• 10/30/20

To America: A Live Performance in Green-Wood Cemetery

To America is a lament, a love song, a prayer, and a plea to America in a time of deep uncertainty, in remembrance of all that this nation has been, and all that it can be.

Featuring poetry by Weldon Johnson, Langston Hughes and Terrance Hayes; stories from the lives of Margaret Pine, the last enslaved person in New York State, a young drummer boy killed in the Civil War, former NY Governor DeWitt Clinton, and others; and music by The Harlem Chamber Players, violinist Lady Jess, singers Danielle Buonaiuto, Shala Hughes and many more talented souls.

PROGRAM

Historic Chapel

“Inhale, Exhale” by Terrence Hayes
“Lift Every Voice And Sing” (arr. Patrick Cannell)
“An Elegy—A Cry from the Grave” (Carlos Simon): Dedicated to those who have been murdered wrongfully by an oppressive power; namely Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner and Michael Brown.
“Sence You Went Away” (H. Leslie Adams, arr. Patrick Cannell)

Kenneth Overton, baritone & reader

Ashley Horne, violin Claire Chan, violin

Amadi Azikiwe, viola

Wayne Smith, cello

DeWitt Monument

“Deep River” (traditional)

Paul Grosvenor, bass-baritone

Charlotte Canda Monument

“In Manus Tuas” (Caroline Shaw)

Robert Burkhart, cello

Selina Hack, dancer

Margaret Pine

“Ombra Mai Fu” (George Frideric Handel)
“Strange Fruit” (Abel Meeropol/Billie Holiday)

Jules Biber, cello

Danielle Buonaiuto, soprano

Freddie June, singer

Civil War Lot

“Beauty That is Never Old” by James Weldon Johnson
“Lift Every Voice and Sing” (arr Kenneth Abeling)

Harlem Chamber Players Brass Quintet, led by Eric Davis: Dan Blankinship, trumpet.,Hugo Moreno, trumpet, Eric Davis, horn, Burt Mason, trombone, Marcus Rojas, tuba

David Beck, reader

Weeping Beech

Improvisation by Lady Jess, violin

Catacombs