A Celebration of Black Music I

Louise Toppin has received critical acclaim for her operatic, orchestral, and oratorio performances in the United States, Europe, South America, Asia, New Zealand, Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. She has appeared in recital on many concert series including Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Broadway’s Hudson Theater, and Lincoln Center.

Her recent performances include the 150th celebration of the ratification of the 13th amendment for Congress and President Obama at the U.S. Capitol; a performance in Havana, Cuba with the women’s orchestra Camerata Romeu and the opening of the Smithsonian’s African American Heritage Museum. Currently, she tours in »Gershwin on Broadway« with Joseph Joubert, piano and Robert Sims, baritone.

Louise Toppin has recorded eighteen compact disks of primarily American Music. Her newest releases are »Songs of Love and Justice« and »Summer.Life.Songs« with songs by Adolphus Hailstork and Duos on African American vocal chamber music.

As a musicologist and scholar, Louise Toppin has edited numerous scores of works by Margaret Bonds and Adolphus Hailstork. She has lectured on the music of African American composers and has appeared on NPR’s »All Things Considered«, on national conventions and on college campuses including Harvard, Tufts, and Duke. 

As the co-founder and director of the George Shirley Vocal Competition and the non-profit organisation Videmus, Louise Toppin encourages the performance and scholarship of African American compositions by students and scholars. She is also the founder of the africandiasporamusicproject.org that is a research tool to locate the repertoire of composers of the African Diaspora from the 1600s to the present. She is currently Professor of Music at The University of Michigan.

A native of Philadelphia and recent graduate of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at The Metropolitan Opera, soprano Leah Hawkins is regarded as one of the most promising singers of her generation.

She began the 2020–2021 season with a debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Marina Abramović’s »7 Deaths of Maria Callas« as Desdemona – a role that she will reprise for debuts at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opéra national de Paris, Greek National Opera, and Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

Recent performances at The Metropolitan Opera include »Porgy & Bess« (Strawberry Woman), »Pique Dame« (Masha) and »Aida« (High Priestess). She made her Colorado Symphony debut in the Verdi »Requiem«, gave a recital at the Park Avenue Armory, and returned to the National Symphony Orchestra for a Labor Day Concert.

On the concert stage Leah Hawkins has appeared with orchestras including Yale Philharmonia, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and Philadelphia Orchestra. She performed in venues such as the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, The White House, singing for the President of France, and in Accra, Ghana.

Leah Hawkins has received numerous awards including the Sullivan Foundation Award and the Richard F. Gold Career Grant from Washington National Opera.

Ema Nikolovska has been regarded as one of the most promising singers of her generation. Born in Macedonia, she grew up in Toronto where she studied voice and violin. In 2019 she was selected as a BBC New Generation Artist and won numerous prizes such as the 1st Prize at the International Vocal Competition in ‘s-Hertogenbosch and the Ferrier Loveday Song Prize at the Kathleen Ferrier Awards.

In autumn 2020 Ema Nikolovska joined the Berlin Staatsoper International Studio, where future performances include roles in »Hansel and Gretel«, »The Magic Flute« and »Hippolyte et Aricie«, »Jenufa« and »Rigoletto«. Highlights on the concert platform during 2021 include »Pulcinella« with the Musikkollegium Winterthur conducted by Barbara Hannigan, and recitals at the Pierre Boulez Saal, Wigmore Hall, Heidelberger Frühling, Verbier Festival, Schubertíada Barcelona and Berlin Konzerthaus. Ema Nikolovska collaborates with Malcolm Martineau, Wolfram Rieger, Sir Andràs Schiff and Barry Shiffman, among many others.

Lawrence Brownlee is a leading figure in opera, both as a singer on the world’s top stages, and as a voice for activism and diversity in the industry. Captivating audiences and critics around the globe, he has been hailed as »one of the most in-demand opera singers in the world today« (NPR). He is a regular guest in many of the leading opera houses such as the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala und the Bayerische Staatsoper. In addition, he performs in concert halls including Carnegie Hall New York and Wigmore Hall London

Highlights of Lawrence Brownlee’s 2020-21 season include Don Ramiro in »La Cenerentola« at Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, his role debut as Edgardo in »Lucia di Lammermoor« at New National Theatre Tokyo and Arturo in »I Puritani« with Teatro dell’Opera di Roma. In concert, Brownlee performed at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera and Opera Philadelphia.

A passionate advocate for diversity initiatives, Lawrence Brownlee works with companies and engages civic organizations to create programs seeking to expand opera audiences. His critically-acclaimed solo recital program »Cycles of My Being«, a song cycle that centers on the black male experience in America today, has toured across the country three times.

Lawrence Brownlee has emerged as a pivotal voice in classical music’s shift toward digital programming and the resurgence of conversations around racial justice. In May 2020, he launched »The Sitdown with LB,« a weekly Facebook Live series which explores the experience of being an African-American opera singer. Since April 2020 he has also hosted the video series »Coffee and a Song,« in which he invites artist friends to perform interpretations of art-songs from the intimacy of their own homes.

Praised in The Wall Street Journal for his »mellifluous baritone«, Justin Austin has been performing professionally since age 4. Born in Stuttgart, Germany, he performs a wide range of repertoire from Jazz, R&B, and Musical Theatre, to Opera and Oratorio.

He has performed and recorded numerous operatic, song, and oratorio world premiers by composers such as Wynton Marsalis, Avner Finberg, M. Roger Holland and Jack Perla. Moreover, he has collaborated with multiple groups and artists such as Aretha Franklin, The Boys Choir of Harlem, Mary J. Blige, Elton John, Lauryn Hill, 30 Seconds to Mars, Kanye West, and jazz legends Reggie Workman, Hugh Masekela, and Wynton Marsalis. Justin Austin sang at venues such as the Bayerische Staatsoper, Opera Saratoga, Bregenzer Festspiele, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and New York Festival of Song.

For the 2021/22 season Justin Austin creates the leading role in the world premiere of the Lincoln Center Theater and The Metropolitan Opera co-commissioned opera »Intimate Apparel«. During the season 2020/21, he debuted with the Moab Music Festival as a resident artist and made his return to the New York Festival of Song for a virtual concert series.

Justin Austin strongly believes in utilizing his artistry to benefit music programs, new music projects, and community services around the world. He works with organizations such as MEND (Meeting Emergency Needs with Dignity,) QSAC (Quality Services for the Autism Community,) Holt International, and St. Mary’s Children’s Hospital.

Thomas Hampson, America’s foremost baritone, has received international honors and awards for his captivating artistry and cultural leadership. Lauded as a Metropolitan Opera Guild »Met Mastersinger« and inducted into both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Gramophone’s »Hall of Fame,« Hampson is one of the most respected and innovative musicians of our time. With an operatic repertoire of over 80 roles sung in all the major theaters of the world, his discography comprises more than 170 albums, which include multiple nominations and winners of the Grammy Award, Edison Award, and the Grand Prix du Disque.

Hampson is a Distinguished Visiting Artist of Voice at the University of Michigan, School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, and an honorary professor on the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Heidelberg. He holds honorary doctorates from Manhattan School of Music, the New England Conservatory, Whitworth College, and San Francisco Conservatory and is an honorary member of London’s Royal Academy of Music. He carries the titles of Kammersänger of the Wiener Staatsoper and Commandeur dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the Republic of France, and was awarded the Austrian Medal of Honor in Arts and Sciences.

Thomas Hampson enjoys a singular international career as an opera singer, recording artist, and »ambassador of song,« maintaining an active interest in research, education, musical outreach, and technology, continually expanding his pedagogical activities. He is the Artistic Director of the Heidelberg Lied Academy, and collaborates with the Barenboim-Said Academy Schubert Week in Berlin each year. His recurring international master class schedule is a continuing online resource of the Manhattan School of Music, Medici.tv, and The Hampsong Foundation livestream channel.

American pianist Howard Watkins is a frequent associate of some of the world’s leading musicians on the concert stage and as an assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera. His appearances throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, Russia, and Israel have included collaborations with Joyce DiDonato, Diana Damrau, Kathleen Battle and Anna Netrebko at such venues as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Kennedy Center, the United States Supreme Court, Carnegie Hall, and the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow.

His current and former faculty affiliations include The Juilliard School, the Bard College Conservatory of Music, the Yale School of Music as a Visiting Presidential Fellow and the Aspen Music Festival. Currently a guest Master Coach for the Cafritz Young Artists of Washington Opera and the Opera Theater of St. Louis, Howard Watkins has worked on the music staffs of Palm Beach Opera, the Washington National Opera, and the Los Angeles Opera.

A native of Dayton, Ohio, Howard Watkins bas been honored as the 2004 recipient of the Paul C. Boylan award from the University of Michigan for his outstanding contributions to the field of music.

Joseph Joubert is a hugely versatile musician whose wide-ranging accomplishments and talent as a pianist, arranger, orchestrator, Broadway conductor, and music director have taken him around the world. He is at home in any style from classical to pop, gospel to Broadway, spiritual to R & B.

Most recently Joseph Joubert has done piano underscore recording and orchestration for the up-coming movie »Respect« starring Jennifer Hudson. He was co-producer and orchestrator for the »Georgia On My Mind« video that went viral for the Georgia election. In the 2021/22 season he will be musical supervisor for the play »Blue« at the Apollo Theater.

Joseph Joubert’s Broadway orchestration credits include »The Color Purple«, »Disaster« and »Violet«. He was musical director for Berry Gordy’s »Motown The Musical« and musical director, arranger, and pianist for Norm Lewis’s »American Songbook«, the PBS Live from Lincoln Center special. He received a Grammy nomination for »Best Arrangement Acompanying A Vocal« for the Broadway Inspirational Voices »Great Joy«.

As a record producer and orchestrator Joseph Joubert has worked with such artists as Ashford and Simpson, Diana Ross, Whitney Houston and Dionne Warwick. His orchestrations are used by symphonies across the USA including the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra. As a pianist he appeared in the Metropolitan Opera’s revival of »Porgy and Bess« and has collaborated with classical singers such as Denyce Graves, Esther Hinds and Harolyn Blackwell, and performed with Kathleen Battle at the White House for President Bill Clinton.