Join us as we welcome back the Kamoinge String Ensemble from Walker West Music Academy to the Community Concert Series!
The concert is FREE to attend, with 100% of the money raised from a freewill offering going to Walker West.
CONCERT OVERVIEW
Inspired by the painting, “Ecclesia (The Meeting of Inheritance and Horizons)” by American portrait painter, Amy Sherald, Ecclesia: Music By Black Composers showcases works by historic and contemporary composers of African descent. The Greek word, ekklesia or ecclesia means “assembly”, with a more common connection to the church and its beginnings. In this concert, we “assemble” works and composers from across centuries and continents that reflect the profound musical expressions of the African and African diaspora. Many of the composers on this program will likely be unfamiliar to audiences. Composers such as Samuel Coleridge Taylor, Hawa Kasse Mady Diabate, Anthony R. Green, Jose White, and Adolphus Hailstork are represented. Among these works will be concert string arrangements of Spirituals, West African children’s songs for Mali, and the beautiful La Bella Cubana. Works by Florence Price include her “Adoration.” As a bonus, Kamoinge will premiere a work by Walker West teaching artist William Duncan, who wrote this piece for this ensemble.
In addition to these works, the ensemble will perform a few surprise works that expand our horizons about “black music” and celebrate our musical inheritance.
ABOUT KAMOINGE STRING ENSEMBLE
Inspired by the concept of community, the string ensemble of Walker West was created to perform works that reflect the cultural diversity of the string students and families in our program. Kamoinge is a Kikuyu (Kenya) word that means a group working together, unforced and unconstrained, to do good for the community. Borrowing from this idea, the ensemble seeks to impact the underrepresentation of Black, Latino, and Indigenous participants in youth symphonies and chamber music. Composed of students in grades 7-12, this ensemble of mostly violinists has performed on the Ordway and Orchestra Hall stages. Students are members of the Minnesota Youth Symphonies, the Greater Twins Cities Youth Symphonies, and the Artaria Chamber Music School. Students have also participated in summer string programs at the Cleveland Institute of Music, The Curtis Institute, and the Chicago College of Music as members of the Sphinx Performance Academy. Kamoinge Strings has premiered new works by African-American composers. Anthony R. Green and PaviElle French, and in February 2023, performed Joel Thompson’s Seven Last Words of the Unarmed as part of a community-centered event that included the South African Choral Ensemble, 29:11 and other Twin Cities-based choirs and musicians.
ABOUT THE COMMUNITY CONCERT SERIES
Over the past decade+, the Prospect Park United Methodist Church Community Concert Series has contributed over $80,000 to a variety of community service programs and organizations across the Twin Cities. It’s a perfect combination – enjoying great music and raising money for a worthwhile cause! A delicious snack buffet follows the concert.
PPUMC is located at 22 Orlin Ave SE in Minneapolis, at the foot of the historic Prospect Park Water Tower, one block south of University Ave on Malcolm Ave and adjacent to the Metro Transit Green Line. Free parking is available on-street and at Pratt Community School.
For more information, please call 612-378-2380 or email office@prospectparkchurch.org.