Sounds of the New Normal

Sounds of the New Normal Presented as part of Concerts @ First Series Challenge the Stats in residence at First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta

Wednesday, July 28, 2021 12:00PM EST First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta

Sounds of the New Normal Artists: Angelica Hairston, Harp Khari Joyner, Cello Brandee Younger, Harp

Sounds of the New Normal Co-presented by Concerts @ First Series and Challenge the Stats July 28, 2021, 12:00PM EST

Navajo Vocable for Piano, No. 4 & 10 by Connor Chee arr. Hairston & Weinholts Angelica Hairston, Harp World Premiere Performance Navajo Vocable for Piano, No.12 by Connor Chee arr. Hairston & Weinholts Angelica Hairston, Harp; Khari Joyner, Cello World Premiere Performance Adoration by Florence Price arr. Hairston Angelica Hairston, Harp; Khari Joyner, Cello Lamentations, "Black Folk Song Suite": IV. Perpetual Motion by Samuel Coleridge -Taylor Perkinson Khari Joyner, Cello PetrolMusic by Khari Joyner Khari Joyner, Cello Southeastern Premiere Performance Shelter in Place and Unrest for Two Harps from 2020 Suite by Brandee Younger Angelica Hairston, Harp; Brandee Younger, Harp World Premiere Performance Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise arr. Dorothy Ashby / Brandee Younger Brandee Younger, Harp Cumbia Deliciosa by Alfredo Rolando Ortiz Angelica Hairston, Harp; Khari Joyner, Cello; Brandee Younger, Harp Danza de Luzma by Alfredo Rolando Ortiz Angelica Hairston, Harp; Khari Joyner, Cello; Brandee Younger, Harp Deep River for Cello and Two Harps by Maurice Draughn Angelica Hairston, Harp; Khari Joyner, Cello; Brandee Younger, Harp World Premiere Performance

Cueca Traditional Chilean Folk Song Angelica Hairston, Harp; Khari Joyner, Cello; Brandee Younger, Harp

To support the work of Challenge the Stats or Concerts at First, please visit:

challengethestats.org/donate firstpresatl.org/give About the Artists ANGELICA HAIRSTON Harpist, Educator, and Activist Angelica Hairston is known for her fiery performances and passion for social change. Throughout her career, she has made it a priority to create social impact through the power of the arts. In 2016, she founded the organization Challenge the Stats, an organization dedicated to empowering BIPOC artists and amplifying the call for justice both on and off the concert stage.

In addition to her work with CTS, Angelica serves as the Artistic Director of the Urban Youth Harp Ensemble where she provides free harp instruction to over 90 students at Drew Charter School in Atlanta, GA. She was recently celebrated as one of the youngest recipients of the 2019 Governor’s Awards for the Arts & Humanities and 2020 Atlanta Magazine’s Women Making a Mark Award; both awards recognizing her significant contributions to the state of Georgia’s civic and cultural vitality through excellence and service.

As an engaging speaker and consultant, Angelica has served organizations such as the New World Symphony Orchestra, Boston Conservatory at Berklee, NPR’s From the Top and Boston University Tanglewood Institute. Angelica is an alum of Sphinx Organization’s SphinxLEAD, was a keynote speaker at the Woodruff Arts Center Educator Conference, and was a member of the League of American Orchestras’ Essentials of Orchestra Management.

Angelica holds a Master of Music Industry Leadership from Northeastern University as a 2015 MLK Fellow and a Bachelor of Music from The Glenn Gould School of The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Canada where she studied with world-renowned harpist Judy Loman.

KHARI JOYNER Described by the New York Classical Review as “one of the most exciting young musicians on the classical scene”, Khari Joyner has a following both nationally and abroad as a versatile concert cellist, chamber musician, and ambassador for the arts. He has made numerous guest appearances with orchestras and ensembles across the world, including two recent performances of both Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto in A Minor and Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, which received rave reviews. He has recently joined the faculty as Assistant Professor of Cello at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory, succeeding 46-year tenure of Cello Professor Regina Mushabac.

In, 2017, Joyner received a career grant from the Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund and has performed for Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, the latter for which he gave a private performance in the Oval Office. A passionate advocate for the music of the 21st century, Joyner has collaborated and given performances of works by major composers such as Tyshawn Sorey, Carman Moore, Kaija Saariaho, and Magnus Lindberg. An active chamber musician and one of the founding members of the Altezza Piano Trio, Joyner has given performances at the Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival,Ritz Chamber Players, Fontainbleau Music Festival, and on WQXR as a part of the Midday Masterpieces series.

A graduate of Juilliard’s prestigious Doctor of Musical Arts program, he has had other teaching affiliations with Columbia University, Sarah Lawrence College, and Mannes Prep. Joyner also pursued a mathematics concentration in an exchange program with Columbia University, while studying in Juilliard’s Accelerated BM/MM program. Joyner actively collaborates across genres with many choreographers, actors, and jazz musicians—having been recently featured as a guest artist for Dance Theater of Harlem and on NPR’s Tiny Desk with Sudan Archives.

BRANDEE YOUNGER A leading voice of the harp today, performer, composer, educator and concert curator Brandee Younger defies genres and labels. Recently awarded Rising Star Harpist in Downbeat Magazine’s 2020 Critics Poll, she has performed and recorded with artists including Pharoah Sanders, Ravi Coltrane, Jack Dejohnette, Charlie Haden, Common, John Legend, The Roots, Stevie Wonder and Lauryn Hill. In 2020, she released her fifth album Force Majeure and her original composition “Hortense” was featured in the Netflix Concert-Documentary, Beyoncé: Homecoming. In 2019, Ms. Younger was selected to perform her original music as a featured performer for Quincy Jones and Steve McQueens’ “Soundtrack of America”. In addition to performing, Ms Younger is on the teaching artist faculty at New York University and The New School College of Performing Arts in New York City.

She holds leadership positions on the advisory board of New Music USA, through the Apollo (theater) Young Patrons Steering Committee and the American Harp Society, Inc. where she is Director at Large. As a concert curator, Ms Younger organized “Divine Ella,” part of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture’s annual Women’s Jazz Festival. She also served as curator of the 2016 Harp On Park concert series, “highlighting the diversity of the harp and the contemporary importance of an ancient instrument,” and most recently coordinated “Her Song,” featuring the works of women composers, both for Arts Brookfield.

Ms. Younger earned her Bachelor of Music in Harp Performance at the Hartt School of Music and her Master of Music and Performing Arts Professions at New York University. Her newest album, “Somewhere Different,” releases August 2021.