Purchase College Celebrates Black History Month with Two Concerts

Purchase College, SUNY’s School of the Arts will celebrate Black History Month with two concerts featuring talented students from the acclaimed Conservatories of Music and Theatre Arts.

The Purchase Symphony and Jazz Orchestras Celebrate Black History Month on February 15 at 7 pm with a special evening at The Performing Arts Center. The performance will feature excerpts of William Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony, an orchestral suite from Gershwin’s landmark opera Porgy and Bess, and a set of big band music by African American composers and arrangers. Mina Kim will conduct the Purchase Symphony Orchestra. The Purchase Jazz Orchestra will be conducted by Todd Coolman and Jon Faddis. Lorenzo (Frank) Candelaria, Dean of the School of the Arts, and Joseph Horowitz, Visiting Professor in the Conservatory of Music, will give an introduction and lead an audience talkback between sets.

Tickets are $20 with discounts for students and seniors and may be purchased online at www.artscenter.org, by phone at 914-251-6200, or in person at the box office. Box office hours are Wednesday through Friday from noon to 6 p.m.

On February 27 at 7 pm, the Soul Voices Choir will perform Lift Every Voice— A Celebration of Black History in the Recital Hall of the Music Building. Tickets are free.

Lift Every Voice is the eleventh annual concert in celebration of Black History Month at Purchase. The popular event will draw from a range of music honoring the black experience in the United States, and will be performed by a diverse group of students from a variety of majors and backgrounds. The evening will also highlight members of the BFA Junior Acting Company who will perform spoken word pieces highlighting Black American stories of triumph and success. Pete Malinverni is the founder and artistic director of Soul Voices. Pamela Prather will coach the spoken word performers.

About Purchase College, SUNY

Purchase College, part of the State University of New York (SUNY) network of 64 universities and colleges, was founded in 1967 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller. His aspiration for Purchase was to create a dynamic campus that combined conservatory training in the visual and performing arts with programs in the liberal arts and sciences, in order to inspire an appreciation for both intellectual and artistic talents in all students. Today, Purchase College, SUNY is a community of students, faculty, and friends where open-minded engagement with the creative process leads to a lifetime of intellectual growth and professional opportunity. For more information about the College, visit www.purchase.edu.