Alliance 25 Conference Schedule
25th Anniversary Celebration
Celebrating 25 years of service
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The African American Art Song Alliance, founded by Professor of Music Dr. Darryl Taylor in 1997, is one of the nation’s leading advocacy organizations, representing Black composers of Western classical art songs. The quinquennial conference is unique and inspirational for scholars and performers of this music.
All activities to be held at Winifred Smith Hall (WSH), Contemporary Arts Center (CAC), or AITR 190 (first floor of the AMC) unless otherwise noted, and are open and free to the public.
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Thursday, October 13
African Diaspora – Caribbean, Central and South America
7 p.m.
Memory, Nostalgia, and Resistance: Art Songs by Afro-Latin Composers
Patricia Caicedo
Lecture
WSH
“Lisette” (Haitian Creole)
Jean Bernard Cerin
Film
WSH
Exploding the Canon and Beyond
Michael Harper
Lecture
WSH
Friday, October 14
Daily refreshments provided by UCI Department of African American Studies
9 a.m.
Welcome and Introduction, Darryl Taylor
Welcome, Dean Tiffany López, Claire Trevor School of the Arts
Chronology: Hansonia Caldwell
Keynote address “Lift Every Voice...Why African Americans Stand”
Marvin Curtis, Indiana University, South Bend
Awards presentations:
Willis Patterson Award for Excellence in Research, presented by Susheel Bibbs
George Shirley Award for Excellence in Performance, presented by Louise Toppin
Adams-Owens Composition Prize, presented by Shawn Okpebholo
Plenary Session
WSH
Social Justice
11 a.m.
Creating Omar for LA Opera
Moderator: Christopher Koelsch, General Director, LA Opera
Michael Abels, Co-Composer, Kaneza Schaal,Stage Director,
Christopher Myers, Scenic Designer
Arias from Omar, by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels
Jamez McCorkle, tenor as Omar
and other Los Angeles Opera Young Artists
Panel Discussion
WSH
1 p.m.
Fires of Justice
Performance
WSH
2 p.m.
“Rights of Passage and Presence: Urban Renaissance and the Sonic Construction of a Black Movement”
Max Jefferson
Lecture
AITR 190
3 p.m.
Soul and Reconciliation
Performance
WSH
4 p.m.
Black Arts Administrators Affinity Group
Moderator: Maurice Wheeler
Moderator: Raymond Tymas-Jones (President, Cornish College of the Arts)
Group Discussion
AITR 190
5:30 p.m.
“The Hyers Sisters: Voices for Freedom”
Susheel Bibbs, soprano and filmmaker
Katie Franklin Ledsinger, piano
Film Viewing, Performance and Discussion
CAC – Colloquium Room
6 p.m.
Louise Toppin, The University of Michigan
Master Class
WSH
8 p.m.
My Sister’s Keeper: Celebrating the 150th Birthday of Paul Laurence Dunbar
Minnita Daniel-Cox, Marcía Porter, Alexis Davis-Hazell and Rosalyn Wright Floyd
Performance
WSH
Saturday, October 15
Daily refreshments provided by UCI Department of African American Studies
The Harlem Renaissance Centennial
8:15 a.m.
“A Century of Musical Perspectives on Georgia Douglas Johnson”
Gwynne Kuhner Brown and Dawn Padula
Lecture-Recital
CAC – Colloquium Room
9 a.m.
“Early Development of the Spiritual in the Harlem Renaissance”
Randye Jones
Lecture
CAC – Colloquium Room
10 a.m.
In Memorium – Dorothy Rudd Moore
Performance
WSH
11:15 a.m
“The Lost Generation 1919-1925”
Bill Doggett
Lecture
CAC – Colloquium Room
Noon
Music Performance Anxiety: An Opera Singer’s Perspective
Nicole Jenkins
Lecture
CAC – Colloquium Room
1 p.m.
“'The World and Us': Black Musicians and American Life a Century Ago”
Mark Burford
Lecture
CAC – Colloquium Room
2 p.m.
“Sing, Poets!”
Tsitsi Ella Jaji
Lecture
CAC – Colloquium Room
3 p.m.
Bonita Hyman, Metropolitan Opera
Master Class
Performance
AITR 196
4 p.m.
Composers’ Forum
Louise Toppin, Moderator
Panel Discussion
WSH
Black Women Composers Matter
5 p.m.
“A Ghost No More: On a Prize-Winning Song by Margaret Bonds No Longer Lost”
John Michael Cooper
Lecture
CAC – Colloquium Room
5:30 p.m.
A Salute to Margaret Bonds (1913–1972)
Performance
WSH
6 p.m.
“Black Feminism in Music, Poetry, and Literature”
Shana Oshiro and Edmond Charles, with Jasmine Barnes
Lecture-Recital
CAC – Colloquium Room
7 p.m.
“Religion, Resolve, and Rebuke: Dimensions of Justice in Baritone Solo Movements of Selected Choral Masterworks by Black Women Composers”
Khyle Wooten
Lecture
CAC – Colloquium Room
8 p.m.
For the Love of Langston
Performance
WSH
Sunday, October 16
A World of Expression
10 a.m.
“Tools for Improvisation/Interpretation: Sing Your Soul”
Trineice Robinson
Workshop
WSH
11:30 a.m.
The UniverSOUL Language: Italian, French, Creole, and German Songs by African American Composers
Christopher C. Jordan and Cindy St. Clair
Performance
WSH
2 p.m.
Departure
