The Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture and the Department of Music present Crossing the Line to Freedom: The UNC Charlotte Orchestra Performs Music by Florence Price, Nkeiru Okoye, and George Walker as part of the museum's Wednesday Night Live series. Guest performers Mahari Freeman and Erika Rush '22 join the Orchestra and conductor Dr. Alan Yamamoto for an evening of music and poetry by African American artists. At the centerpiece are four "Songs of Harriet Tubman" by the contemporary composer Nkeiru Okoye. A public conversation with the performers will follow.
This event is free, but registration is encouraged. Please click here to register.
Program:
“Daybreak in Alabama,” by Langston Hughes
String Quartet in G Major, Mvt. II, by Florence Price
“Harriet Tubman,” by Eloise Greenfield
Songs of Harriet Tubman, for Soprano, Piano and Strings, by Nkeiru Okoye
Lyric for Strings, by George Walker
Guest Artists:
A native of Charlotte, soprano Mahari Freeman is frequently sought after to perform at events across the Carolinas. Her “pure and effortless singing” has been positively received by journals such as Classical Voice of North Carolina. Freeman was a fellow in the Aspen Music Festival's Opera Center and performed the starring role of Susanna in the University of Michigan’s production of Le Nozze di Figaro. Freeman is also a passionate voice instructor and founder of La Voix Academy, a music school based in Charlotte. She is currently on the voice faculty at Central Piedmont Community College. Freeman received her Master’s of Music in Voice Performance from the University of Michigan and is currently working towards her Doctorate of Musical Arts at the University of South Carolina.
Originally from Asheboro, North Carolina, UNC Charlotte alumna Erika Rush ‘22 is a storyteller, performer, choreographer, and creative based in Charlotte. At the University she majored in dance with a concentration in performance, choreography, and theory and minored in theater. As part of Kulture Klash, one of Charlotte's largest showcases for street dancers, Rush was given the opportunity to perform at Truist Center on October 1st. She is currently serving the Charlotte community by collaborating with Charlotte dancers, videographers, and photographers with the hope of keeping performing arts at the forefront of her life, and in her role as a performer, she aspires to create memories that will last a lifetime.
Conductor Alan Yamamoto is a full-time faculty member in the music department at Central Piedmont Community College. In the 2021-2022 academic year, he served as conductor of the Queens University Chamber Orchestra and the UNC Charlotte Orchestra. Dr. Yamamoto first came to Charlotte as the Resident Conductor of the Charlotte Symphony for six seasons, and was prior to that time the Resident Conductor of the Colorado Music Festival in Boulder for nine seasons. He holds degrees from the University of Colorado in Boulder, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and the University of California at Berkeley.
