently premiered the Florence Price Concerto for Piano (Albany Records) reviewed by Bob McQuiston at NPR “Walwyn provides a magnificent account of the concerto displaying her considerable technical skills. “ Walwyn also made her compositional debut at the Kennedy Center. Her debut received a tremendous standing ovation for her work for solo piano entitled “Reflections on 9/11” “Imaginatively conceived and executed it is both disturbingly transposes the catastrophe into appropriately cataclysmic sound and artistically suggests the aftermath’s lingering sense of numbing devastation.” (Reviewed by Robert Schulslaper of Fanfare Magazine.) The demand for concerts of this seven-movement ‘tour de force’ work continuously takes her across the nation for command performances. Walwyn is also well for her recordings of two volumes of music by American composers entitled Dark Fires which she has performed at her New York recital debut and on National Public Radio, (NPR) and on WFMT, Chicago, IL. Walwyn has received splashing reviews and accolades as she has performed these works: “Walwyn was fearless throughout, managing every challenge with precise fingers and heroic command of textures.”... “The pianism of Karen Walwyn lends to her artistic abilities as a communicator.” (The Cleveland Plain Dealer). The American Record Guide says, “Walwyn is a confident and impressive pianist…”. According to the Washington Post, “Karen Walwyn shows considerable range...she is virtuosic, meditative, energetic...and vividly evocative ....”. Currently Walwyn was awarded the Mellon Faculty Award Fellowship at Duke University for which she now on Sabbatical from Howard University. www.karenwalwyn.co

Special Thanks:

Mark Katz, Dean Terry Rhodes,Ben Haas and Susan Williams and The Music Department of The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

The Music Department of North Carolina Central University

Performing Arts Special Activities Fund

The Center for Black Music Research

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Janet Olsen, The Bonds Collection at Northwestern University

Classical Vocal Reprints

Helen Walker Hill

Dominique Rene DeLerma

Charlotte Holloman

Rae Linda Brown

Alethea Kilgore, Darryl Taylor

Maria Palombo and Kaswanna Kanyinda

Marquita Lister and Marvin Mills

RyOne (Natasha Gilliam and Ryan Stewart)

QueBee Cakes

And all of the wonderful performers, presenters and participants.