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NIGRA SUM

SED FORMOSA I AM BLACK BUT BEAUTIFUL APRIL 27, 2019

NIGRA SUM SED FORMOSA I AM BLACK BUT BEAUTIFUL SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 2019 AT 3:00pm

2,461st Concert

ROXBURY COMMUNITY COLLEGE MEDIA ARTS CENTER Reginald Mobley, director and countertenor Ashleigh Gordon, director and viola Jennifer Kane, conductor Marlon Carey, literary performer Julia Scott Carey, keyboard Members of the H+H Chorus Cassandra Extavour, soprano Elise Groves, soprano Julia Cavallaro, mezzo-soprano Reginald Mobley, countertenor Stefan Reed, tenor Gregory Zavracky, tenor Jacob Cooper, baritone Jonathan Woody, bass-baritone

“I Made Up My Mind Not to Move” from String Quartet No. 5, Rosa Parks

Musicians from Castle of Our Skins Megumi Stohs Lewis, violin Carmen Johnson-Pájaro, violin Ashleigh Gordon, viola Francesca McNeeley, cello H+H Vocal Arts Program Concert Choir

Daniel Bernard Roumain (b. 1971)

Poetic Interlude Nigra Sum Sed Formosa - I am Black But Beautiful A fantasia on microaggressions World Premiere

Jonathan Woody (b. 1983)

Bear Poetic Interlude

Jessica Mays (b. 1987)

The Lee Shore Andante moderato from String Quartet in G Major Poetic Interlude

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912) Florence Price (1887-1953)

Umoja Zanaida Robles Julia Pekowitz, soloist (b. 1979) A Change is Gonna Come Sam Cooke arr. Stephen and Brian Raphael Nabors I Dream a World

André J. Thomas (b. 1952)

PROGRAM SPONSORS This concert is sponsored in part by a Music Drives Us Performance Grant. Castle of Our Skins is supported in part by a grant from the Boston Cultural Council and administered by the Mayorâ€™s Office of Arts and Culture. The Handel and Haydn Society Chorus is funded in perpetuity by Jane and Wat Tyler. The H+H Education Program is funded in perpetuity by Karen S. and George D. Levy. The H+H Vocal Arts Program is supported in part by John and Janis Raguin and by grants from the Boston and Lynn Cultural Councils, local agencies that are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

PRE-CONCERT LECTURE Before the concert, enjoy a preconcert lecture by Lâ€™Merchie Frazier, Director of Education and Interpretation at the Museum of African American History.

Preconcert lecture presented as a part of ArtWeek.

We ask for your help in creating a positive concert experience for the performers and those around you. Cell phones and other audible devices should be switched off during the concert. Photography and recording of any kind are strictly prohibited. Food and beverages are not permitted inside the hall. The concert runs 60 minutes.

PROGRAM TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS Jonathan Woody: Nigra Sum Sed Formosa Nigra sum, sed formosa filiae, Jerusalem, nolite me considere quod fusca sim, quia decoloravit me sol. sicut tabernacula cedar, sicut pelles Salomonis,

I am black but beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem, Do not think that I am dark, for the sun has changed my color. Like the tents of cedar, Like the curtains of Solomon.

You are so exotic, I bet you sing spirituals very well. When you stood, I was shocked, you should play in the NFL, I’d hate to run into you at night, you should smile more. Would you open the hall for me? I thought you were the janitor, When you opened your mouth, I expected to hear “Ol’ Man River.” It’s not jungle drumming, Play it like a… Nigra sum sed formosa. Jessica Mays: Bear As I rise, See the fall In my stride Only grow From the crawl In my hide. With the teeth Gagging back, Grimace wide

Little Bear, Bounding up, With the whites In her eyes Bigger rock Up above: “Gotta knack For the climb.”

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: The Lee Shore Sleet and hail and thunder! And ye winds that rave Till the sands thereunder Tinge the sullen wave. Winds that like a demon Howl with horrid note From his humble dwelling On the shingly shore; Sleet and hail and thunder. From that weeping woman, Seeking with her cries

Succour superhuman From the frowning skies. From the urchin pining For his father’s knee, From the lattice shining Drive him out to sea Let broad leagues dissever Him from yonder foam! O God to think man ever Comes too near his home!

Zanaida Robles: Umoja Umoja

Unity

Sam Cooke: A change is gonna come I was born by the river in a little tent Oh and just like the river I’ve been running ever since It’s been a long, long time coming But I know a change is gonna come, oh yes it will It’s been too hard living but I’m afraid to die Cause I don’t know what’s up there beyond the sky It’s been a long, long time coming But I know a change is gonna come, oh yes it will I go to the movie and I go downtown somebody keep telling me don’t hang around

It’s been a long, long time coming But I know a change is gonna come, oh yes it will a change is gonna come Then I go to my brother ah And I say brother help me please ah But he winds up knock-in’ me Back down on my knees Oh! There been times that I thought I couldn’t last for long But now I think I’m able to carry on It’s been a long, long time coming But I know a change is gonna come, oh yes it will, oh yes it will, oh yes it will

André Thomas: I Dream a World Of such I dream 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 same 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 mankind

ARTIST PROFILES Reginald Mobley, director and countertenor Reginald Mobley fully intended to speak his art through watercolors and oil pastels until circumstance demanded that his own voice should speak for itself. Since reducing his visual color palette to the black and white of a score, he has endeavored to open up a wider spectrum onstage. Since starting his classical music career as a member of Seraphic Fire, Mr. Mobley has appeared with H+H, the Academy of Ancient Music, Agave Baroque, Bach Collegium San Diego, Calgary Symphony, Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists, Pacific Music Works, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, and TENET. Recent and future engagements include Bachfest Leipzig, Festival Berlioz, Early Music Vancouver, Thüringer Bachwoche, Portland Bach Experience, the Boston Early Music Festival, and debuts with St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque, Musica Angelica, Bach Akademie Stuttgart, Gaechinger Cantorey, Chicago’s Music of the Baroque, and a recital of the music of Black American composers with keyboardist Henry Lebedinsky at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris. Mr. Mobley has also worked in musical theater, as a singer and actor for Tokyo Disney, and performed in jazz clubs around Tokyo. Since moving to Boston, a strong devotion to social and political activism has become a part of his everyday life. Ashleigh Gordon, director and viola Described as a “charismatic and captivating performer,” Ashleigh Gordon has recorded with Switzerland’s Ensemble Proton and Germany’s Ensemble Modern; performed with Grammynominated A Far Cry string ensemble; and appeared at the prestigious BBC Proms Festival with the Chineke! Orchestra. Comfortable on an international stage, Ms. Gordon has performed in the Royal Albert and Royal Festival Halls (London), Konzerthaus Berlin and Oper Frankfurt (Germany), Gare du Nord and Dampfzentrale Bern (Switzerland), Centre Pompidou (Paris), the Lee Hysan Concert Hall (Hong Kong), and throughout Sofia, Bulgaria as part of the multi-disciplinary 180 Degrees Festival. Equally invested as an arts programmer, Ms.

Gordon is Artistic Director and violist of Castle of our Skins, a Boston-based concert and educational series devoted to celebrating Black Artistry through music. With Castle of our Skins, she has helped create thought-provoking concert experiences that blend music and spoken word with history and culture, and co-designed and led educational workshops for over 1,500 youths in the Greater Boston area primary schools and community centers. In recognition for her advocacy of social and cultural awareness, she has given presentations at Shinx Connect and North Carolina Governor’s School of the West; has been featured in the International Musician Magazine, Boston Globe, and Improper Bostonian; and awarded the St. Botolph Emerging Artist, Charles Walton Diversity Advocate award from the American Federation of Musicians, and most recently, named one of 25 creative millenials of color in Boston by 90.9 WBUR’s “The Artery.” For more information, please visit: www.violashe.com. Jennifer Kane, conductor Dr. Jennifer Kane is an active conductor of ensembles that specialize in treble repertoire. She is thrilled to be in her fifth season on the education faculty of the Handel and Haydn Society, where she is the conductor of the H+H Singers, Youth Chorus, and Concert Choir. In addition to her work with the H+H Vocal Arts Program, Dr. Kane is the music director of Cantilena Women’s Chorale, an auditioned 40-voice women’s chorus in Arlington. Previously, Dr. Kane was the Artistic Director of the Worcester Children’s Chorus; the Guest Conductor of the Concord Women’s Chorus; the Artistic Director of the Spivey Hall Young Artists, one of the training choirs for the nationally renowned Spivey Hall Children’s Choir; and the Artistic Director of Atlanta Schola Cantorum, an ensemble specializing in Renaissance polyphony and contemporary compositions. Dr. Kane has prepared ensembles for collaborations with groups such as the Cantata Singers, the Handel and Haydn Society, the Back Bay Chorale, Boston Musica Viva, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the Worcester Chorus. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution described Dr. Kane’s work: “Such depth of expression – a fusion of harmonies and texts – was the hallmark of Kane and her singers.” An active adjudicator and clinician, Dr. Kane received a B.A. in Music from Furman University, an M.M. in Choral Conducting from Georgia State University, and a D.M.A. in Conducting from Boston University.

Marlon Carey, literary performer Marlon Carey is a poet (published chapbooks: Giraffe Theory, Prolegomenon, and Lazarus) who has been a member of the Providence Poetry Slam, the Boston Poetry Slam and Boston Lizard Lounge Poetry Slam Teams. He is also a proud member of the Providence, Rhode Island-based poetry troupe, Brother’s Keeper. Marlon is an educator (teaching poetry, hip hop and creative writing in the New England Area and around the country), actor (The Sunset Limited, Topdog/Underdog, Othello, When Mahalia Sings, Take Me Out, A Few Good Men), communicator (producer and radio DJ on “Off Tha Top”, www.BSRlive.com) and entertainer (released EPs: There Is No Plan, Be. Plan M: the un-Mixtape, End of The World Mixtape 2012: OCCUPY Your Mind). Mr. Carey earned his BFA degree in Creative Writing at St. Andrews College in Laurinburg, NC, and is proud to be a Rhode Island poet, with nuff respect to his Jamaican immigrant roots. PEACE Handel and Haydn Society Vocal Arts Program Concert Choir Jennifer Kane, conductor Nina Abroff Talia Bernstein Madison Cable Madeline Case Genevieve Casserly Hannah Chun Kristen Chun Lydia Foroohar Oriah Geddes Samuel Haber Luke Hargrave Ana Lucia Heebner Devon Hoyt Rebecca Jean Aidan Kane Barbara Kotlan

Ryan Krishna Annie Kurdzionak Nidhi Mankan Emily Mateo Madelyn Mateo Tal Nir Nadia Pavlov Julia Pekowitz Owen Reimold Katie Richards Lani Schilling Nihara Thomas Abbey Towler Kylie Waltman Sofia Zay

SPEAKER PROFILE L’Merchie Frazier L’Merchie Frazier, public fiber and installation artist, innovator, poet and holographer, is Director of Education and Interpretation for the Museum of African American History, Boston/Nantucket. Curating the Museum’s collection/exhibits, she provides place-based education and interdisciplinary history programs, projects and lectures, promoting STEM/STEAM pedagogy, faculty/teachers’ institutes and the cross-cultural classroom. She is adjunct faculty for Pine Manor College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. National and international award winning artist residencies include projects in Brazil, Taiwan, Costa Rica, Africa, France, and Cuba; African American Master Artists in Residence Program (AAMARP) at Northeastern University and at Fairmount Innovation and Southend Technology Center; MIT FabLabs in Boston; and Boston AIR. Ms. Frazier serves the board of Art Commons Boston AppLab. Current local residencies include NEFA Creative City and a Northeastern University NULaw Lab Stable Ground. She is a founding artist of the Cross Cultural Collective (C3). Ms. Frazier is a member of Women of Color Quilter’s Network. Her fiber works series, The Quilted Chronicles, document history and memory, inclusive of innovative technology. Her selected works are included in several art publications and in the permanent collections of the Museum of Art and Design, the Smithsonian Institute, and the White House.

FIND YOUR VOICE JOIN THE H+H VOCAL ARTS PROGRAM

Vocal Training Choral Performances Musicianship Classes Performances with the Handel and Haydn Society Orchestra and Chorus Six Ensembles for ages 8-18 Generous Scholarships Available

WELCOMING NEW SINGERS THROUGH AUDITIONS ON MAY 11, AUGUST 24, AND SEPTEMBER 14

LEARN MORE AT handelandhaydn.org/vap/enroll

A POST FROM THE

BEAUTY IN BLACK ARTISTRY BLOG This exchange with countertenor and co-director of Nigra Sum Sed Formosa, Reginald Mobley, also appears on the Castle of our Skins BIBA (Beauty in Black Artistry) Blog. Written by Anthony R. Green, Associate Artistic Director, Castle of our Skins. BIBA : How did you come into music and discover your preference for countertenor performance? RM : I think by now there’s a common origin story for many Black American countertenors. Church choir ... gospel ... etc ... Mine certainly started that way in a small Seventh-day Adventist church in my hometown of Gainesville FL. That almost instinctual understanding and love for music was established there. I stayed interested in music, but it was never my first love. Not until I discovered Bach late in high school. It was a good thing, too. Circumstances (a sudden decision to attend an HBCU) put me in a position where I needed to decline an art scholarship, and I was able to secure a music scholarship that allowed me to study elsewhere. I was in music, but I spent years never really focused until I found myself back at home in Florida where my voice teacher at the University of Florida discovered my “real” voice. I honestly had no idea that countertenors existed, and had always assumed that those “mezzos” had strange masculine sounding names like Michael Chance and Andreas Scholl. When I made the switch, my professor told me it was this that I would do for the rest of my life. I’ve spent every day since trying to prove him wrong. BIBA : What have been your biggest visions for Handel and Haydn since you joined their team, and how have these visions or the planning for these visions unfolded? RM : It was strange happenstance that found me falling sideways into this role with H+H. Every now and then, it still hits me that this is even something I do. And when I found out I was the first Black person to ever lead the ensemble during the bicentennial year, the imposter syndrome certainly kicked into high gear. I’m not a conductor by trade, so I felt guilty that such an overdue milestone would be handed to me. However since then, I’ve come to really appreciate the trust that’s been given to me, and I see how my particular perspective and outlook on life has something to offer. With that, I hope for two things to come out of my time as a director with H+H. From within, I hope to see more diversity. Not just in audiences, but onstage and offstage, behind the scenes. Not that the organization isn’t trying, either. They’re doing an admirable job. I don’t know if any other period ensembles in North America are doing as much as H+H is to deepen diversity and fight against elitism built by years of cultural gentrification. But there’s still very far to go, and the solution to the problem lies deeper than hiring a Black singer or instrumentalist. There has to be a stronger CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

unity in purpose when tackling something as large as inequality in the arts. Not everyone needs to be focusing on the same tactic, I think. But there does need to be a cross-awareness of everyone’s angles, so that we’re all moving in the same direction. From without, I want H+H’s presence in the community of Boston to be a stronger and deeper one. Often when I talk to a native and ask how they see this city, the most common response is that this is a sports town. Then, when I mention H+H and its long history of not just significant premieres, but the very deep connection to abolitionism and suffrage, it always comes as a shock. They never know any of this, and when they are informed, you can see the sense of pride dawning. They suddenly care a lot more about the role of arts in society, and are proud that something “Boston” is such a leader. I think our concerts help the regular Bostonian connect to the ensemble, and they learn how deeply connected we are to each other. But we can do more. Much more. And I feel it’s our duty to root ourselves deeper into the current community. BIBA : Can you please discuss the upcoming “Nigra Sum Sed Formosa” project? How did it develop, and where does the name come from? RM : This Nigra Sum project came about as the result of a first time superhero team-up between H+H and Castle of our Skins. Ashe and I spent some time brainstorming a theme and a title, and it ultimately came down to us adopting the title of one of the pieces (perhaps the centerpiece) on the program. The piece, Nigra Sum, is a commission that was born from some of the racist actions and micro-aggressions that are heaped on artists of color. It came in a moment of frustration after an interaction with a well-meaning audience member, who commented again on the shock of hearing such a voice (my voice) come from a figure that is more in line with NFL field fodder. Even though this happens much more than it should, it only occurred to me then that this must be just as frequent with every other artist of color. So I sent out a Facebook status asking for stories, quotes, and anecdotes from every person of color who would be willing to share their experience to be used in a project. I then filtered and compiled many of these stories and situations into text form. At that point I thought about partnering up with a Black composer to see what we could make of it, and it was barely a moment that I realized it had to be my good friend Jonathan Woody. Jonathan is a gifted composer who has the added skill of writing quite fluently in earlier styles. (He’s also a damn good bass-baritone.) It seemed that for a lot of us, these racist encounters often happen right before we are to perform for these very offenders. So while they sit in church and hall and hear beautiful Bach cantatas and Monteverdi madrigals, we stand in front of them performing, yes, but also stewing on the terrible things that were just said to us. It’s a difficult juxtaposition of doing what we love, all the while questioning our worth and belonging. Nigra Sum was written to strip that away. The listener will hear the same pleasing beautiful tones and harmonies, but the veil is lifted beyond that. Instead of the words of long dead European poets and writers, listeners are confronted with what may be their own words reflected back to them. Performer and listener are now joined together in hearing the thoughts of the offended laid bare. I think it will be cathartic for some, and painful for others. But the intent is that everyone leaves that piece on the same page, regardless of race or life experience. At least that’s the plan! Weaved into this text is also the Latin text of a passage from Song of Solomon: Nigra sum sed formosa, or I am Black but beautiful. This has been set MANY times, and often with the word “sed” (but) changed to “et” (and). The rationale is that it gives agency to the speaker. A confidence and self-awareness that is fair and equitable. However, I love the original word “sed”, because to me it actually speaks to a strength and resilience that is so much more powerful to me. It’s more of a protest. It kind of says, “I understand that I do not register as beautiful under this society’s standards of beauty, but nevertheless, here I am. I am STILL beautiful. Whether you see it or not.” I love it, and it ties so well into the piece and gives a focus to the pain of these micro-aggressions. It further suggests, despite all of what is said to us and how it makes us feel, we will remain. We belong because we exist. The celebration of that

resolve is what informs the rest of the programming in the concert. BIBA : Can you discuss some moments of micro-aggressions that may inform your interpretation of the new work for this concert? RM : Heavens there are so many. A lot of them literally rest in the text of the piece. But I will share one story that doesn’t appear in the piece. A few years ago, in a city that I won’t say is Boston, I was at a church for a rehearsal. I happened to be early, and was standing outside of the locked room where we were performing, minding my own business, waiting for others to show. Before anyone arrived, an elderly white woman happened along my path. She looks at me, stops, smiles, and says, “Good morning, young man! How are you today? It’s good to see you.” I of course cheerfully respond. (A good Southerner would never pass up the opportunity to engage in this sort of unsolicited friendly engagement in a place like this.) Well, after a few moments of idle talk, just as I was expecting the encounter to end as pleasantly as it began, it all shifted. She went on past the niceties to ask, “It seems that I left my handbag in the parish hall. Would you mind unlocking the door for me?” Oh… she absolutely thinks I’m the sexton! I’d seen him earlier, and he was a Black guy for sure, but that was where the similarities ended. So I told her to head on over, and I’d grab my keys and meet her there. After she left, I stayed where I was and waited for the rehearsal to start. She might still be there! But it’s things like that which people of color in the arts (and more) deal with on a near constant basis. We laugh it off, and make light, but it’s more out of necessity and preservation. Truthfully, our lives would be just as good, if not better, if this were not our existence. BIBA : You are a frequent traveler. What have been some of the most inspiring places you have seen, and how have those trips helped you as an artist? RM : Too frequent. I’m writing this in my hotel room in Mexico City. I was in Vienna yesterday, and will be in Los Angeles in two days. Then Poland, then finally back to Boston to prepare for this concert. Inspiring places are too many to name. How do you choose between places like London, Leipzig, Malta, and Morocco? Everywhere I go is my favorite place ever (with a few notable exceptions), and there’s always something new and great to discover. And there are always new and interesting people who all have their reasons for being there. And it doesn’t take long for me to marvel at that. That these people from all walks of life, in every corner of the globe, completely separated by languages, customs, and experiences, are all united by music. The French see the same concert as the Italians. They hear the same music, and are typically moved in the same way. They all… we all have this same response to music. It’s music that preserves the feelings and emotions of people from different eras, and encases it in this ethereal amber that allows us to access and connect to it. Music is time travel. It’s everyday practical magic. And it’s ours. And this goes beyond Western styles and forms. All musics serve the same purposes, regardless of everything else. Traveling as much as I do, and seeing it proved over and over is what inspires me. It’s what fuels me.