Thursday, November 27, 2008

2008 William Grant Still Festival Opens at National Underground Railroad Freedom Center


AfriClassical recently posted “William Grant Still Festival Dec. 1-6, 2008 Commemorates 30th Anniversary of Still's Death”. Today another blog published a post on the opening concert:
National Underground Railroad Freedom Center Blog
Posted on November 27th, 2008 by Paul Bemish
Violinist Heidi Yenney and pianist Jessica Madsen will perform the opening concert of the 2008 William Grant Still Festival on Tuesday, Dec. 2, at 5 p.m. at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. The concert is free and open to the public, and includes a lecture on the music of Still, (1895 - 1978), an African-American classical composer who wrote more than 150 compositions. Still studied at Wilberforce University and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. In a varied career spanning classical and pop musical genres, Still achieved fame as the first African-American to conduct a major American symphony orchestra, the first to have a symphony of his own (his first symphony) performed by a leading orchestra, the first to have an opera performed by a major opera company, and the first to have an opera performed on national television. He is often referred to as “the dean” of African-American composers. [William Grant Still (1895-1978) was an African American composer who was born in Woodville, Mississippi and died in Los Angeles, California. He is profiled at AfriClassical.com]





1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I write for a travel blog, and whenever we get around to Cincinnati we always try to mention the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. I sure hope tales of its financial troubles have been overstated. It's a shame how such a fascinating and important museum can be overlooked.

http://www.wrsol.com/usatravelguide/2008/12/nationalundergroundrailroadfreedomcenter/

Thanks.