Concert honors musician from Gordon County
The Roland Hayes Tribute Concert this weekend honors local musician who became the highest-paid tenor in the 1920s.
A concert and reception will be held at the Harris Arts Center this weekend in honor of Roland Hayes and his career as a musician from Gordon County, with Indra Thomas and Timothy Miller performing as musical guests.
Thomas and Miller both have extensive backgrounds in the music field and have both performed across the country. Thomas has also performed at world class opera houses and venues.
The HAC has hosted the Roland Hayes Tribute Concert on and off for the past several years, according to Executive Director Jennifer Dudley, including some previous concerts that have featured local artists, high school students and choirs from Hayes’s alma mater, Fisk University in Nashville.
Dudley said this concert is significant in its honoring of Hayes, who was born in Gordon County to former slaves and who made a name for himself through his success as a concert performer.
CONCERT,
According to the New Georgia Encyclopedia, Hayes ( 1887- 1977) was the first black man to win international fame as a performer. He had to drop out of school to help provide for his family, singing in churches and on the street for pennies, said a NGE article featuring Hayes. And despite only having a sixthgrade education, he became a student at Fisk University in Nashville with extra tutoring, mentoring and academic support.
The NGE said after working and saving his money, Hayes was able to start paying for the expenses of his first few concerts until he became a well-established performer. As his reputation expanded across the country, he was requested to perform at famous locations like Carnegie Hall, Symphony Hall and other famous concert venues across the United States.
In 1920, Hayes expanded his career to reach European countries, performing for King George and Queen Mary of England, and was known to sing in seven different languages. By the late ’20s, he was the highest-paid tenor in the world, according to the NGE.
His concerts always included African-American spiritual folk songs, and since they were orally passed to him through his ancestors, he arranged the spirituals for orchestral accompaniment to perform at his concerts.
In 1924, he performed in Atlanta for a desegregated audience, the NGE said, and later into his career, mentored younger singers and
taught at Boston University.
Since Hayes’ death, many honors, events and awards have been declared in his honor, including an official historic marker in his name in Calhoun across from the Calhoun Civic Auditorium where Hayes had once performed.
Also in Calhoun, the Roland Hayes Museum opened their doors in the HAC in 2000, and started holding yearly concerts in honor of the famous musician.
“He was such an inspiration and at the height of his career in the mid-1920s, he was the highest-paid (tenor) in the world,” Dudley said. “He had a 6th grade education and was told ‘no’ over and over again. It’s such a story of perseverance that is a testament to what you can do if you put your mind to it.”
Dudley said the HAC wants to honor people such as Hayes who have had such a profound histories and have made an impact on Gordon County.
The Music Guild of the HAC, which Dudley said puts on the Hayes tribute concerts, tries to bring several musical genres to the arts center stage and often offers students their first opportunity to perform. This tribute concert is one of the guild’s many projects, and the HAC is pleased to be able to bring Thomas and Miller to the concert to honor Hayes.
A minister’s daughter, Thomas was born and raised in Atlanta, and has sang at the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, Carnegie Hall and venues across Europe. She came to fame when she sang in “Driving Miss Daisy” and was Emmy-nominated for her 2003 performance on the
New Year’s Eve Broadcast Live from Lincoln Center.
She is currently on the voice faculty of her alma mater, Shorter University in Rome, and is a graduate of the prestigious Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia.
Miller, who will be joining Thomas on the stage, is
widely known for his performances of “God Bless America” during seventhinning stretches at Atlanta Braves home games. He was a soloist for the 2011 Georgia Gubernatorial Inauguration Ceremony and debuted with the Georgia Symphony as tenor soloist in 2016.
Following the tribute concert, there will be an opportunity for attendees to meet with Thomas and Miller and visit the Roland Hayes Museum.
“They’re quite accomplished musicians, and we’re just fortunate to get them scheduled for our concert
this year,” Dudley said.
The concert will be held at the HAC, 212 S. Wall St., on Sunday, 3-5 p.m. Tickets ($15 general admission) are limited and the reception following the concert will be a meet-and-greet opportunity for attendees to talk with the performers.