The Signature Series at Berklee presents the Fisk Jubilee Singers, a pioneering choral ensemble that introduced African American religious music to the world and are known today as the premier carriers of the negro spiritual tradition, on Sunday, February 21, at Boston’s Symphony Hall.
In honor of the 150th anniversary of Fisk University, this rare Boston performance in one of the world’s top concert halls will also feature Berklee professor and former Jubilee Singer Donna McElroy, the 40-piece Berklee Jubilee Celebration Orchestra, conducted by professor Julius Williams, the renowned Boston Children’s Chorus, and student and faculty vocalists. ...
read more
The Signature Series at Berklee presents the Fisk Jubilee Singers, a pioneering choral ensemble that introduced African American religious music to the world and are known today as the premier carriers of the negro spiritual tradition, on Sunday, February 21, at Boston’s Symphony Hall.
In honor of the 150th anniversary of Fisk University, this rare Boston performance in one of the world’s top concert halls will also feature Berklee professor and former Jubilee Singer Donna McElroy, the 40-piece Berklee Jubilee Celebration Orchestra, conducted by professor Julius Williams, the renowned Boston Children’s Chorus, and student and faculty vocalists.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Harvard professor, author, and Berklee board member Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot will do a reading at the concert.
To mark this historic event, Berklee is establishing a scholarship to support a student specializing in spiritual and gospel music.
Established in 1871 at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, the Fisk Jubilee Singers are credited with introducing the tradition of the negro spiritual and African American religious music to the world. That music created the paradigm later followed by blues, jazz, rock and roll, hip-hop, and the many styles derived from the African cultural diaspora in the U.S., permanently altering the course of music history.
The Fisk Jubilee Singers received the National Medal of Arts, the nation’s highest artistic honor, in 2008, and their recording of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” was added to the United States Recording Registry in 2002. In 2000, the group was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. The group has performed for the Queen of England and throughout Europe to raise money for their school. In 2007, the ensemble traveled to Ghana to celebrate the nation’s 50th anniversary of independence. Directed by Paul T. Kwami, the group consists of Fisk University students annually selected for the quality and compatibility of their voices.
The Fisk Jubilee Singers at Symphony Hall takes place on Sunday, February 21 at 7:00 p.m. at Symphony Hall, located at 310 Massachusetts Avenue in Boston. Tickets are $25-$65 and are available at bso.org, by calling 888-266-1200, or at the Symphony Hall box office. The venue is wheelchair accessible.
show less
