Ballad of the Brown King and A Soulful Christmas
Tonight at 7:00 on the “Evening Concert” on WILL-FM 90.9 we pre-empt “The New York Philharmonic This Week” to bring you two Holiday specials: “The Ballad of the Brown King” and “A Soulful Christmas”.
Monday, December 26: The New York Philharmonic (NYP 23-14)
Pre-empted for two Holiday specials:
“Ballad of the Brown King” and “A Soulful Christmas”
7:00: The Ballad of the Brown King and Other Music for Christmas by Black Composers (WFMT)
Margaret Bonds (1913–72): The Ballad of the Brown King (1954) Libretto: Langston Hughes (1902–67)
1. Of the Three Wise Men 2. They Brought Fine Gifts 3. Sing Alleluia 4. Mary Had a Little Baby
5. Now When Jesus Was Born 6. Could He Have Been an Ethiope? 7. Oh, Sing of the King Who Was Tall and Brown 8. That Was a Christmas Long Ago 9. Alleluia
Laquita Mitchell, soprano | Lucia Bradford, mezzo-soprano | Noah Stewart, tenor | The Dessoff Choirs & Orchestra | Malcolm J. Merriweather conductor (The Ballad of the Brown King on Avie Records #2413.
The program will also include supplemental musical selections chosen by Dr. Louise Toppin.
8:00: A Soulful Christmas (Encore from 2021) (APM)
A Soulful Christmas is an uplifting, relevant display of Black music in the classical, gospel, spiritual, and jazz-inspired style. This special celebrates the non-idiomatic Black classical music, while exploring non-idiomatic choral traditions.
George Frideric Handel: Joy To the World – WSSU University Choir
Kevin Johnson and Sarah Stevens: We Are Christmas; Spelman College Glee Club
Jason Max Ferdinand: Safe In His Arms; Jason Max Ferdinand Singers
Babatunde Olatunji, arr. Wendell Whalem: Betelehemu
George Frideric Handel: Joy To The World; Take 6
Robert MacGinsey: Sweet Little Jesus Boy; We Didn’t Know; Donald Lawrence and the Tri-City Singers
George Frideric Handel: Joy To The World; Whitney Houston and the Georgia Mass Choir
Gustav Holst: In The Bleak Midwinter, arr. Brittany Boykin; Spelman College Glee Club
Franz Gruber: Silent Night; Leontyne Price