Beyond Race: African American Art Songs and Spirituals

Special guests Stacie Haneline, piano; Caroline Helton, soprano; Jamie Reimer, soprano; and Emery Stephens, baritone, partner with Shenandoah Conservatory voice and piano faculty to explore the collaborative relationship between pianist and vocalist while powerfully tracing the development of African American Art Songs and Spirituals through some of its greatest composers.

The Collaborative Arts: Voice & Piano residency at Shenandoah Conservatory
mission is to highlight the importance of the collaborative relationship between singer and pianist. Shenandoah Conservatory faculty pick an area of the repertoire as a focus each year.

Program highlights include works by H.T. Burleigh, Margaret Bonds, Duke Ellington and more, as well as Professor of Voice Byron Jones’s newly commissioned piece Undoing Poems by Andre Myers featuring text by Nina Evans, Andre Myers and Maya Angelou. The piece is composed of three short duets and recently premiered in California at the Fires of Justice concert presented by the African American Art Song Alliance 25th Anniversary Conference at the University of California, Irvine in October 2022 featuring Stacie Haneline, Byron Jones and Jamie Reimer.