Carnegie Hall presents: Lift Every Voice – Honoring The African American Musical Legacy

NEW YORK, Feb. 10 /PRNewswire/ — As Black History Month 2009 is being celebrated Sony Classical releases Lift Every Voice – Honoring The African American Musical Legacy,
a newly compiled two-CD anthology of seminal performances of more than
60 years of recordings drawn from a variety of musical genres,
including classical, gospel, Spirituals, contemporary pop, blues, jazz
and more. With such artists as Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Luther Vandross, Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle, Lift Every Voice
represents the breadth and depth of the black musical experience in
America. The collection will be available in stores and online on Tuesday, February 17.

This significant new musical retrospective, the second of an ongoing
Carnegie Hall Presents/Sony Masterworks series of recordings, features
historic live performances and studio recordings from a cavalcade of
great African American artists, each of whom has performed at Carnegie
Hall: Marian Anderson, Harry Belafonte, Duke Ellington, Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Mahalia Jackson, Nina Simone, Nancy Wilson, Wynton Marsalis and Bill Withers.

Lift Every Voice is being released in conjunction with the Carnegie Hall’s Honor! A Celebration of the African American Cultural Legacy, a New York City-wide festival, curated by Grammy Award-winning soprano Jessye Norman and featuring more than 20 events celebrating African American culture
with a wide array of performances, panel discussions, and events at
Carnegie Hall, the Apollo Theater and other New York City locations.

Honor! is scheduled to run from Wednesday, March 4 through Monday, March 23, 2009. For more information on the Honor! festival, please visit: www.carnegiehall.org/honor

Throughout its history, Carnegie Hall has established a reputation
for presenting some of the greatest African American artists. In June 1892,
a year after opening its doors, Carnegie Hall presented soprano
Sissieretta Jones, the first in a long unprecedented run of
groundbreaking events including Marian Anderson’s 1928 debut, John
Hammond’s fabled “From Spirituals to Swing” concerts in 1938 and 1939
introducing blues, jazz and boogie woogie to the mainstream, as well as
early watershed performances by W.C. Handy and Fats Waller (1928), Benny Goodman’s integrated orchestra (1938), Miles Davis’ “Birth of the Cool” (1949), John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk (1957) and much more. Significant African American artists appearing at
Carnegie Hall in the last decade have included Wyclef Jean, Mary J. Blige, Mos Def and many others.

Lift Every Voice
resonates with the same the profound vitality, diversity and influence
of Carnegie Hall’s commitment to African American music and artists and
includes the following performances:

Disc 1

1. Matilda – Harry Belafonte (recorded in 1955)
2. Ol’ Man River – Paul Robeson Jr. (from “Show Boat,” recorded 11/08/1947)
3. On Children – Sweet Honey In The Rock
4. I Will Move On Up A Little Higher-Mahalia Jackson (recorded 11/23/1954)
5. So What – Miles Davis (recorded 5/17/1958)
6. Let The Bright Seraphim from Handel’s Samson, HWV 57-Kathleen Battle/Wynton Marsalis/Orchestra of St. Luke’s (recorded 09/28/1990)
7. Du Bist Die Ruh, Op. 59, No. 3 – Roland Hayes (Composer Franz Schubert)
8. Bach’s Erbarme dich from St. Matthew Passion-Marian Anderson (recorded 06/12/1946)
9. Un bel di from Giacomo Puccini’s Madama Butterfly-Leontyne Price (recorded 7/10-20/1962
10. Die
    Nachtigall from Alban Berg’s Sieben fruhe Lieder-Jessye Norman, London
    Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Pierre Boulez (recorded 07/21/1987 and 09/09/1988