Music: Sun Jan 21

In our Music for All Ages this Sunday we remember a famous incident of racial injustice that lead to a groundbreaking moment in civil rights history. In 1939, Marian Anderson was one of the United States' most successful classical vocalists, but the Daughters of the American Revolution had refused to permit Anderson, an African-American woman, to sing to an integrated audience at their Constitution Hall. Through the support of first-lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Anderson instead gave an open-air performance from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to a crowd of more than 75,000 people. Her first song was  "America" with the powerful closing stanza: "Let freedom ring." (You can hear the broadcast of her concert HERE.) Music by African-American composers is reflected throughout this Sunday's musical selections. The works derive from the worlds of jazz and ragtime, and feature popular favorites by Scott Joplin and Duke Ellington. Valerie Capers, the first blind graduate of The Juilliard School, has been a frequent musical guest at CUUC. "Billie's Song"—an allusion to Billie Holiday—is from one of her pedagogical collections.
Click here to see part of  Music Director Adam Kent’s recital in honor of the Black Lives Matter movement at CUUC last year, including several of Joplin’s rags: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uJYr2S1_4c

Music for All Ages with Adam Kent:
          Marian Anderson's 1939 Concert at the Lincoln Memorial

Opening Music:
          Billie’s Song

                                                Valerie Capers

Offertory:
          Birmingham Breakdown

                                                Duke Ellington

Postlude:
          The Entertainer

                                                Scott Joplin