Coffee and Conversation
Echoes of the African Diaspora: Art Songs by Jacqueline Hairston
Saturday, June 23 • 7:45 a.m. to 8:45 a.m.
Presenters: Robin Fisher, Jacqueline Hairston
Location: Cohiba 6-7
Composer Jacqueline Hairston has gained international notoriety as an arranger of traditional spirituals for many prominent singers, most notably, Kathleen Battle. Lesser known are her wonderful art songs that reflect strong influences of the African Diaspora in a rich compositional style for voice and piano. Soprano Robin Fisher, co-author of the second edition of American Art Song & American Poetry (2012), will join Ms. Hairston to converse with attendees and introduce a selection of songs that reflect Ms. Hairston’s affinity for improvisation, syncopation, call & response, modality and other elements of the African Diaspora.
About Robin Fisher
Robin Fisher is professor of voice at Sacramento State University in California and director of Lingua e Canto, a summer program in Italy for college singers, which she founded in 2013. Her publications include a second edition of American Art Song & American Poetry, a collaboration with scholar/performer Ruth Friedberg, and The Selected Writings of John Duke (2007). She studied voice at the University of Vienna as a recipient of a Rotary Foundation grant, as well as the Hamburg State Conservatory as a Fulbright Scholar; she received her D.M.A. degree from the University of Texas at Austin. Under professional contract in Germany, Fisher performed over 15 leading operatic roles. Recordings include works for flute and soprano (The Nightingale Sings), and sacred American art songs with pianist Dalton Baldwin (God be in my Heart). Fisher’s students are active performers and teachers in major metropolitan centers in the USA and abroad.
About Jacqueline Hairston
Jacqueline Hairston, award-winning ASCAP composer-arranger, was recently Guest Conductor of her own created and arranged works of the African Diaspora at Carnegie Hall, May 2016, in a concert to pay tribute to three artists who inspire her: Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Alice Walker; celebrated trumpeter Wynton Marsalis; and Met soprano Kathleen Battle. Hairston received her musical education from the Juilliard School (Pre-College Division); Howard University (B. Mus.Ed.) and Columbia University (M.A.). Recognized as a major authority on Spirituals, Hairston’s works have been performed by renowned solo artists, choirs and orchestras worldwide. Her pioneering “healing music” Piano CD, entitled Spiritual Roots + Classical Fruits: A Healing Harvest, is available on iTunes. Most recently, she was a Black Music headliner at two institutions: University Of Arkansas (Lecturer/Performer) and at UNC-Charlotte, in her hometown, where one of her song cycles had a world premiere: a trilogy based on Countee Cullen’s poetry. Hairston resides in Sacramento, California.
