The Knox-Galesburg Symphony has wanted to do a Black History Month concert for a while now.
What they came up with spans continents and centuries, and it begins with Nigerian composer Fela Sowande’s “African Suite for Strings,” composed in the mid-1940s.
“You really get this sense of African, of West African, rhythm and timbre and richness, but you listen to it and it's filled with joy and filled with passion and pain, which string instruments, especially joined together, are so beautiful and so effective at conveying,” said Kedrick Armstrong, a Black musician who is creative partner and principal conductor of the Knox-Galesburg Symphony.
“Throughout the legacy of Black musicians in classical music, we’ve been doing it all, and I really think this concert gives a really fantastic look at what that means to us," Armstrong said.
“African Suite” is one of two pieces by Nigerian composers featured in the concert Celebrating Black Voices in Classical Music, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22 at the Orpheum Theatre, 57 S. Kellogg St.
The concert ends with “The Journey of Phyllis Wheatley,” a 20-year-old orchestral work by Nkeiru Okoye, an American composer with Nigerian ancestry.
Armstrong says it tells the story of Wheatley’s distinctive journey as an enslaved woman who is considered the first Black American to publish a book of poetry.
The piece also employs a narrator. For the Orpheum show, local singer Pippi Ardennia will play that role.
“Nkeiru Okoye does such a beautiful job of depicting all of that journey and giving specific parts of that journey, musical cues and musical themes that she weaves through so you can aurally track this journey and track the story of Phyllis Wheatley in this piece,” Armstrong said.
He said both pieces convey a depth with a limited number of instruments.
In between them, the Knox-Galesburg Symphony will perform “Knoxville: Summer of 1915,” a work for voice and orchestra by Samuel Barber, a white American composer.
“In this piece, we wanted to pay tribute to the long history of Black classical musicians who have championed all kinds of repertoire,” Armstrong said.
Armstrong is having his friend and soprano Melissa Joseph come to Galesburg to sing what he said is Barber’s most well-known and poignant pieces.
“So really showing this multiplicity of how Black artists have engaged with classical music, have engaged with American music and the relevance that it still has today,” he said.
Armstrong said in putting the program together, he wanted to highlight composers and perspectives that people might not know about — not just highlight Black American music but the full diaspora of Black and African music.
“And for Melissa Joseph, being able to hire a Black artist and say you don't just have to come and sing spirituals, but you can come sing Samuel Barber, and that is still as valid and as worthy in our Black experiences as musicians,” Armstrong said.
The result is a program, Armstrong said, that gives a very full scope of Black artists do, what they have championed, and what they champion now.
“I think for me, that's one of the big things that I hope people take away from this is that as Black artists, we are not a monolith,” Armstrong said.
To that end, during intermission, Knox College President Andrew McGadney will facilitate a discussion with Armstrong, Ardennia, and Joseph on what it means to be a Black musician today.
Lucas Wood, executive director of the Knox-Galesburg Symphony, said he, too, was adamant about not wanting to bring in a singer to perform spirituals for Black History Month.
“Not because that music isn't important,” Wood said. “That music is vitally important, but we wanted to represent intentionally what Black artists’ diverse scope of capabilities are. And we wanted to represent not only Black composers, but Black artists performing music by Black composers and white composers and create a cross-cultural experience for our audience in Galesburg.”
Tickets for “Celebrating Black Voices in Classical Music” are available on the Orpheum Theatre’s website and on the Knox-Galesburg Symphony’s website.
It is the first show in the Knox-Galesburg Symphony’s spring lineup.
In March, the symphony will launch a new program: a side-by-side performance with symphony members and local high school musicians. Students from area high schools will join members of the Knox-Galesburg Symphony wind and brass sections on March 15 for a day of music. Morning and afternoon rehearsals with professional musicians will give students an up-close look at preparing concerts. That evening there will be a performance that features students at Hegg Performing Arts Center at Galesburg High School.
The symphony’s 2024-2025 season will close with “The American Sound” on June 21. The season finale showcases the origin of the famous “Jaws” theme alongside composers Carlos Simon and Joan Tower, who influence today’s American classical sound.
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