Lipscomb to host 'Out of Many, One' free concert
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Lipscomb University will host an encore presentation of "Out of Many, One," a new work for children's voices, April 3 at 6:30 p.m. in Willard Collins Alumni Auditorium, 3901 Granny White Pike, Nashville. The public is invited and admission is free.
The performance of "Out of Many, One" will feature the MET Singers Honor Choir, pianist and Lipscomb music professor Jerome Reed, Lipscomb University music students and Kwame Ahima and the Ashante Talking Drummers, said Dr. Valery Prill, dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at Lipscomb.
"Our aim is to promote artistic excellence, diversity and cooperation. The project encourages collaboration among participants from different age groups and backgrounds. As such, this new work models the ideal of freeing all persons to contribute their own parts to create a unified, vibrant piece of music," Prill said.
The program will also feature selections of Americana-oriented music, featuring the MET Singers, the Umoja Ensemble and Concert Chorale of Nashville, Prill said.
"Out of Many, One" was commissioned by Lipscomb's School of Fine and Performing Arts and was written by Dr. Michael Slayton, a 1994 Lipscomb University graduate who is now assistant professor of music theory and composition at Vanderbilt's Blair School of Music.
Funded by Lipscomb and a matching grant from the Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission, Slayton's composition is written for children's chorus and is designed for accompaniment by cello, folk harp, oboe, piano and percussion, Prill said.
The idea resulted from a brainstorming session among Prill, Margaret Campbelle-Holman, director of the MET Singers, and Dr. Marcia Hughes, chair of the Department of Music at Lipscomb, who noted the lack of new music for children's voices. The resulting piece was debuted in January during the Nashville Symphony's tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at TPAC.
"When we decided to commission this piece, we wanted to ensure as large an audience as possible. So from the beginning we planned to have one performance without any admission charge. The Lipscomb campus performance is envisioned as a further celebration of mankind's ability to achieve artistic excellence through collaboration, " Prill said.