A Celebration of Song for Black History Month
Saturday, February 27th, 7pm on WBNS – 10 TV
streamable below at 8pm
A special program in celebration of Black History Month will bring the warmth of the Lincoln Theatre to your living room and surround you with the sound of some of the area's most talented singers as they bring to the mainstream historic pieces of Black composed music.
Opera Project Columbus is proud to have produced this half hour special featuring spirituals and operatic pieces from composers like Moses Hogan, a pianist, conductor, and arranger whose work has international renown; Margaret Bonds, who in 1933, became the first African American to perform with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Rosephayne Powell, hailed as one of America’s premier composers of choral music; and H. Leslie Adams, a well-known American composer who is from Ohio and attended Oberlin College, The Ohio State University and currently resides in Cleveland. Some arrangements are inspired by literary greats such as Phyllis Wheatley who came from Africa to America in the early 1800’s as a child and is recognized as the first Black poet and the first Black American to publish a book. The poem I, Too by Langston Hughes begins the program as recited by a local student and ends the program in song with I, Too, Sing America as performed by Dione Parker Bennett.
Joining us on stage for the performance are the amazing sopranos, Bennett, Hannah Marie Bullock, and Dr. Crystal Sellers Battle. They are accompanied on piano by Ed Bak.
Opera Project Columbus’ special will air Saturday, February 27, 7 P.M., on WBNS – 10 TV. After that airdate, the program can be found here on operaprojectcolumbus.com