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Date 3-21-06
Contact Angela Kilcrease (601) 266-4988
Hattiesburg—In
continuing the celebration of black history and women’s history,
the University of Southern Mississippi Committee on Resources and
Services for Women (CRSW) and the Women’s Studies Program will present
a musical Chautauquan performance, featuring soprano Susheel Bibbs
and pianist Jacqueline B. Hairston at 7:30 p.m., March 31 at the
Mannoni Performing Arts Center on the university’s Hattiesburg campus.
Bibbs will portray
the life of Mary Ellen Pleasant, the proclaimed mother of Civil
Rights in California, conductor of the Underground Railroad, former
slave turned multi-millionairess, and a friend of John Brown. The
Chautauqua also features African drumming, performed by Southern
Miss graduate student Jeffrey Grant.
In this one-woman
musical dramatization, Pleasant’s inspiring life work will be revealed,
which reflects many attributes of Martin Luther King, Malcom X,
and Rosa Parks rolled into one person. The performance is free and
open to the public.
For those unfamiliar
with a Chautauqua, it is an institution of the late 19th and early
20th centuries, providing popular education combined with entertainment,
usually given in three parts: an unscripted portrayal by a scholar/performer
of a historical character; the character engaging in a question-and-answer
session with the audience; and, breaking character, the scholar/performer
talks with the audience about the character, lending a contemporary
perspective on the character’s life and times.
In addition
to the Chautauqua, Bibbs will present a demonstration/lecture master
class, “The Art of the Spiritual: A Guide to Enhance Appreciation
and Performance of the Spiritual Through Its Elements and African
Heritage,” at 3 p.m., April 2 at the Hattiesburg Cultural Center.
“The workshop
will demonstrate the importance of interpretive elements, dialect,
rhythm and melodic variation, and African cultural traditions to
the spiritual and how they can be used to enhance its performance
or a listener's appreciation of the music,” said Dr. Kimberley Davis,
Southern Miss music professor and event coordinator. “It will show
singers how to create multifaceted, artistic performances by incorporating
all of these elements in the delivery of the spiritual.”
The workshop,
also sponsored by CRSW, Women’s Studies and the School of Music,
is free and open to the public.
Bibbs, the foremost
scholar on Pleasant and former Emmy Award-winning public television
and radio producer/executive, is an acclaimed singer/actress who
lives in Sacramento, Calif. She lectures nationwide on Pleasant
and also at the University of California at Berkeley.
Over the past
10 years, she has toured the United States and Canada as a concert
artist with orchestras and on stage with her own one-woman shows
on Mary Pleasant and her duo recitals with baritone Autris Paige.
Bibbs also supervised the development of scores, exhibits, and works
for stage and television, many of them original works on the spiritual,
art songs of black composers, and Mary Ellen Pleasant.
Hairston is
a published and celebrated composer who has a distinguished record
of arranging African-Diaspora music. She has collaborated with Bibbs
on two previous works about Mary Pleasant. Hairston has recently
written seven spirituals for soprano Kathleen Battle’s Grammy Award-winning
album with guitarist Christopher Parkening, two works in 2004 for
the Oakland East Bay Symphony, a score for the Orlando Opera, and
orchestrations for soprano diva Grace Bumbry on German television.
Her works are
contained in collections on the spiritual and the art song. Hairston
also has coached major popular artists, such as pop diva Anita Baker
and those in En Vogue.
For further
information on the free Chautauquan performance or master class,
call 601.266.6941.
Click to enlarge
Susheel Bibbs, Left, and Jacqueline B. Hairston, Right
Last updated:
03/21/06 |
