LENOX — This program is all about the repertoire—even more so than usual for a chamber music recital. It is specifically about Black artistry, which is the focus of Castle of Our Skins. According to the organization’s website, Castle of Our Skins is “a Black arts institution dedicated to fostering cultural curiosity and celebrating Black artistry through music.” They conduct their celebrations in a variety of venues, and an ensemble of their musicians will perform at Tanglewood’s Linde Center on Sunday, November 27, at 3 p.m.
Soprano Brianna J. Robinson, flutist DeShaun Gordon-King, cellist Francesca McNeeley, and pianist Kyle P. Walker, will perform a program of works composed by people you’ve probably heard of, like the remarkable Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, along with lesser-known but highly influential Black composers like Tania León and the “Dean of Black Women Composers,” Undine Smith Moore.
When you hear the quality of work these composers have produced, you’ll wish you had heard about them a long time ago. You might even say, “Where has this music been all my life?” And when you think about them alongside people like William Grant Still, Florence Price, and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, you may begin to suspect that the composer of the most heartfelt and authentically American orchestral music could very well be someone other than Aaron Copland or Charles Ives.
Here is Sunday’s full program:
- Tania León: “Oh Yemanja” for voice, cello, and piano
- Andre Myers: “Falling Skyward” for solo flute
- Powell Perry: “The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh” for voice, flute, and piano
- Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson: “Calvary Ostinato” from “Black Folksongs” and “Lamentations” for solo cello
- Smith Moore: “Afro-American Suite” for flute, cello, and piano
- Daniel Bernard Roumain: “Music for Black People No. 1,” “Relentless,” for voice, flute, cello, and piano
Brianna J. Robinson has a long list of credits for her work with a variety of opera companies. Recently, she received praise from the Boston Musical Intelligencer and the Boston Classical Review for her performance in the role of Florence Price in “Florence Comes Home” by Francine Trester.
The word “soulful” isn’t typically used to describe the playing of a classically trained flutist. But it’s a quality DeShaun Gordon-King is known for, which is no surprise, since he was immersed in jazz and gospel music as a child.
Boston-based, Haitian-American cellist Francesca McNeeley is an alumna of the Tanglewood Music Center, where she also served as a New Fromm Player. She has performed with the Boston Symphony, the Boston Pops, and is a core member of the Grammy-nominated A Far Cry chamber orchestra. On her new album release, “Homage: Chamber Music from the African Continent & Diaspora,” she performs with Castle of Our Skins and pianist Samantha Ege.
You will know a lot more about Kyle P. Walker after Sunday’s performance, but one listen to his rendition of “Embraceable You” on his website will tell you everything you need to know—for now—about Walker the pianist. He happens to be one monstrously capable keyboardist whose playing is every bit as convincing on a tune by Burt Bacharach as on a Mozart sonata. Such versatility translates well to performances of Sunday’s works.
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See Castle of our Skins’ Brianna J. Robinson, DeShaun Gordon-King, Francesca McNeeley, and Kyle P. Walker at Tanglewood’s Linde Center Sunday, November 27, at 3 p.m.
Purchase tickets here.
