INFEMNITY™ Arts and Culture News

As you may have read last month (in my blog  "Juilliard Covers Its Ass" ), I was very upset to learn of an auditory exercise conducted by the Juilliard Drama Division depicting scenes from slavery. Several students complained about this exercise, and posted some of the actual audio on Facebook and Instagram. The person who presented this workshop claimed that the intent of the exercise was to explore the origins of Negro Spirituals. The Fisk Jubilee Singers Anyone who knows me knows that my father directed the Fisk Jubilee Singers, who have been called the originators of the Negro Spiritual. In my  Lammy-nominated memoir ,  Practicing for Love , I wrote extensively about the history of the Jubilee Singers, and how their music had been utilized by Czech composer Antonín Dvořák in his Symphony from the New World. When I wrote the first blog, Juilliard had expressed no interest whatsoever in my book. Well, about a week after I sent an email of complaint to the Director ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: April Gibson, 646-853-3217 As part of the Jubilee Day celebrations at Fisk University next month, pianist Nina Kennedy will be performing in the Jubilee Heritage Award Concert at Fisk Memorial Chapel on Saturday October 5th at 7:00 pm. Rock and roll icon Little Richard is one of the honorees, as well as gospel personality Dr. Bobby Jones and hit maker Eddie "ET" Thomas. Kennedy's father Matthew Kennedy was on the piano faculty at Fisk, and also served as director of the Fisk Jubilee Singers from 1957 to 1986 (intermittently). Her mother Anne Gamble was also a member of the piano faculty and served as piano accompanist for the group. Nina Kennedy was presented in her first complete solo piano recital in Nashville at age nine. She made her debut as piano soloist with the Nashville Symphony at age thirteen in a performance of Gershwin's  Rhapsody in Blue  before an audience of over 4,000. After graduating fro...

Nina Kennedy outside of Carnegie Hall Early in January, we had seen on Facebook that the Harry T. Burleigh Society was presenting the Fisk Jubilee Singers  in concert at Carnegie Hall. April and I sat in the audience for the concert, and were delighted to hear the old plantation songs or "Spirituals," which I had heard throughout my childhood while my father was director. We were also delighted to see that the current group had included my father's arrangement of the spiritual "Steal Away" on the program. In her opening remarks, president and co-founder of the Harry T. Burleigh Society Lynne Foote  welcomed the audience and introduced the group. The works arranged by Burleigh  on the program included "My Lord, What a Mornin'," "Balm in Gilead," and "Heav'n, Heav'n." Spirituals arranged by John W. Work III , Hall Johnson , R. Nathaniel Dett , Moses Hogan ,  Undine Smith Moore , current director Paul Kwami , among ...

Congratulations to pianist, composer, songstress, diva, Valerie Simpson (of the dynamic duo "Ashford and Simpson") who has been selected to receive the Fisk Jubilee Singers Alumni Heritage Award in a special event to take place October 6th in the Fisk University Memorial Chapel. Valerie Simpson, along with her late husband Nick Ashford, composed and performed some of America's most recognizable tunes, including "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)," "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," "Solid As a Rock," "I'm Every Woman," among others. She will present a full concert as part of this fundraising event. Tickets can be purchased at the "FJSA Present The 2018 Heritage Award" Facebook group.