In celebration of Black History Month, Bass-Baritone Michal Dawson Connor will be performing his own arrangements of Spirituals, at the Hoogland Center for the Arts (420 South Sixth Street, Springfield, IL 62701) on Friday, February 28 at 7 p.m. These Sorrow Songs, or Slave Songs, are a living testament to the grit and determination of the African people – laboring under the yoke of bondage in America. In these musical footprints that they passed-down to us, the Slaves sang into existence a new heaven and earth… with their ecstatic, rapturous and mournful prayers for freedom. Nobody Knows The Trouble I’ve Seen, Steal Away To Jesus, Deep River, and Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, are just a few of the timeless melodies being performed by Mr. Connor.
Others Slave Songs to be performed include: Go Down, Moses, Sometimes I feel like a Motherless Child, Steal Away to Jesus, Couldn’t Hear Nobody Pray, This Little Light of Mine, Hold On!, and There is a Balm in Gilead
https://michaldawsonconnor.com
About Michal Dawson Connor, bio:
Michal Dawson Connor is an accomplished performer and composer of choral, chamber, and solo vocal works, with a particular emphasis on Slave songs created before the Civil War. He was born in Jamestown, New York and is a proud alumnus of Carnegie-Mellon University, and L’Ecole Hindemith in Vevey, Switzerland – where he studied voice with Blake Stern and Helen Boatwright. Championing American composers has always been a high priority for him, and Mr. Connor has concertized extensively throughout North America and Europe, specializing in the rich vocal repertoire of Charles Ives, Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland, and many others.
Mr. Connor’s Broadway credits include featured performances in the Tony-Award winning productions of Ragtime and Showboat, as well as starring roles in productions of The Most Happy Fella, Big River, and Porgy and Bess. Michal has starred in The Lincolns of Springfield for the past two years at the Hoogland Center for the Arts. In addition to soloing on multiple occasions for President Ronald Reagan, he’s immensely proud of performing for Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Reverend Billy Graham, and Elizabeth Dole. Mr. Connor is a published author of “THE SLAVE LETTERS” currently available on Amazon.com. On network television, he was a guest star on “FRIENDS,” as well as several appearances on the Emmy-Award winning show “EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION” and “THE SURPRISE GARDENER.”
The Slave Letters (book) – https://www.amazon.com/Slave-Letters-Michal-Connor/dp/1919901124
Tickets for the concert are $25 for adults; $22 for seniors; and $20 for students.
