The Martin Luther King Junior Birthday Celebration featured the Spiritual Voices and they were wonderful. This ensemble of seven includes four university professors of music, a private teacher, store manager, and a church musician 'with a love and passion for the revival of the Negro Spiritual.'
They are soprano Barbara Hill Moore; soprano Audra Scott; mezzo soprano Audra Scott; mezzo soprano Michelle Evans; tenor Richard Heard; bass baritone, Leon Turner; bass, Louis Nabors; and pianist Brian Bently.
Their beautiful voices blended perfectly.
Linda Neal and Sheila Johnson gave a quilt presentation that certainly held everyone's interest. These ladies did the necessary research to inform us of the oral stories about the Underground Railroad Quilt codes. They mentioned that there is no definite proof of the quilt codes and of course no written records, however the oral stories persist.
The Spiritual Voices used the words of Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman to tell the story of slavery in song. The finale was a medley of songs from Porgy and Bess.
At the close of the evening, MLK Committee chairman Earl Moseley quoted Martin Luther King, Jr.'s memorable words:
"I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."
No comments:
Post a Comment