Lyrica Dialogues at Harvard University

On December 2, 2016, my song cycle Sable Pride, a setting of three poem by Countée Cullen, will be performed at the 2016 Lyrica Dialogues at Harvard University, which this year focuses on African-American art song, opera and operetta and choral repertory. The Dialogues will also commemorate Harvard's late Pastor Peter J. Gomes at the fifth anniversary of his untimely passing. The Keynote address will be given by the renowned tenor George Shirley.

Sable Pride was written for the brilliant counter-tenor Darryl Taylor. He and I were to have performed it, but due to an unexpected conflict, the work will now by performed by mezzo-soprano Eleni Matos with Paul-André Bempechat at the piano.

The preliminary program (8:30 a.m.-5:30 pm) will include talks by Theodore Albrecht, Naomi André, Gwynne Kushner Brown, Linda Rae Brown, Maestro Isaiah Jackson, Paul-André Bempechat, Martha Newline, Scott Piper and Louise Toppin.

The evening performance will take place at the Chapel of the Harvard Divinity School, 45 Francis Avenue in Cambridge, MA, at 7:30 pm. Singers include soprano Zuly Inirio, tenor Stanley Jackson and mezzo-soprano Eleni Matos. The concert will also feature the World Premiere of a commissioned work by Dr. Carson Cooman.

The conference was organized by Paul-André Bempechat, Artist-in-Residence at Leverett House at Harvard, in conjunction with the Harvard Divinity School and the Hutchins Center for African and African-American Research.