Opera guild will perform spirituals that span the past 150 years
guild’s artistic director, Jason Oby. He’s a professor at Texas Southern University and for eight years has served as music director of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Houston.
“I hadn’t really heard of Juneteenth until I came to Texas,” said Oby, who grew up in Baton Rouge, La., and moved to Houston in 1996. “But for the last several years, the Houston Ebony Opera Guild has done a Juneteenth celebration. Often, we do spirituals and other things that reflect the concept of freedom — anthems of longing to be free, or of the joy of being free.”
Oby adds this year’s concert isn’t simply a celebration of a historic event. It’s also a reflection on the challenges facing African-Americans today.
“Barack Obama is president, and some African-Americans are wealthy heads of corporations. But at the same time, we have the window dressings of freedom. We have an industrial prison complex and issues with young black men dying at the hands of the police. And we have issues with voting rights coming back again. I thought we should do present a concert to show that the idea of ‘free at last’ is not as black and white as it might seem, if you’ll forgive the pun.”
For this reason, Oby has put together a mixed program that spans the past 150 years. There will be spirituals — including “I’ve Been ’buked,” “Ain’t Got Time to Die,” and “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around” — that predate the Civil War.
But he also points out many spirituals — especially “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around” — were re-purposed by the civil rights movement as protest songs.
The choir also will perform excerpts from “Credo,” by Margaret Bonds, an African-American composer from Chicago. Her “Credo” was first performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra a few months before she died in 1972.
“The work reflects on the belief that all people are equal,” Oby said.
As well, the program includes “Testament to Freedom,” by Randall Thompson, a Harvard University composer who died in 1984 and is chiefly remembered for his choral music.
“The text,” Oby said, “is based on a treatise by Thomas Jefferson, reflecting on the reasons for going to war after the Declaration of Independence. I thought the words fit in well with the overall theme.”
A couple of selections are drawn from Broadway. “Make Them Hear You” and “Your Daddy’s Son” are both from the musical “Ragtime,” by Stephen Flaherty. And the Broadway and film composer Marvin Hamlisch is represented by his “One Song.”
Rounding out the program are “The Prayer,” a duet by Carol Bayer Sager, and a set of three songs with texts by the African-American poet Langston Hughes.
“I couldn’t put this program together this year,” Oby said, “without making some sort of acknowledgement of what’s going on with African-Americans — particularly the Black Lives Matter movement. Even though there are many people in the community who are doing well, we still have to consider these issues.”