The Star of Ethiopia: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Historic Visits to D.C. (1904-1910)
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) was a black British composer who catapulted to fame with his 1898 oratorio Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast.
W. E. B. DuBois, who celebrated Coleridge-Taylor in his musical pageant The Star of Ethiopia, wrote: Fortunate was Coleridge-Taylor to be born in Europe and to speak a universal tongue. In America, he could hardly have had his career. He was one with that great company of mixed-blooded men: Pushkin and Dumas… and Douglass.
In Washington, D.C., where he conducted at the Metropolitan AME Church, Coleridge-Taylor was the toast of the African-American community —and avidly absorbed the music of black America. In collaboration with Harry Burleigh and others once associated with Dvorak, he played a dynamic role adapting spirituals for the concert hall.
Artists
- A PCE production in collaboration with the Georgetown University Department of Music
- Steven Mayer, piano
- Marty Lamar, baritone
- Members of PostClassical Ensemble
- Choir of the Metropolitan AME Church
- Georgetown University Orchestra conducted by Angel Gil-Ordonez
- Scripted and produced by Joseph Horowitz
- Commentary by Anthony Cook and Maurice Jackson
- Orchestral and keyboard music by Coleridge-Taylor, Harry Burleigh, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, and Antonin Dvorak
Practical information
- Admission: Free
- Venue: Gaston Hall, Georgetown University, O St NW & 37th St, Washington, DC 20007
- Pre-concert talk at 2:15 pm
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