DREAM KEEPER

Lyric Fest partners with Singing City to present a Langston Hughes program of song, poetry, and narration, brought together to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the birth of poet and social activist Langston Hughes.

Lyric Fest is joined by internationally acclaimed storyteller Charlotte Blake Alston and The Rev. Charles (Chaz) Lattimore Howard. As co-narrators, these two bring Langston Hughes’s absorbing story to life, often in the poet’s own words – his coming of age between two world wars in Jim Crow America, and his rise from acclaimed poet of the Harlem Renaissance to widely published novelist, playwright, and columnist who’s been translated into over 20 languages. With activism guiding his art, “Dream Keeper” is a story resonant for our times.

Soprano Charlene Canty, baritone Kenneth Overton, and pianist and Lyric Fest Co-Artistic Director Laura Ward perform works for solo voice, alongside Singing City, conducted by Dilworth. Expect to hear glorious musical settings of Hughes’s poetry for both solo voice and choir, including works by Robert Owens, Margaret Bonds, Undine Smith Moore, Ricky Ian Gordon, Rosephanye Powell, Andre J. Thomas, as well as Singing City Artistic & Music Director, Rollo Dilworth.

Note:
Saturday’s family performance is ticketed through Singing City. Visit www.singingcity.org