Nashville, TN – In honor and celebration of African American scholar, composer and musicologist John Wesley Work III, the John Wesley Work III Memorial Foundation in collaboration with The Nashville (TN) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated and the Fisk University Music Discipline will sponsor a unique program titled Insights into John Wesley Work III: A Celebration of Music and Meaning Saturday, April 18th, 2015, 1:00pm at Fisk University in the Fisk Memorial Chapel, 1000 17th Avenue North, Nashville, TN.
This free event will be followed with light refreshments in the historic Victorian-style John Work House on the campus at 17th Avenue North & Meharry Boulevard.
He taught at Fisk, chaired the music department, conducted the Jubilee Singers, published in scholarly journals, composed choral, piano, instrumental, organ and vocal works and rose to international prominence. The album, John Work III: Recording Black Culture won the 2007 Grammy Award for Best Album Notes, 40 years after his death.
This promises to be a captivating and rich afternoon of vocal and piano performances enriched with interesting quotations from Work’s writings, narrative, and biographical information about his professional life.
The program will feature noted performers and scholars including pianist Philip Autry, Professor of Music, Fisk University; pianist William Coleman, Director of Arts Access, Tennessee Arts Commission, Nashville, TN; soprano Gail Robinson-Oturu, Professor of Music, Austin Peay State University; musicologist Dr. G. Yvonne Kendall; and John Wesley Work III scholar Dr. Anthony Williams, Associate Professor of Music and University Organist, Fisk University.
Come and enjoy Philip Autry and William Coleman play two rarely performed selections for two pianos. The audience will have an opportunity to engage in a brief questions and answers session.
An important component of the afternoon will be the sharing of information about the 2016 John Wesley Work III Memorial High School Piano Competition. The required John W. Work III selection for competition, “At a Certain Church” from Scuppernong, will be performed. A discussion of its style and approach will follow and a pedagogical guide and the actual score, with suggested fingering, will be available to piano teachers in attendance.
From the date of this event, teachers and students will have approximately one year to prepare for the 2016 competition, which will be open for participation from the entire state of Tennessee.
Please respond by email no later than April 10th, 2015 if you will be attending and if there are guests that will accompany you. You may e-mail your response to Mary Carver-Patrick at myvendors6695@comcast.net. Please include on the subject line: John Wesley Work III .Celebration.
For more information, call 615.329.9238 or 202.390.3895.
