Brooklyn Youth Chorus to Celebrate Music of the Black Diaspora With AND SING at BAM

The Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus will present AND SING!, a one-night-only conversational concert celebrating music of the Black Diaspora, created and featuring performances by acclaimed bass-baritone and BAM Artist-in-Residence Davóne Tines, May 6, at the Harvey at BAM Strong. Brooklyn Youth Chorus's 2024 Spring Gala, Lift Ev'ry Voice, bookends AND SING!,  with a pre-concert toast to kick off the evening at the Harvey Theater and a dinner following the performance, next door at BRIC.

At the Lift Ev'ry Voice gala, Brooklyn Youth Chorus will honor Davóne Tines with a dinner and award presentation. This event will provide critical mission support for Brooklyn Youth Chorus, giving over 500 New York City school children a year access to unparalleled voice training, extraordinary performance opportunities, and a community that nurtures the skills and friendships that set them up for a lifetime of success.

AND SING! is a “conversational concert” created by Davóne Tines and conceived by Brooklyn Youth Chorus Founder and Artistic Director Dianne Berkun Menaker. It will serve as the culmination of Davóne Tines's artistic residency at BAM. The evening will also be curated by conductor and educator Arreon A. Harley-Emerson of Equity Sings, who has served as Brooklyn Youth Chorus' 2023-24 Artistic Advisor. The evening will be directed by longtime Chorus collaborator Maureen Towey and will include a performance from soloist Kiena Williams.

In AND SING!, Davóne Tines and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus's performing ensembles and soloists will perform a range of music from the Black Diaspora. To contextualize this music further, the concert will also feature curated discussions about the history and importance of this music. This innovative format—part musical commentary, part performance—will create a space for the performers and the audience to examine the importance of choral music from the Black Diaspora and its impact on our world and our society.

Lift Ev'ry Voice and AND SING! culminate a season at Brooklyn Youth Chorus devoted to deepening understanding and creating a connection to the rich traditions of Black choral music from the U.S. and around the world.

Heralded as a "singer of immense power and fervor" and “[one] of the most powerful voices of our time” by The Los Angeles Times, and as a “next generation leader” by Time Magazine, Tines is a path-breaking artist at the intersection of many histories, cultures, and aesthetics. Davóne's work blends opera, spirituals, gospel, and anthems as a means to tell a deeply personal story of perseverance and human connection. Currently rehearsing John Adams' El Niño for the Metropolitan Opera, Davóne Tines will join Brooklyn Youth Chorus for this special evening.

Tines said, “The goal of the program is to collapse the distance between the audience, artists, and the art."

This season, Brooklyn Youth Chorus has emphasized the importance of choral music of the Black Diaspora at every level of programming. Through ongoing workshops and training with Artistic Advisor Arreon A. Harley-Emerson, Brooklyn Youth Chorus faculty and students have enriched their knowledge and appreciation of this body of work. Arreon has unparalleled breadth and depth of knowledge in the choral music and ADEI (access, diversity, equity, inclusion) spheres that make him a much sought-after guest conductor and consultant, as well as the right curator for AND SING!

Brooklyn Youth Chorus Founder and Artistic Director Dianne Berkun Menaker said, “AND SING! presents a wonderful opportunity for our singers to not only immerse themselves in the rich traditions and wide-ranging styles and genres of music from The Black Diaspora, but to also be active participants in the exchange of ideas around this vital repertoire. Through the singing of each other's stories, our young singers will better understand the lived experiences of each other.”

AND SING!, Lift Ev'ry Voice, and the work of Brooklyn Youth Chorus this season is part of the Diamonstein-Spielvogel Youth and Contemporary Music Initiative. This initiative, funded by The Diamonstein-Spielvogel Foundation, has allowed Brooklyn Youth Chorus to deeply explore repertoire and performance practices of different musical genres and expand its emphasis on the importance of contemporary music, including commissioning and collaborating with living composers and performers. This major initiative established the position of Artistic Advisor, created two composer residencies, and has underwritten artist mentors and masterclass clinicians including an artist mentorship with Davóne Tines.

“We are so thrilled to integrate these exciting performers, composers, artists, and new compositions into our programming,” said Megan Lemley, Brooklyn Youth Chorus Executive Director. “Our Lift Ev'ry Voice…AND SING! gala and concert is just the first demonstration of how the Diamonstein-Spielvogel Youth and Contemporary Music Initiative provides fantastic opportunities for and enriches the experience of our young singers, in the rehearsal room and on stage. It has already had a transformational effect on both our organization and on each chorister who walks through our doors.”

AND SING! will be presented at 7:00pm on May 6, 2024 at the Harvey at BAM Strong, 651 Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY 11217.

The Brooklyn Youth Chorus Lift Ev'ry Voice Gala will be presented following the concert at approximately 8:30pm, also on May 6, 2024, at BRIC, 647 Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY 11217.

Tickets for AND SING! are available from BAM at BAM.org.

Tickets to both AND SING! and the Lift Ev'ry Voice Gala are available at www.brooklynyouthchorus.org/gala.

To learn more about The Diamonstein-Spielvogel Youth and Contemporary Music Initiative, visit www.brooklynyouthchorus/DSInitative.

Press photos of Brooklyn Youth Chorus are available at https://bychorus.org/photos.

About Brooklyn Youth Chorus

BROOKLYN YOUTH CHORUS's Grammy Award-winning ensemble, led by Founder & Artistic Director Dianne Berkun Menaker, is one of the most highly regarded ensembles in the country and has stretched the artistic boundaries for the youth chorus. Hailed by The New York Times as "a polished ensemble of miniature professionals," the Chorus has performed with acclaimed conductors including Alan Gilbert, Marin Alsop, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and has collaborated with an impressive range of organizations and artists including the New York Philharmonic, Kronos Quartet, International Contemporary Ensemble, The National, David Byrne, Wye Oak, Bon Iver, Shara Nova, London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Elton John, and Grizzly Bear. Brooklyn Youth Chorus has developed an active commissioning program and has collaborated with some of the most important composers of our time including Pulitzer Prize-winners Caroline Shaw and Tania León, Nico Muhly, Angelica Negrón, Bryce Dessner, Paola Prestini, Nathalie Joachim, Toshi Reagon, Alev Lenz, and William Brittelle. Founded in 1992, Brooklyn Youth Chorus has served over 10,000 students throughout its history, annually serving hundreds of students in its core after-school and public-school outreach programs across Brooklyn and beyond.
https://www.brooklynyouthchorus.org/

About BAM

A world-class home for adventurous artists, audiences, and ideas, BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) is North America's oldest performing arts center, showcasing the work of emerging artists and modern icons. It is led by President Gina Duncan.

For more than 160 years, BAM has been a thriving, urban multi-arts complex renowned for presenting an unparalleled roster of visionary and cutting-edge dance, theater, music, opera, visual arts, literature, and film engagements. Attracting more than 750,000 people annually to its home in Brooklyn, BAM provides a welcoming cultural stage and meeting place for global and local communities of all backgrounds. BAM's distinctive multi-theater campus is alive year-round with inspired new engagements and signature programs alike including the renowned Next Wave (one of the world's most influential festivals of contemporary performing arts, founded in 1983), the iconic DanceAfrica, an acclaimed repertory film program, and literary, archival, educational and humanities programs. For more information visit BAM.org.

About Davóne Tines

DAVÓNE TINES, heralded as an artist "changing what it means to be a classical singer (The New Yorker) and “[one] of the most powerful voices of our time” (Los Angeles Times), is a path-breaking artist whose work encompasses a diverse repertoire, ranging from early music to new commissions by leading composers, while exploring the social issues of today. A creator, curator, and performer at the intersection of many histories, cultures, and aesthetics, he is engaged in work that blends opera, art song, spirituals, contemporary classical, gospel, and protest songs as a means to tell a deeply personal story of perseverance connecting to all of humanity.
https://alsoanoperasinger.org/

About Dianne Berkun Menaker

DIANNE BERKUN MENAKER is the Founder & Artistic Director of the Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus. She is the creator of the Cross-Choral Training program, an experiential approach to functional voice and musicianship pedagogy. She prepared the Chorus for its 2002 debut with the New York Philharmonic in John Adams's On the Transmigration of Souls, the recording for which the Chorus won a Grammy Award. With Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Ms. Berkun Menaker has developed an active commissioning program and has collaborated with some of the most important composers of our time. Ms. Berkun Menaker is a choral clinician and teaching artist for such organizations as the New York Philharmonic and The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall and has presented workshops and master classes for New York University, New York State School Music Association, the American Choral Directors Association, and the New York City Department of Education.

About Arreon A. Harley-Emerson

A conductor, composer, nonprofit strategist, and equity coach, ARREON A. HARLEY-EMERSON is the President and CEO of Equity Sings. Committed to the principles of equity and justice, Equity Sings assists organizations in remaining relevant in the 21st century. Harley-Emersons work includes longitudinal studies, strategic planning, board governance, resource and asset development, and board diversification. Mr. Harley-Emerson is a University Fellow at the Boyer School of Music Dance at Temple University where he is pursuing a Ph.D. in music education with a cognate in choral conducting and has completed a graduate certificate in Diversity in Higher Education.
https://equitysings.com/

About Maureen Towey

Maureen Towey is currently curating a live performance series for Hermès. Towey has worked as a Creative Director for Grammy award-winning musicians such as Arcade Fire, Ray Lamontagne, and Esperanza Spalding. She has directed music videos for Sharon Van Etten, Tune-Yards, and Caroline Shaw. Her short film The 8th Year of the Emergency, starring Mary Beth Peil, Linda Emond, Phillipa Soo, and Jeffrey DeMunn, had an acclaimed festival run. A highlight of her live performance work was directing Black Mountain Songs, which was conceived by Bryce Dessner (of The National) and starred the Brooklyn Youth Chorus (BAM in NYC, Barbican in London). For The New York Times, Towey directed Sensations of Sound, which premiered at The American Museum of Natural History and went on to win a Lumiere Award for Best VR Documentary of 2017. She also served as the lead director for The Daily 360, the only series in the world to create professional VR journalism on a daily basis. Towey has been recognized as a Fulbright scholar (South Africa), a Princess Grace fellow, a TCG Leadership U grantee (Berkeley Rep), and as a PBS/AOL Maker. https://www.maureentowey.com/

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