Baritone Philip Lima and Tenor Fred C. VanNess, Jr. Perform in Roland Hayes Tribute at the Allen Center

Cherry Street Music will present A Roland Hayes Tribute honoring the first African American man to win international acclaim as a concert artist, on Sunday November 19th at The Allen Center in Newton.  Tickets and information can be found at newtonculture.org. 

  

A tenor who made his debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) in 1923, Roland Hayes was the first Black American performer to appear with the BSO and blazed the trail to public recognition of black singers as serious artists, including legends Paul Robeson, Marian Anderson, and Leontyne Price. In celebration of the centennial of Hayes' BSO debut, acclaimed baritone Philip Lima and tenor Fred C. VanNess, Jr. will perform art songs, arias and spirituals that honor Hayes, alongside the Boston Public Quartet: Betsy Hinkle, violin; Jason Amos, viola; Nicholas Johnson, cello; and Joy Cline Phinney, piano.

 Cherry Street Music's Artistic Director Allison Yoshie Eldredge says “While it's true that Roland Hayes had a significant impact on classical music throughout the world, he was also a big part of the Boston music community for almost 50 years.  

  

“We are proud to celebrate his debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra 100 years ago this November. He appeared frequently with the BSO for the next 21 years, gave vocal lessons to students for decades from his home in Brookline, performing his final concert in 1972  at Cambridge's Longy School of Music.  He was one of our own,” said Eldredge.  

  

Philip Lima has appeared as soloist with the Boston Pops and over seventy orchestras, choral societies, and concert series across the United States. He has been acclaimed for his performances with numerous orchestras of Lee Hoiby's setting of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s  “I Have a Dream” speech; and is featured on the recording of pioneering African-American composer Florence Price's Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight that won the 2020 American Prize for the Performance of American Music.  A native of New Bedford, Massachusetts, Lima is the Assistant Chair of Berklee College of Music's Voice Department. 

An avid concert performer, Fred VanNess is a member of Castle of our Skins, a prestigious Boston based organization dedicated to celebrating Black artistry through music.  With Castle of our Skins, he has performed the tenor solos in the world premiere of Samuel Beebe's Remember the Sea, as well as various solos in their Night Songs concert. He recently appeared in Dan Shore's new opera Freedom Ride, presented by MASSOpera and Chicago Opera Theatre, and with Opera del West, Toronto Summer Opera.  

The Boston Public Quartet was created to connect, inspire, and innovate as an ensemble-in-residence in Boston's diverse neighborhoods. The BPQ is dedicated to normalizing the amplification of historically excluded voices. As avid educators of both string instrument study and chamber music, BPQ members teach and have taught at such institutions as Project STEP, musiConnects, and Boston Youth Symphony's Intensive Community Program. Founded in 2007 by violinist Betsy Hinkle, the Boston Public Quartet served until 2018 as a Resident Ensemble of musiConnects. 

Among the works on the program will be selections from Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutti,  Florence Price's “My Dream,” “Go Down Moses” and “By and By,” composed by Hayes' close friend and occasional accompanist Harry Thacker Burleigh. Composer and Co-founder of Castle of our Skins, Anthony Green has arranged several spirituals for the program as well. 

  

About The Allen Center  

The Allen Center (TAC) is an Arts & Cultural Center in West Newton, MA,  owned and operated by the Newton Cultural Alliance (NCA).  The Allen Center's historic facility is the beacon of arts and culture in the City of Newton, a unique space dedicated to the creative community. The renovation of the facility was completed spring of 2021, and, as with the case of many performance venues, has slowly been expanding its programming over two years.  Since that time the offerings of TAC have broadened.  In the Fall of 2022, the NCA established an Artist in Residence and invited Allison Yoshie Eldredge, international concert cellist, to fill the position.   

  

Card to Culture:  New This Year!  The Allen Center has recently joined the Mass Cultural Council Card to Culture program and is making tickets available at reduced prices for This MCC program , together with the Department of Transitional Assistance, Massachusetts Health Connector, and the Women, Infants, & Children (WIC) Nutrition Program, are increasing access to cultural experiences for all Massachusetts residents.  Click here for more information. 

  

About Cherry Street Music Artistic Director and The Allen Center Artist in Residence, Allison Yoshie Eldredge   

Since winning the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant at 19, cellist Allison Yoshie Eldredge has been performing at the foremost music centers of the United States, Canada, Europe, Far East, and Latin America. Allison has performed as soloist with many of the world's great orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony, and the Royal Philharmonic and performed with such distinguished conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Andre Previn, Charles Dutoit, Leonard Slatkin, Krzysztof Penderecki, Yevgeny Svetlanov, Hans Vonk and Jaap van Zweden. 

  

Cherry Street Music presents A Tribute to Roland Hayes Saturday, November 19th at The Allen Center 35 Webster Street, Newton MA.  Tickets and information are available at newtonculture.org. 

  

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