Join us for free performance screenings in partnership with the Bloomington Early Music Festival. This year's theme is "Early Music in the African Diaspora."
All ages
Downtown Library
Auditorium + Meeting Room 1B/C Combo
Tuesday, May 27
The New York Baroque Dance Company: Francis Johnson's New Cotillions, In Honor of Our Illustrious Guest General Lafayette
Credited as the leader of the Philadelphia School of composers, Francis Johnson (1792–1844) was the first African American to publish sheet music, producing a catalog of more than two hundred pieces; he was the first Black musician and possibly the first American musician to tour Europe with a band; and one of the first musicians to participate in integrated public concerts, all in the face of rampant and aggressive discrimination.
Wednesday, May 28
Sonya Headlam & Rebecca Cypess: Transatlantic Musical Heritage
18th century Europe, Britain, and the Americas were home to countless musicians of African origin who made music of many genres as public performers, players at home or in community settings, and composers who notated or published their music. In a rich collaboration, highly celebrated soprano Sonya Headlam and renowned early keyboardist scholar and artistic director of Bloomington Early Music Festival regulars The Raritan Players, Rebecca Cypess, together explore the work of three composers who earned international praise during their lifetimes: Ignatius Sancho, Francis Johnson, and Joseph Bologne.
Thursday, May 29
Abendmusik: The Union of All Parties: Music of Black Composer Sawney Freeman
A skilled farm worker and fiddle player, Sawney Freeman was enslaved in Lyme, Connecticut, became a runaway in 1790, and was manumitted in 1793. Freeman was also a composer with several of his works included in an early 19th century collection of music which lies in the Trinity College library in Hartford, Connecticut. Viol player, musicologist, and historian of New England musical culture, Loren Ludwig joins the exceptional consort Abendmusik, New York’s Period Instrument String Band, as guest curator for this concert featuring Freeman’s compositions along with music that the composer may have heard and performed.
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