The 2019-2020 PVAMU Concert Chorale is pictured along with Director of Choral Activities A. Jan Taylor, D.M.A. (center).
PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (March 4, 2020) – Prairie View A&M University’s Concert Chorale will perform a concert for the Southwest Division of the American Choral Directors Association (SWACDA) conference this year in Little Rock, Arkansas. The Chorale’s performance on March 5 will feature the piece, And They Lynched Him on a Tree by William Grant Still.
The concert will feature the Concert Chorale with mezzo-soprano Veronica Williams and the University of Missouri’s University Singers, to name a few.
“And They Lynched Him on a Tree is a choral ballad about lynching in America. The music is set to the poetry of Katherine Garrison (Biddle) Chaplin, the niece of Charlotte Mason, often referred to as the ‘Godmother’ of the Harlem Renaissance. Still, the composer was commissioned by Ms. Mason and Alain Locke, a leader in the ‘New Negro’ movement of the era,” said A. Jan Taylor, D.M.A., Director of Choral Activities at PVAMU.
The composition calls for a contralto soloist (the lowest female singing voice) to play the mother of the victim, a “white chorus” to depict the mob, a “Negro chorus” to discover the lynching, a male narrator, and a small orchestra.
“This is probably the first performance by an HBCU [Historically Black College/University] choir at an ACDA [American Choral Directors Association] Southwestern Division conference. And, an invitation to perform at this conference brings prestige to the choral program in the Department of Music and Theatre and the university,” said Taylor. “This is also a historical event because the work is not performed very often, and the students in the PVAMU Concert Chorale have the unique experience of being one of a few choirs throughout the history of the work to have performed it. It will be a significant musical experience for all.”
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