Stephen Salters, baritone & Ariadne Greif, soprano
a vocal program exploring race and incarceration

Saturday March 11th, 2017 8:00pm Philadelphia Ethical Society

Saturday March 18th, 2017 8:00pm DiMenna Center, Cary Hall, New York City

Race/relations: Rustin sings with today’s incarcerated

The first American to win the Queen Elisabeth Vocal Competition was African-American baritone Stephen Salters, and here the riveting baritone shares a program focusing on race with wonderful young soprano Ariadne Greif. But a fainter third voice will be present as well: Bayard Rustin, one of the primary architects of the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S., had a trained tenor voice, and his musical presence will here be woven between a number of world premieres of new vocal works exploring issues surrounding race in contemporary America.

Composers Jonathan Bailey Holland, Trevor Weston, Jessie Montgomery, Elena Ruehr and Nathan Currier will write pieces for the occasion. T.J. Anderson’s Words My Mother Taught Me, set to words of his mother concerning freedom, will find a counterpart in Currier’s setting of words about incarceration by his father, who served time in prison with Rustin, where the two worked to desegregate their cell block together. Songs by Adolphus Hailstork, as well as some songs that William Bolcolm composed for Stephen, will round out the evening.

full program and further notes coming soon