MUSE, Cincinnati's Women's Choir, will present the 12th New Spirituals concert series and the premiere of Hope Come True by Dr. Rosephanye Powell. Music Director Catherine Roma talks with Kenall Karg about the premiere. MUSE will be joined by the Central State University Chorus - William Caldwell, conductor and Linda Tillery, Grammy award winning vocalist. The interview opens with rehearsals of Keep Yo' Lamps and concludes with Down By the Riverside.
The combined voices of MUSE and the CSU Chorus will perform Hope Come True consisting of bold and expressive arrangements of traditional spirituals: "Keep Yo Lamps," In Dat Great Gittin' Up Mo'nin,'" and "Study War No More." Two original works by Powell complement the set. The composer draws from the stunning poetry of Langston Hughes for "To Sit and Dream," and creates her own text for the movement "Hope Come True." MUSE, Linda Tillery and the Central State University Chorus will also perform concert sets and congregational singing will round out the program.
MUSE creates a new sound world in Hope Come True – combining the resonant messages of the traditional spiritual embodied in transcendent new arrangements, coupled with the original voice of Rosephanye Powell’s spirit-filled choral compositions.
Concerts will be held in Cincinnati on April 5 and 6. For more information go to
www.musechoir.org
Recorded
3/11/2008
at CET Studios
Length: 21 minutes