Thomas Hampson to Sing at Groundbreaking Ceremony for Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture on Feb 22

By -

President Barack Obama Will Deliver Remarks

On Wednesday, February 22, Thomas Hampson will sing at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington, DC. President Barack Obama will deliver remarks at the event, which celebrates the beginning of construction of the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, art, history, and culture. Scheduled to open in 2015, the museum, designed by the Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroup, will also be the first green building on the national mall.

Thomas Hampson comments: "What a privilege it is to be singing for the groundbreaking of the new Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture. Exploring every facet of our complex cultural history, which gives us a deeper understanding of civil rights in all of its manifestations, is both an honor and a responsibility. This museum will be a great national resource."

Hampson will sing two songs at the groundbreaking: “Grief,” by African American composer William Grant Still and poet LeRoy V. Brant, followed by Aaron Copland’s “Simple Gifts.” Hampson has performed these and many other American songs in recitals at home and abroad as part of his ongoing “Song of America” project. Initially developed by Hampson in collaboration with the Library of Congress in 2005, and now a program of the Hampsong Foundation, the project reflects Hampson’s passionate, career-long advocacy of American song. As Hampson has noted, “These songs – our songs – say everything, through the eyes of our poets and the ears of our composers, about the culture we call American.”

Hampson’s “Song of America” project reached an even wider national audience this season with the introduction of the 13-week “Song of America” radio series, co-produced by the Hampsong Foundation and the WFMT Radio Network of Chicago, and syndicated by the network to public radio stations nationwide. Hosted by Hampson, and already being aired in more than 220 markets across the country since its introduction in October 2011, the series reveals classic American song – poetry set to music by American composers – as a vibrant diary of the American experience. Each hour-long program focuses on a particular topic that sheds light on a larger theme in American history. The experience of minorities in America is explored in various installments of the series, especially in such programs as “Many Are the Voices,” “There Is No Gender In Music,” and “Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Music in Opera

By -
There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In ...
Read more

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

By -
Image
Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
Read more

Teaching Composition – What are we trying to achieve

By -
In the process of learning composition I have spent time with a number of instructors who have encouraged me to write twelve-tone, pitch-class, electro-acoustic and other forms of experimental techniques. No matter how much I might understand and appreciate the work of other composers in the genres, these are not forms of music I resonate with. They are simply not forms of music I listen to and I struggle with the idea of writing them. However, in a Master Class by Libby Larsen she made the comment, “Learn them all, because all forms of music have something to offer.” This I very much agree. There are elements of each of the above mentioned forms (and others) that I do resonate with. Berg’s Violin Concerto is a beautiful twelve-tone work, although it is possible to look at numerous sections of the music with a “tonal” analysis. Another composer friend, Gary Bachlund commented that using these techniques can narrow the choices for how to compose a piece of work. If you look at ...
Read more