Music and Migration: The Spiritual in White America
In conjunction with the Phillips’s exhibition The Warmth of Other Suns: Stories of Global Displacement, PostClassical Ensemble presents two programs of music, readings, commentary, and visual art.
Beginning in 1913, Harry Burleigh (a New York protégé of Antonin Dvořák) began to transform black spirituals into songs for the white concert stage. Marian Anderson and Paul Robeson triumphantly sang Burleigh’s Deep River —and it’s still sung today. But during the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes and Nora Zeale Hurston worried about a “flight from blackness.”
Program
Spiritual arrangements by Harry Burleigh and Nathaniel Dett Readings from W. E. B. DuBois, Alain Locke, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston.
Artists
- Kevin Deas, bass-baritone
- Joseph Horowitz, piano
- The Washington National Cathedral Choir conducted by Angel Gil-Ordóñez
Practical information
- Phone: 202-387-2151
- Venue: The Phillips Collection, 1600 21st St NW, Washington, DC 20009
Latest performances
Beyond The Godfather: The Concert Music of Nino Rota
03/18/2025
PostClassical Ensemble with James Austin Smith
02/16/2025
Amazing Grace: Fire and Light
01/13/2025
Legends of Brazil: A Musical Celebration for 200 Years of Friendship
11/19/2024—11/20/2024
Pierrot Lunaire
11/02/2024—11/02/2024