Spirituals: A Medley
Make a Gift
Support the ASO
Spirituals: A Medley
William Grant Still
Akron Symphony musicians offer a virtual video recording of six spirituals arranged and orchestrated by William Grant Still. This performance is one portion of our larger 2021 Gospel Meets Symphony programming, and is part of a multilayered ASO project exploring the legacy of the Negro Spirituals. These six spirituals are excerpted from a larger work, Spirituals: A Medley, which may be receiving their first-ever recordings with this project.
Soloists are: Jody Guinn, principal harp; Brenda Hanna Justice, soprano, and Pastor Henry Payden, baritone.
On June 19, 2021—as part of Akron’s Juneteenth Celebration—the Symphony will perform a number of these spirituals at Lock 3 in downtown Akron. One additional movement will be performed on that occasion by soprano Dione Parker Bennett.
This virtual recording was made by compiling self-recorded videos made by each musician individually at home. The resulting audio and video files were edited together by composer, arranger, violinist, and longtime contributor to Akron Symphony projects, David Kempers. Our deepest thanks to all who contributed to this performance.
By kind permission of William Grant Still Music.
PLEASE NOTE: The videos are best viewed using Chrome as your browser. If you are using Safari, follow these instructions:
Go to Safari/Preferences/Privacy
Uncheck Prevent cross-site tracking
Quit/reopen Safari
Enjoy the videos!