Baylor School of Music Observes Black History Month with "A Festival of Spirituals"

February 25, 2011

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In observance of Black History Month, the Baylor University School of Music and the Campus Diversity Committee will present "A Festival of Spirituals" at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 28, in Roxy Grove Hall on the Baylor campus. The event is free and open to the public.

The concert will include guest vocalist Gwyn Beaver, assisted by tenor Glenn Beals, pianist Dr. Alfredo Colman, and reader Dr. Robert Best. The program will include music by composers and arrangers such as Roland Hayes, Francis Hall Johnson and Moses Hogan.

Beaver will perform 11 spirituals, two of which will be sung as duets with Beals: "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" and "Ride On, King Jesus." Throughout the concert, Best will read poems by Mari Evans, Maya Angelou, Alexis De Veaux, Langston Hughes and Nikki Giovanni.
Beaver, a soprano, is a native Texan who has lived in Montreal since 2004. She received her bachelor's degree in music from Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas, and a master's degree in music from the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Okla.
She has performed with the Fort Worth Opera, Cimarron Circuit Opera and the University of Texas Opera. In 2001, she was an apprentice with the Houston Ebony Opera, and in 2007 she was one of the special guest artists, along with pianist Oliver Jones, performing with the Montreal Jubilation Choir. She also is the vocalist for the Montreal-based jazz duo, Pianovoxs.
Roxy Grove Hall is at 624 Speight Ave.
For more information, call 254-710-3991 or visit https://www.baylor.edu/music/.

by Katy McDowall, student newswriter, (254) 710-6805