February 15, 2012

The University Concert Band will take the stage at the Kimmel Center for an evening dedicated to a wide range of African American composers in honor of Black History Month. Dr. Mike Moss, Music Program Director, has devoted his scholarship to this little-known repertoire, and he will conduct the Concert Band on Wednesday, February 29th at 8 PM in a concert at the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater (300 S Broad St). Prior to the concert at 7 PM, Moss will moderate a panel discussion on African Americans in classical careers. Tickets are $5 with a Drexel ID and $10 for the general public.

The concert includes two newly commissioned pieces by Valerie Coleman, Roma and Umoja, as well as Clarence Cameron White’s Triumphal March, Roger Dickerson’s Essay for Band, and Oliver Nelson’s Fugue and Bossa. Also on the program is Adolphus Hailstork’s Look to This Day, where the Concert Band will be joined by University Chorus and members of the University Gospel Choir. Drexel faculty member, Baritone Perry Brisbon, will also present Margaret Bonds’ Dream Variation. The Coleman commissions involve a consortium of 25 university bands, including Yale, Clemson, Morgan State, and Auburn, and were initiated by Dr. Moss and our University. Click here for more information.

Panelists will include Stan Thompson, trumpet player and director of Play On Philly (the El Sistema music education program at St. Francis de Sales School), and Jeri Lynn Johnson, founder andconductor of the Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra.