The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) will honor trailblazing tenor and educator George Shirley and visionary leader and academic Earl Lewis, President of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, at the 40th annual Classical Roots Concert, March 2- 3, 2018. Classical Roots honors African-American composers, musicians, and educators for lifetime achievement and raises funds to support the DSO’s African-American music and musician development programs
The Classical Roots Celebration, including the 8 p.m. concert and pre- and post-performance receptions, takes place on Saturday, March 3, 2018, at the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center. A concert-only performance is also scheduled for Friday, March 2, 2018, at 10:45 a.m. in Orchestra Hall. Joseph Young will conduct.
The Saturday evening concert will be webcast for free at dso.org/live and via Facebook Live, as part of the DSO’s groundbreaking Live from Orchestra Hall series.
The Brazeal Dennard Chorale has been a nucleus of Classical Roots since the beginning, and to mark the 40-year history of the event, Classical Roots 2018 will feature the 40th Anniversary Celebration Choir, a 150-voice mixed chorus comprising singers from the Brazeal Dennard Chorale, Wayne State University, the Detroit School of the Arts, and the Detroit Choral Society.
The 40th Anniversary Celebration Choir was specially assembled by Norah Duncan IV, Professor, and Chair of the Wayne State University Department of Music. As is tradition, this year’s concerts will begin with “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” often referred to as the Black American National Anthem, featuring the 40th Anniversary Celebration Choir.
Members of the Brazeal Dennard Chorale will then sing the spiritual “I Know I’ve Been Changed,” before the orchestra performs Johann Strauss’s Overture to Die Fledermaus—in honor of George Shirley, as Die Fledermaus was the first opera he sang professionally. Rounding out the first half of the program is Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 4 with guest horn soloist Joshua Williams, a rising young performer, and winner of the 2017 International Horn Competition of America.
The 40th anniversary Classical Roots program culminates with a performance of Undine Smith Moore’s Scenes from the Life of a Martyr, an oratorio written in tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The work will be presented nearly one month prior to the 50th anniversary of the civil rights leader’s assassination on April 4, 1968.
Classical Roots is presented by Stanley and Judy Frankel and made possible by J.P. Morgan Chase and the DTE Energy Foundation. This year’s Classical Roots Co-Chairs are Therese Peace Agboh and Janice Cosby. See below for the full Classical Roots Committee.
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