Harris Theater Presents The World Premiere Of EMANCIPATION By Adrian Dunn, April 29

The Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance presents Emancipation by Adrian Dunn with the The Adrian Dunn Singers and Rize Orchestra on the HTP Mainstage on Friday, April 29, 2022 at 7:30PM. Tickets are $20 - $140 and are available at harristheaterchicago.org/performance/emancipation-adrian-dunn.

Emancipation is the second installment in the trilogy cycle composed by Adrian Dunn exploring Black life in America, through genres created by Black Americans. The program will be performed by The Adrian Dunn Singers and Rize Orchestra, all-Black professional ensembles founded by Dunn and dedicated to transforming classical music and the music industry at large. This performance of Emancipation marks the first time that an all-Black professional orchestra has played at the Harris Theater. This historic moment will be filmed and recorded for a live album.

In Dunn's words: "As a classically trained musician, there were things in my childhood that I was forced to discard about my musical upbringing and identity. Emancipation is me going back and getting all of those things and bringing them to the concert stage. My inspiration for this piece includes Black sacred texts of Maya Angelou, Kanye West, Tupac, Marlon Riggs, James Baldwin, and Audre Lorde, to name a few."

What does it mean to be Black and free in America in the 21st century? Emancipation seeks the answers to that question through an exploration of love, loss, queerness, Black liberation, and the human experience.

Following the stage premiere of Emancipation, Dunn will lead The Adrian Dunn Singers in a one-hour matinee performance for children and families on Saturday, April 30 at 2 p.m., featuring excerpts from Emancipation and Redemption, the first installment of the trilogy. Tickets and information about the Family Series performance are available at harristheaterchicago.org/performance/adrian-dunn-singers. Tickets start at $10.

The Harris Theater Box Office is open for phone support 12-5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and on performance days. To reach the Box Office, call 312.334.7777 or email info@harristheaterchicago.org.

Adrian Dunn is an accomplished singer, composer, and conductor. Mr. Dunn holds a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degree in Voice from The Music Conservatory at Roosevelt University with additional musical studies in opera at The Sibelius Academy of Music in Finland.

In 2021 Mr. Dunn won The American Prize in Composition for Requiem from The Mass for the Unarmed Child and was named in the Top 10 Classical Music & Jazz performances of 2021 by Chicago Tribune. He made his conducting debut with The Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra in June 2021. His interview on his original composition The Black Messiah was published in the Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy. He and The Adrian Dunn Singers performed the film score for the 2022 Sundance film, Honk for Jesus starring Sterling K. Brown (from the NBC show "This Is Us") and Regina Hall.

Mr. Dunn is writing his first full length opera, The 42 Project, on the life of Black Major League Baseball star Jackie Robinson. Mr. Dunn's trilogy cycle second installment Emancipation will get its world premiere at the Harris Theater in April featuring The Adrian Dunn Singers and The Rize Orchestra. His composition Requiem was performed by the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra and the Morehouse Glee Club in March 2022. He was the chorus conductor for the Mozart Requiem with the Elgin Symphony Orchestra and was a guest artist in residence at California State University Fullerton.

Mr. Dunn is a MacArthur grant recipient for his original work Hopera: A Hip Hop Opera. He has sung with the Chicago Symphony Chorus, Grant Park Symphony Chorus and was the 2019 composer in residence for the Lyric Unlimited education program. He was the tenor soloist for Handel's Messiah at Rockefeller Chapel in 2019 and was the tenor soloist for Puccini's Messa di Gloria with the Northwestern University Orchestra. He has opened for international Hip Hop Recording Artist The Roots at Indiana University. He served as principle vocal coach for Kanye West's artist development program Donda's House. He was a featured artist and vocal coach for the live DVD recording of the Higher Ground Gospel Choir in Helsinki, Finland. He has toured throughout the US, South Africa, Italy, Germany, the UK, and Scandinavia.

He is a voice faculty member in the Theater Conservatory at Roosevelt University. Mr. Dunn's private voice students can be seen in Broadway National tours of Lion King, Hamilton, Color Purple, Kinky Boots, BET's show Sunday Best, Drury Lane Theater, The Paramount Theater, Black Ensemble Theater, and as background vocalists for major record label artists on tour throughout the US and abroad.

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