With all the talk of red states and blue states and regional politics, we live in a time where we often view anything not connected to us as “other.” But, oddly, at least in the Eastern United States, we have been connected across the 40th parallel by a single mountain range—the Appalachians—that has served for eons as a path not just for the hikers we see along Route 7 in the Berkshires, but by the flora and fauna that have travelled this same pathway.
Swiss-born American pianist Gilles Vonsattel is the recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and winner of the Naumburg and Geneva competitions as well as the 2016 Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award.
More than 35 singers and dancers rehearsed a performance piece choreographed to the song “We are Here” by Alicia Keys, the oft-repeated refrain of which is a fitting tribute to the nature of Du Bois’ work: “We are here. We are all here for all of us. That’s why we are here.”
UMass professor Whitney Battle-Baptiste and Du Bois' great-grandson Jeffrey Peck will emcee the event, which will also include a short film of the dedication of the W.E.B. Du Bois National Historic Site, a spoken-word performance and a dance piece.
