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This project focuses well-deserved attention on the Art Song compositions of mid-century African-American composer, piano pedagogue, educator, and social justice advocate Margaret Allison Bonds (1913-1972). The concert is in preparation for a new CD album of the same works, including the first recordings of several important song cycles and art songs. In this diverse and colorful compilation are the six settings of Pulitzer-Prize-winning poet Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) in their entirety, individual songs including Sea Ghost (for which Bonds won the prestigious Wanamaker Prize in 1932), Birth, Bound, and April Rain Song. In addition to the musical merits of Bonds’ works, her choice of forward-thinking literary figures for her song texts is significant. Her text settings include the works of her longtime friend and artistic collaborator Langston Hughes, a leading artistic figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Millay, whose settings are featured in this project, was one of the first American poets to openly identify as bisexual and to write about desire from a female perspective. The stories and sounds we explore in this project are of central importance to American Art Song literature, and we wish to make them easily accessible to voice teachers, pianists, and singers wanting to program with an eye toward diversity, inclusion, equity, and access.Performers: Dana Zenobi (soprano) and Jonathan Levin (piano)
In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, NC State will honor requests for reasonable accommodations made by individuals with disabilities. Direct accommodation requests to: JoAnne Sutton at [email protected].
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
2601 Katharine Stinson Dr., Raleigh, NC 27695, United States