Featuring Davóne Tines, voice

Musical Program

Harry Burleigh | Set of songs arr. Alex Fortes
Robert MacGimsey | Sweet Little Jesus Boy arr. Alex Fortes
Antonín Dvořák | String Quartet No. 12 in F major, Op. 96 “American”, arr. Sarah Darling
Tyshawn Sorey | Songs of Death for Bass Baritone and Strings (world premiere)
Frederick Tillis | Spiritual Fantasy No. 12, II. Wade in the Water arr. Francesca McNeeley

Curated by Criers Megumi Stohs Lewis, Sarah Darling, and special guest Davóne Tines

A Far Cry and “the must-hear” bass-baritone Davóne Tines collaborate around the legacy of Black spirituals and their ongoing survival by way of code-switching. We’ll explore the work of Harry T. Burleigh, whose groundbreaking arrangements of spirituals, and influential relationship with Antonín Dvořák, helped shape our country’s musical identity and cement the spiritual as one of America’s most significant and inherently complicated forms of music. Featuring a new work written and arranged for chamber orchestra from 2024 Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Tyshawn Sorey, along with Frederick Tillis’ seminal Wade in the Water from Spiritual Fantasy No. 12, CODED uncovers the intended messages of the people who birthed these songs, revealing their hidden metaphors, and how those hidden meanings continue to compound and evolve.

All programs subject to change.
Photo Credit: Noah Morrison