Lawrence Brownlee in Recital

Event Description

Tenor Lawrence Brownlee makes a one-night only appearance at the McPherson Playhouse with music from his GRAMMY nominated album "Rising", named one of The New York Times' "Best Classical Music Albums of 2024".

Brownlee has commissioned six of today’s leading African-American composers – Damien Sneed, Brandon Spencer, Jasmine Barnes, Joel Thompson, and Shawn E. Okpebholo – to set poetry from the Harlem Renaissance to song, including poems by Alice Dunbar Nelson, Claude McKay, Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson, and more.

The songs revolve around themes of joy, empowerment, faith, love, and strength in the face of challenge. Brownlee has also collaborated closely with Dr. Louise Toppin, soprano and vocal professor at the University of Michigan, to revive select works from famed composers Margaret Bonds and Robert Owen; in addition to including works from composer Jeremiah Evans.

"This beautifully curated album has the sound of an artist who went into the recording studio with something urgent and personal to say...Captivating in his commitment, he doesn’t waste a note." - Oussama Zahr, The New York Times

(Subscribers to Pacific Opera Victoria will receive a special invitation to a post-show Artist Meet & Greet)