To Sit and Dream concert program

To Sit and Dream

Sunday, March 17, 2024 | 3:00 P.M.

Tindley Temple United Methodist Church

Part of Sounds of America: Price and Bonds

Musical Program

Sunday, March 17, 2024

PRELUDE

A Medley of Hymns

I. TO YOU

To Sit and Dream

Resignation

Theodore Thomas, Jr., organ

We Shall Walk Through the Valley in Peace

Even Me

Take it to the Lord in Prayer

II. THE DREAM KEEPER

Bring Me All Your Dreams

Poems of Praise

Weathers

I Am Loved

Charles Albert Tindley

Rosephanye Powell

Florence Price

Undine Smith Moore

Michael Reid

Nolan J. Williams, Jr.

Christopher H. Harris

Florence Price

Florence Price

Christopher H. Harris

III. DREAM VARIATIONS

Interim

Florence Price/arr. Joe Williamsl

Sense You Went Away H. Leslie Adams/arr. Joe Williams

Dream Variations

Undine Smith Moore

Karen Slack, soprano

Donna Grantham, violin

Tess Varley, violin

Elizabeth Jaffe, viola

Jasmine Pai, cello

IV. I DREAM A WORLD

I Dream a World André J. Thomas

Jesus Brought Me Out

I Shall Wear a Crown

V. HOLD FAST TO DREAMS

When the Storms of Life Are Raging

Hold Fast to Dreams

Carol Cymbala and Bradley Knight

Trey McLaughlin and Thomas Whitfield

Veronica Chapman-Smith, soloist

Victor C. Johnson

Roland Carter

I Wanna Be Ready Rosephanye Powell

Gabriel Anthony-Muhammad, soloist

Cheryl Hagans Johnson, soloist

Program Note

To sit and dream, to sit and read, To sit and learn about the world…

All you who are dreamers, too, Help me to make our world anew. I reach out my dreams to you.

These words, from Langston Hughes’ poem ‘To You’ are the first words you’ll hear sung today. They provide both invitation and instruction. Come, sit, listen, learn, dream with us. Dream hard enough and big enough and strong enough that we can just maybe make our world anew.

The music on today’s program is a journey of sorts, a journey through fragments of dreams. There are dreams of love, of faith, of nature, dreams of peace after heartbreak, and dreams of a more equitable world. There are even dreams about, well, the importance of dreaming.

Bring me all your dreams, you dreamers…

That I may wrap them…away from the too-rough fingers of the world…

Hold fast do reams, for if dreams die, Life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.

Along with the poetry of Langston Hughes and exploring the world of dreaming, there is another thread which weaves together today’s pieces –celebrating music by Black composers. From Florence Price writing in the first half of the 20th century, to Undine Smith Moore’s works from the 1970’s, to contemporary works by Nolan J. Williams, Jr., Rosephanye Powell and Christopher H. Harris. These varied voices have given us the beautiful and important works that you’ll hear today.

First in the heart is the dream – then the mind starts seeking a way.

Then the hand seeks other hands to help, a community of hands to help –

Then the dream becomes not one man’s dream alone, Not my dream alone, but our dream belonging to all the hands who build.

Thank you for joining us today in this beautiful setting, Tindley Temple United Methodist Church. We hope you are inspired by the music, moved by the poetry, and touched by the artistry of all involved today as you sit and listen and dream.

American poet and writer Langston Hughes on the steps in front of his house in Harlem, New York, June 1958. Getty Images

Making Art as a Community

At Opera Philadelphia, community-centric programming stands as a paramount commitment, driven by a collaborative process. Emphasizing community building, fostering deeper understanding, and promoting community-driven artistic creation, the opera company aims to transform its relationship with the broader Philadelphia community from transactional to relational.

Utilizing opera and the classical voice as tools for collaboration, programs like To Sit and Dream which is part of a larger initiative Sounds of America: Price and Bonds exemplify Opera Philadelphia’s intentional and caring approach to cultural outreach, demonstrating a dedication to fostering lasting connections and meaningful engagement beyond one-off experiences.

Opera Philadelphia Chorus

Elizabeth Braden, Conductor

Michael Lewis, Piano

Tanisha Anderson*

Gabriel Anthony-Muhammad

Veronica Chapman-Smith

Natalie Esler

Matthew Fisher

Julie-Ann Green*

Loren Greer

Valerie Haber

Mark Hosseini

Meghan McGinty

Toffer Mihalka

Michael Miller

John David Miles*

Natasha Nelson

Benjamin Perri

Ellen Peters*

Paula Rivera-Dantagnan

Sophia Santiago

Cory O’Niell Walker

Steven Williamson

Performers

Wharton-Wesley Faith Ensemble

Theodore Thomas, Jr., Director and Accompanist

Robert B. White, Jr., Bass Guitar

Karyn Coe-White*

Dorretha (Rita) Early

Frederick Early, Jr.

Gwen Early-Wright

Cheryl K. Fitzgerald

Cheryl Hagans Johnson

Karen Harris*

Roslyn McGee

Terracedia Y. Moody*

Robert B. White, Jr.

*Readers

Guest Artists

Karen Slack, soprano

Donna Grantham, violin

Tess Varley, violin

Elizabeth Jaffe, viola

Jasmine Pai, cello

Performers

Known for performances that “ripped the audience’s hearts out” (Opera News), Karen Slack is “not only one of the nation’s most celebrated sopranos, but a leading voice in changing-making spaces in classical music” (Trilloquy). A recipient of the 2022 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, Slack is an Artistic Advisor for Portland Opera, serves on the board of the American Composers Orchestra and Astral Artists, and holds a faculty position at the Banff Centre.

Highlights of Slack’s 2023-2024 season include her debuts with the New York Philharmonic and two performances as guest artist at Chamber Music Detroit, plus a return to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, a return to the Festival Internacional de Música Sacra de Bogotá in Colombia, and a performance with the Pacifica Quartet in Denver. Slack embarks upon an ambitious new recording project in collaboration with ONEComposer and

pianist Michelle Cann, to be released on Azica Records, and debuts her new commissioning project African Queens, an evening-length vocal recital of new art songs by acclaimed composers Jasmine Barnes, Damien Geter, Jessie Montgomery, Shawn Okpebholo, Dave Ragland, Carlos Simon, and Joel Thompson.

Slack has amassed a body of work that reflects her dedication to elevating works by living composers, particularly Black artists. She has performed on the stages of the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington National Opera, Scottish Opera, San Francisco Opera, Dallas Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and many others. She has appeared with the Melbourne and Sydney symphonies, the Bergen Philharmonic, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, made her Carnegie Hall debut with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and performed as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra in the world premiere of Hannibal Lokumbe’s Healing Tones led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

A native Philadelphian, Slack is a graduate of the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music and the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program.

For more information, please visit www.sopranokarenslack.com

Karen Slack, soprano soloist

Texts & Translations

I. TO YOU

To Sit and Dream

Music: Rosephanye Powell (b. 1962)

Text: Langston Hughes (1901-1967)

To sit down and dream, to sit and read, To sit and learn about the world

Outside our world of here and nowOur problem world-

To dream of vast horizons of the soul

Through dreams made whole,

Unfettered free-help me!

All you who are dreamers, too, Help me to make

Our world anew.

I reach out my dreams to you.

Resignation

Music and Text: Florence Price (1887-1953)

My life is a pathway of sorrow; I’ve struggled and toiled in the sun with hope that the dawn of tomorrow would break on a work that is done.

My Master has pointed the way, he taught me in prayer to say: “Lord, give us this day and our daily bread.” I hunger, yet I shall be fed.

My feet, they are wounded and dragging; My body is tortured with pain; My heart, it is shattered and flagging, What matter, if, Heaven I gain.

Of happiness once I have tasted; ‘Twas only an instant it paused tho’ brief was the hour that I wasted Forever the woe that it caused.

I’m tired and want to go home. My mother and sister are there; They’re waiting for me to come Where mansions are bright and fair.

We Shall Walk Through the Valley

Music: African American Spiritual, arranged by Undine Smith Moore (1904-1989)

Text: Traditional

We shall walk through the valley in peace, If Jesus, himself shall be our leader, We shall walk through the valley in peace.

There will be no trials there

If Jesus, himself shall be our leader, We shall walk through the valley in peace.

Even Me

Music: William B. Bradbury (1816-1868), arranged by Michael Reid

Text: Elizabeth H. Codner (1824-1919)

Lord, I hear of showers of blessing, Thou art scattering, full and free.

Showers the thirsty souls refreshing

Let some drops now fall on me.

Even me, Lord, even me

Let some drops now fall on me.

Take it to the Lord in Prayer

Music: Nolan J. Williams, Jr. (b. 1969)

Text: Joseph Medlicott Scriven (1819-1886), adapted by the composer

What a friend we have in Jesus

All our sins and griefs to bear

What a privilege it is to carry

Everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations

Is there trouble anywhere

Our previous savior He is still our refuge

Take it to the Lord in prayer

Some things we have not because we ask not

When we have a friend who cares

When we’re weak and heavy laden

Cumbered with a load of care

We should never be discouraged

When we take it to the Lord in prayer.

Oh, what peace we often forfeit

Oh, what needless we bear

All because we do not carry

Everything to God in prayer.

II. THE DREAM KEEPER

Bring Me All Your Dreams

Music: Christopher H. Harris (b. 1985)

Text: Langston Hughes

Bring me all of your dreams, You dreamers, Bring me all of your Heart melodies

That I may wrap them

In a blue cloud-cloth

Away from the too-rough fingers Of the world.

Poem of Praise

Music: Florence Price (1887-1953)

Text by Elizabeth Coatsworth (1883-1986)

Swift things are beautiful: swallows and deer, and lightning that falls bright-veined and clear, rivers and meteors, wind in the wheat, the strong-withered horse, the runner’s sure feet.

And slow things are beautiful: the closing of day, the pause of the wave that curves downward to spray, the ember that crumbles, the opening flower, and the ox that moves on in the quiet of power.

Weathers

Music: Florence Price

Text: Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)

This is the weather the cuckoo likes, and so do I; When showers betumble the chestnut spikes, And nestlings fly;

And the little brown nightingale bills his best, And they sit outside at ‘The Traveller’s Rest,’ And maids come forth sprig-muslin drest, And citizens dream of the south and west, and so do I.

This is the weather the shepherd shuns, and so do I; When beeches drip in browns and duns, And thresh and ply; And hill-hid tides throb, throe on throe, And meadow rivulets overflow, And drops on gate bars hang in a row, And rooks in families homeward go, and so do I.

I Am Loved

Music: Christopher H. Harris

Text: Sara Teasdale (1884-1933)

I am wild, I will sing to the trees, I will sing to the stars in the sky, I love, I am loved, he is mine, Now at last I can die!

I am sandaled with wind and with flame, I have heart-fire and singing to give, I can tread on the grass or the stars, Now at last I can live!

III. DREAM VARIATIONS

Interim

Music: Florence Price, arr. Joe Williams (b. 1993)

Words: Virginia Houston (dates unknown)

I am so tired

Waiting for my heart to break, Waiting for tears to heal my soul, For a blessed hand to melt away The agony within me.

Eons since you went from me Into an alien world. And still Stranger to beauty are all my days, My nights dark making of libations Where once the myrtle grew!

I could carry the weight of winter, The glory of autumn nights and days, But I cannot bear the spring. And I am ill, unto death, my Beloved! Sick with longing, sick with weeping, Waiting for my heart to break.

Texts & Translations

Sense You Went Away

Music: H. Leslie Adams (b. 1932), arr. Joe Williams

Text: James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938)

Seems lak to me de stars don’t shine so bright,

Seems lak to me de sun done loss his light, Seems lak to me der’s nothin’ goin’ right, Sence you went away.

Seems lak to me de sky ain’t half so blue,

Seems lak to me dat ev’rything wants you, Seems lak to me I don’t know what to do, Sence you went away.

Oh ev’ything is wrong, De day’s jes twice as long, De bird’s forgot his song Sence you went away.

Seems lak to me I jes can’t he’p but sigh, Seems lak to me ma th’oat keeps gittin dry, Seems lak to me a tear stays in my eye

Sence you went away.

Dream Variations

Music: Undine Smith Moore

Text: Langston Hughes

To fling my arms wide

In some place of the sun,

To whirl and to dance

Till the white day is done.

Then rest at cool evening

Beneath a tall tree

While night comes on gently, Dark like me-

That is my dream!

To fling my arms wide

In the face of the sun, Dance! Whirl! Whirl!

Till the quick day is done. Rest at pale evening…

A tall, slim tree…

Night coming tenderly Black like me.

IV. I DREAM A WORLD

I Dream a World

Music: André J. Thomas (b. 1952)

Text: Langston Hughes

I dream a world where man

No other man will scorn, Where love will bless the earth

And peace its paths adorn

I dream a world where all

Will know sweet freedom’s way, Where greed no longer saps the soul

Nor avarice blights our day. A world I dream where black or white, Whatever race you be, Will share the bounties of the earth

And every man is free, Where wretchedness will hang its head

And joy, like a pearl, Attends the needs of all mankindOf such I dream, my world!

Jesus Brought Me Out

Music and Text: Howard Smith (1863-1918, arranged by Carol Cymbala (b. 1947)

Once I was lost, I was deep in despair

Satan had me bound in my mind everywhere

Jesus brought me out, turned my life around Now I’m on my way.

I Shall Wear a Crown

Music: Trey McLaughlin (b. 1984) and Thomas Whitfield (1954-1992)

I shall wear a crown when it’s all over I shall see His face when it’s all over I’m gonna put on my robe, tell the story how I made it over Soon as I get home.

V. HOLD FAST TO DREAMS

When the Storms of Life Are Raging (Stand by Me)

Music: Victor C. Johnson

Text: Charles Albert Tindley (1851-1933)

When the storms of life are raging, stand by me.

When the world is tossing me

Like a ship upon the sea, Thou who rulest wind and water, stand by me.

In the midst of tribulation, stand by me.

When the hosts of hell assail, And my strength begins to fail,

Thou who never lost a battle, stand by me.

Stand by me, O Lord, stand by me.

Thou who knowest all about me, stand by me.

When I’m growing old and feeble, stand by me.

When my life becomes a burden, And I’m nearing chilly Jordan, O Thou Lily of the Valley, stand by me.

Hold Fast to Dreams

Music: Roland Carter (b. 1942)

Text: from Langston Hughes

“Dreams” and “Freedom’s Plow”

Hold fast to dreams

For if dreams die

Life is a broken-winged bird

That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams

For when dreams go

Life is a barren field

Covered with snow.

First in the heart is the dream -

Then the mind starts seeking a way.

Then the hand seeks other hands to help, A community of hands to help -

Then the dream becomes not one man’s dream alone, Not my dream alone, but our dream

Belonging to all the hands who build.

Keep your hands on the plow! Hold on!

I Wanna Be Ready

Music: African American Spiritual arr. Rosephanye Powell

Text: Traditional

I wanna be ready to walk in Jerusalem just like John. My feet stand steady, to walk in Jerusalem just like John.

John said that Jerusalem was foursquare, I hope good Lord to meet you there.

If you get to heaven before I do, Tell all of my friends I’m coming to.

O John, O John now didn’t you say, That you’d be there on that great day.

Now some came crippled and some came lame, And some came walkin’ in Jesus name.

Karen Chia-ling Ho Cio-Cio-San

Anthony Ciaramitaro Pinkerton

Anthony Clark Evans Sharpless

Kristen Choi Suzuki