Friday, December 31, 2010

'Nightsongs' of H. Leslie Adams Sung Dec. 30 in Milton, Massachusetts by Brandon Grimes

[H. Leslie Adams]

MyTownMatters.com
Milton, Massachusetts
December 31, 2010
By Frank Schroth
“Baritone Brandon Grimes has returned to Milton in musical triumph. A senior at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Grimes’s senior recital, originally performed December 9th at the university, was performed last night at First Parish Church. In the darkened sanctuary illuminated by a single spotlight, Grimes’s tall presence emanated grace and professionalism, passion and delight, as he interpreted a demanding program. The audience of over 100 friends, family, and members of Milton’s musical and school community were transfixed throughout the 1 1/2 –hour performance.”

“The influences of Schubert were evident in the contemporary song cycle Nightsongs by H. Leslie Adams, one of the world’s leading African American composers. Drawing on texts by Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson, and other African American poets, the tragic and melancholy of the works enabled Grimes’s interpretive skills to shine.” [H. Leslie Adams (b. 1932) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features a comprehensive Works List by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma of Lawrence University Conservatory]

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