THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 24, 1995 TAG: 9502240544
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By MARK MOBLEY, MUSIC CRITIC
LENGTH: Long : 148 lines
Classical music isn't a universal language. Not yet.
``When I go to a Virginia Symphony concert, even if I go to Richmond or Baltimore, I'm there with maybe 20 other blacks, and two, three thousand whites,'' said Vernon S. Lee Sr., pastor of New Mount Vernon Baptist Church in Portsmouth. ``Our kids are growing up with no appreciation of good music.
``I want them to have the opportunity to sit in a concert hall and hear music they're sort of familiar with played by a symphony orchestra, and say, `I didn't know it could be so beautiful.' ''
Lee's dream comes true today. After 50 years in gospel music, he has helped organize a concert combining the Virginia Symphony and a community gospel chorus at Portsmouth's Willett Hall. Before a selection of gospel songs, the orchestra will play pieces by African-American composers Duke Ellington and Adolphus Hailstork and selections from ``Porgy and Bess.''
Tuesday, Old Dominion University hosts a smaller Black History Month event. Violist and assistant professor Amadi Hummings will lead an all-African-American ensemble in a program of chamber music.
The concerts reflect a growing national trend, in which musical organizations reach beyond their traditional bases of support to attract minority patrons. In Baltimore, the symphony orchestra promotes a Classically Black season ticket, with classical and pops performances by black artists. The St. Louis Symphony's In Unison program sells discounted tickets and provides educational opportunities to African-American congregations.
Progress is slow, as old prejudices and misconceptions die hard. While a recent Virginia Symphony benefit by African-American soprano Kathleen Battle attracted an audience that was about half black, Lee's experience of being one of few blacks at a concert is typical.
``I don't know that the overall picture has changed very much in the time I have been playing,'' said pianist Leon Bates of Philadelphia, who gave a recital at ODU recently. At 45, Bates has been appearing with major orchestras for nearly 25 years. ``I think there is not a lot of audience participation on the part of African Americans for this kind of music. It's a cultural thing. Some people may perceive this music not to be of their background and culture, so they don't get involved.''
``A lot of black youngsters don't realize that there is a history of African Americans in classical music that goes back at least 200 years,'' Hummings said. ``My own great-grandfather was a fiddler on a plantation. But also in Europe there were black violinists who performed classical music.''
Today's Willett Hall concert presents an overview of the African-American classical experience. The program opens with the rollicking ``Celebration'' of Norfolk State University professor Adolphus Hailstork, whose works are widely performed. It also includes Duke Ellington's ``Martin Luther King'' from ``Three Black Kings,'' showing the jazz master's parallel career as a stage and concert composer.
A 150-voice chorus prepared by Peggy Britt, leader of the Portsmouth-based Philharmonics, will sing traditional and contemporary gospel songs. ``Porgy and Bess'' excerpts represent an opera that has been a vehicle for countless black opera singers.
Tuesday's ODU concert presents an all-black chamber ensemble. It is an offshoot of the Gateways Music Festival, founded in 1993 by Hummings' mother, pianist and Eastman School of Music administrator Armenta Hummings. Two Gateways festivals in Winston-Salem, N.C., have attracted dozens of young black musicians.
The ODU program includes two major chamber works, Brahms' Sextet for Strings in G Major and Dvorak's A Major Piano Quintet. A short work by the African-American composer William Grant Still will open the program, in recognition of the centenary of his birth.
Hummings, 25, became interested in music at age 4, when he saw his uncle playing the violin. He later found a mentor in black violist and New England Conservatory professor Marcus Thompson. Hummings believes visibility is a key to fostering another generation of black players.
``I don't see a reluctance to take it up,'' Hummings said. ``I'm encouraged when I look at the magnet school and see how many black musicians are in the orchestra. I'm discouraged by what I see at the conservatory level. There is a discontinuance there. It comes from an absence of seeing black professional musicians.
``Sometimes it's just seeing that it's possible that can be the biggest lesson of all. That's what gives you the incentive to put in the kind of time and effort that it takes.''
Local performing organizations are taking up some of the slack. Virginia Opera's statewide educational program is titled ``ABC's: American Blacks' Contributions to Our Musical Vocabulary.'' Young Audiences of Virginia is offering the American Jazz Ensemble in a Louis Armstrong program titled ``Satchmo and the American Dream.''
In a typical Bates program, the work of African-American composers such as George Walker sits alongside Beethoven and Brahms. Bates also talks to audiences, giving the new listeners a way in.
``When I look out in the audience and see African Americans, it does give me a little bit of a warm feeling,'' Bates said. ``It really, really gives me a good rush when I see that they've brought their children.''
Black History Month events such as the Virginia Symphony gospel concert and Gateways' evening of chamber music could encourage African-American involvement in classical music even after February gives way to March.
``Another one of our colleagues has deemed February `Black Employment Month,' '' Bates joked. ``The fact of the matter is, we do work 12 months a year.'' MEMO: OTHER MUSICAL EVENTS
Legacy of Weyanoke will perform a cappella vocal music today at 8
p.m. at Chandler Recital Hall, Old Dominion University, Norfolk.
Admission free. Call 683-3159.
The Hardwick Chamber Ensemble will play music of the African-American
composer William Grant Still at 7 p.m. March 21 at Chesapeake Central
Library. Call 424-4277.
The Hampton Arts Commission Great Performers Series presents Les
Ballets Jazz de Montreal March 8 at 8 p.m. and Le Ballet National Du
Senegal April 5 at 8 p.m. at Hampton University's Ogden Hall. Tickets:
$8 to $15. Call 722-ARTS.
Old Dominion University presents jazz vocalist Rebecca Parris April
17 at 8 p.m. at Chandler Recital Hall. Admission free. For more
information call 683-3020.
Tidewater Performing Arts Society presents the gospel group The
Mighty Clouds of Joy April 29 at 8 p.m. at the Virginia Beach Pavilion
Theater. For more information, call 627-2314.
The Tidewater Area Musicians Orchestra plays pops concerts at various
local venues. ``Keeping Spirituals Alive'' is at 4 p.m. April 30 at New
Bethel Baptist Church, 4212 Greenwood Drive, Portsmouth. The group will
perform with the Virginia Children's Chorus May 7 at 4 p.m. at Trinity
Episcopal Church, High and Court streets, Portsmouth. For information,
call 393-9064.
The I. Sherman Greene Chorale is an African-American community chorus
that performs a wide range of material. The group's spring concert is
May 3 at 8 p.m. at Christ & St. Luke's Church, Stockley Gardens and
Olney Road, Norfolk. Call 467-8971.
ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
LAWRENCE JACKSON/Staff
Amadi Hummings, a violinist and assistant professor at ODU, will
lead an all-African-American ensemble in a program of chamber music
Tuesday at the university.
MOTOYA NAKAMURA/Staff
Peggy Britt, director of a 150-member gospel chorus, leads a
rehearsal for a concert today in Portsmouth.
African-American concerts
The Virginia Symphony performs with a 150-voice gospel chorus at
8 p.m. today at Willett Hall, Portsmouth. Tickets: $15 reserved, $10
general admission, $5 students (through high school). Call 393-5144
for details.
The Gateways Chamber Music Festival concert is at 8 p.m. Tuesday
at Chandler Recital Hall, Old Dominion University, Norfolk.
Admission free. Call 683-3020 for details.
by CNB