Lieder-Spirituals-Jazz: In Honor of Black History Month

Frost voice faculty artists Jeanette Thompson and Robynne Redmon sing in a voice recital honoring the history and evolution of the Spiritual. Thompson has been lauded throughout the world as a singer with great depth, warmth, beauty, style and heart. Noted composers David Winkler, Craig Bohmler, Steven Sametz, Ricky Ian Gordon, and Thomas Cipullo have written works expressly for her. Redmon has been hailed the world over for her “glorious singing, intense acting, excellent phrasing, ardent tone, splendid shading, solid coloratura and excellent artistic sense” (Das Opernglas). A product of the introduction of Christianity into slaves’ lives, spirituals also became a coded means of communicating resistance and escape. In time, spirituals became a formative piece in the development of jazz and blues and has remained a source of inspiration to many jazz artists today.