African-American Composers Will Be Highlighted in New Concert in Brooklyn

AURAL COMPASS PROJECTS - On Friday, February 7th, 2020 at 7:30pm, Aural Compass Projects presents Lift Every Voice, a celebration of African-American composers of the last century. Featured cycles on the program are John Carter's Cantata, a five-part work of sophisticated arrangements of spirituals; Jacqueline Hairston's On Consciousness Streams, a song cycle with text by Ms. Hairston, a translation of text by Ludwig van Beethoven, and an excerpt from Dr. Howard Thurman's Meditations of the Heart; Margaret Bonds' Three Dream Portraits, which uses poems by Langston Hughes; and H. Leslie Adams' Nightsongs, using the words of five African-American poets. Soprano Meroë Khalia Adeeb, mezzo-soprano Tesia Kwarteng, and tenor Elliott Paige all make their ACP debuts, joined by Artistic Director and pianist Michael Lewis.

Performed along with the four brilliant cycles will be art songs and spirituals by Harry T. Burleigh, Charles Lloyd Jr., Undine Smith Moore, Robert Owens, William Grant Still, and Julius P. Williams. Lift Every Voice is the 4th project in Aural Compass Projects' 5-month history after projects that featured composers and performers of the LGBTQ+ community in Songs of the Rainbow, composers and performers who are immigrants in Songs without Borders, and five Jewish composers of the Holocaust-era in Much has Fallen Silent.

Aural Compass Projects (ACP) is a musical arts organization dedicated to performing new and less-performed works, especially those that promote social justice and highlight composers belonging to marginalized communities.

"It is our mission to bring awareness to issues and demographics that we believe are underrepresented in the arts through beautiful and provocative performances. We believe that bringing light to these issues while cultivating a space for new music is our duty as artistic ambassadors and is incredibly important for the collective growth of our community and world." - Michael Lewis, Artistic Director of ACP

Lift Every Voice is produced in collaboration with the Weaving Social Justice committee of First Unitarian Universalist Congregational Society of Brooklyn, NY.

Friday, February 7th, 2020 at 7:30pm
First Unitarian Congregational Society
119 Pierrepont St. Brooklyn, NY
(1 block from subways R, 2, 3; near subways A, C, F, 4)
Performers: Meroe Khalia Adeeb, Tesia Kwarteng, Michael Lewis, Elliott Paige
General - $15, Students/Seniors - $10
Children 16 and under - FREE

For tickets, visit: www.auralcompassprojects.org