Hannibal Lokumbe’s World Premiere of Can You Hear God Crying? Kicks Off Kimmel Center Presents’ 2012-13 Program Offerings
AUGUST 24, 2012
Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts Presents in Association with Art Sanctuary
Tickets Now on Sale!
World renowned trumpeter and composer Hannibal Lokumbe’s groundbreaking work Can You Hear God Crying makes its world premiere at the Kimmel Center’s Verizon Hall on Friday, September 21, 2012 at 8 p.m. Master storyteller Lokumbe shares his great great grandfather Silas’ journey aboard a slave ship two centuries ago on his way to the auction blocks of Potters Mart in Charlestown, South Carolina, and relays the cycles of life and spiritual emancipation he experienced thereafter.
This uplifting musical event fuses jazz, gospel and chamber music together with West African prayers, songs and rhythms and features a variety of renowned and local community talent including: musicians from The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia led by its Music Director, Dirk Brossé; jazz quintet Hannibal Lokumbe and The Music Liberation Orchestra with band members Byron C. Landham (drums), Mogauwane Mahloele (percussion), Anthony Wonsey (piano), Paula Holloway vocalist and Nimrod Speaks (bass) Also featured are the vocal talents of Janice Chandler-Eteme, soprano, Rodrick Dixon, tenor, Homayun Sakhi performing the Afghan rabâb; and The Celebration Choir, led by choirmaster J. Donald Dumpson, comprised of members from the Enon Tabernacle Mass Choir, The Germantown Concert Chorus, The Clayton White Singers, Arch Street Presbyterian Church Choir and Sounds of Joy Music Ministry.
At the core of the Can You Hear God Crying? is the Door of No Return, through which millions of immigrants came to our country. Amidst waves of soaring choral, chamber and jazz music, a soprano deity sings strength to her people: in slave ships, in jails – and trapped in the prisons of fear into which mankind locks itself. Silas’ story parallels the struggle that all humans experience as they wander in the dark, searching for help and healing, and listening for God’s songs as a beacon back to faith and peace. For anyone who has ever closed the door to wholeness, Lokumbe’s music will open the heart.
Tickets for Can You Hear God Crying? are available at $15-45, and can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online at kimmelcenter.org, or at the Kimmel Center Box Office located on Broad and Spruce streets, Philadelphia, PA 19102 (open daily from 10am to 6pm, later on performance evenings).
Can You Hear God Crying? is performed in a set of 10 veils, a more permanent movement of music symbolic of Silas’ journey and evolving understanding. The performance begins with Kunanamui (the name for God in Kpelle) singing a prayer of love and affirmation to The Jonah People with a performance of the Afghan rabâb instrument; continues with The Prayer of Silas referring to his life in Africa; followed by a choral performance of God’s promise to Silas while running away from the South Carolinian rice plantation; to The Door of No Return representing healing and celebration of the courage and peace found in facing the past; an acknowledgement of the strength and will needed to survive; and the trials and triumphs of life today.
Composer and trumpeter of the Music Liberation Orchestra, Hannibal Lokumbe’s journey has taken him from the cotton fields of Elgin, Texas – where he was first inspired by the spirituals and hymns of his grandparents – to the stages of Carnegie Hall and much of the world. He spent twenty five years in New York City playing trumpet and recording with some of his jazz heroes (including Gil Evans, Pharaoh Sanders, Roy Haynes, Elvin Jones, and McCoy Tyner) and is the recipient of numerous awards including:The USA Artists(Cummings Fellow), The Joyce, Bessie’s, NEA, and Lifetime Achievement Award from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
He has composed works for Carnegie Hall, The Kronos String Quartet, as well as the Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit and Houston Symphonies. His groundbreaking opera African Portraits was performed and recorded by The Chicago Symphony under the direction of Daniel Barenboim and has been performed numerous times since its November 11, 1990 Carnegie Hall debut. In addition, His oratorio Dear Mrs. Parks was commissioned, performed and recorded by The Detroit Symphony Orchestra in March 2009 and released on Naxos Records. He recently played the role of Luke in a major production of James Baldwin’s play The Amen Corner at The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, MN.
Dirk Brossé is the Music Director of The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. Born in Ghent, Belgium, in 1960, Brossé is a multi-faceted composer and a respected conductor on the international music scene. He began his music studies at the Music Conservatories of Ghent and Brussels. He subsequently specialized in conducting, which he studied in Maastricht, Vienna and Cologne. He was awarded his conducting diploma by the Musikhochschule, in Cologne. Alongside his many guest professorships, he is currently Professor of Composition and Conducting at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Ghent.
Maestro Brossé has conducted all the leading Belgian orchestras, among them, the Flemish Radio Orchestra, the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, the Orchestra of the Flemish Opera, and the National Orchestra of Belgium. Outside his native Belgium, he has conducted the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, l'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Shanghai, the KBS Symphony Orchestra of South Korea, the World Symphony Orchestra (in Japan), The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the Ulster Symphony Orchestra of Northern Ireland, the Camerata St. Petersburg, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the National Orchestras of Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador, among others.
A founding resident company of The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia is a 33-member professional ensemble led by Maestro Dirk Brossé and performs from September through May in its home, the intimate Perelman Theater. Founded in 1964, the Chamber Orchestra has a well-established reputation for distinguished performances of repertoire from the Baroque period through the twenty-first century.
In summer 2010, soprano Janice Chandler-Eteme had great success as Bess in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess with the Opera de Lyon in Lyon, Edinburgh and London, one of several recent forays into opera. She was Clara in the Dallas Opera production of the same opera and sang Donna Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni with the National Philharmonic at Strathmore. Versatility has been the hallmark of the American lyric soprano who continues to sing an astonishing range of literature. Last season she performed Strauss' Four Last Songs with the Reading and Utah Symphonies; Brahms' Requiem with the Jacksonville Symphony, Elijah with the Modesto Symphony, Mahler's Second Symphony with the San Diego and Nashville Symphonies; and Philip Glass' Passion of Ramakrishna with the Pacific Symphony.
Possessing a tenor voice of extraordinary range and versatility, Rodrick Dixon has earned the respect and attention of leading conductors, orchestras, and opera companies throughout North America. Notable recent engagements in 2011 include his return to the Ravinia Festival in Das Klagende Lied, The Bells; his Cincinnati Opera debut in the production of Rigoletto as the Duke; Cincinnati Symphony Classical Roots Concert and The May Festival. In 2010, he had three major recording and film releases: Arthaus Musik DVD/DVD Blu-ray Zemlinsky’s Der Zwerg (Conlon, LA Opera, 2010); Albany Records CD Recorded Music of the African Diaspora (2010) and EMI/Manhattan Records DVD, CD release Hallelujah Broadway (2010). He earned critical acclaim and an invitation to return with Maestro Conlon for six seasons to the Cincinnati May Festival as tenor soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Carmina Burana, Rachmaninoff’s The Bells, Aleko, Glagolitic Mass, Rossini’s Stabat Mater and with the Philadelphia Orchestra for more performances of Der Zwerg.
Homayun Sakhi is a master of the Afghan rabâb—the double-chambered lute that's at the heart of Afghanistan's Pashtun klasik tradition. Born in Kabul in 1976, Sakhi was heir to one of Afghanistan's great musical dynasties. His father, Ghulam Sakhi was a student and brother-in-law of Ustad Mohammed Omar, a revered musician with a direct link to the origins of Afghan classical music. When young Homayun apprenticed himself to his father, he became the repository of a tradition that stretches back to the mid-19th century, when the Amir of Kabul imported North Indian classical musicians to perform at his court. Growing up in Kuchech Kharabat—Kabul's famed musicians quarter—Homayun readily absorbed many musical styles, from Afghani classical music to Persian ghazals and Hindustani ragas; as well as Indian and Pakistani cinema music and Western pop and classical sounds.
Led by acclaimed choir director J. Donald Dumpson, The Celebration Choir is comprised of members from Enon Tabernacle Mass Choir (Kenny Arrington, Minister of Music, Jerome Lang, Director Men's Chorus, Cassandra Jones, Dir., Rev. Dr. Alyn E. Waller, Senior Pastor), The Germantown Concert Chorus (Calin Manson Dir.), The Clayton White Singers (Clayton White, Dir.), Arch Street Presbyterian Church Choir (J. Donald Dumpson, Dir. Rev. Bill Golderer, Pastor), and Sounds of Joy Music Ministry (Shelia D. Booker Dir.)
Art Sanctuary, located in North Philadelphia, uses the power of black art to transform individuals, unite groups of people, and enrich, and draw inspiration from the inner city. We invite established and aspiring artists to help create excellent lectures, performances, and educational program. Art Sanctuary was founded 1998 with the idea that arts excellence arises out of the inner city, and ought to cycle through it. Just as every culture supports its cultural core, we, too, needed our best artists, thinkers, profits, and seers. Their presence among us is like using our own blood for a transfusion of wisdom and hope. We create a sanctuary for art, and the art itself acts as asylum, as Temple Education professors have called us, to nurture minds and spirits.
To accomplish the task, boards and staff members have worked hard for twelve years to create a learning culture. We present, produce, commission, create, and support artistic excellence. The institution, not the founder, defends artistic excellence according to criteria that everyone, volunteer and staff, understand and agree on. As our development officer says, excellence in bridging cultures, transformation of individuals through arts experiences, deepening literacy—all these are qualities that we can, if not strictly measure, certainly measure up to.
Can You Hear God Crying? was commissioned by Carole Haas-Gravagno. This program was also generously supported by PECO energy.
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Kimmel Center, Inc., a charitable, not-for-profit organization, owns, manages, supports and maintains The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, which includes Verizon Hall, Perelman Theater, Innovation Studio and the Merck Arts Education Center. Kimmel Center, Inc. also manages the Academy of Music, owned by the Philadelphia Orchestra Association, and the University of the Arts Merriam Theater. Kimmel Center, Inc.’s mission is to operate a world class performing arts center that engages and serves a broad audience which includes providing arts in education, community outreach and a rich diversity of programming. For additional information, visit kimmelcenter.org.
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