JULIA BULLOCK, soprano
Five Freedom Songs
Jessie Montgomery, composer
Eric Jacobsen, conductor
Virginia Symphony Orchestra
Composer and instrumentalist Jessie Montgomery is drawing much-deserved attention from top orchestras and presenters for her “wildly colorful” music “exploding with life” (The Washington Post). Virginia Arts Festival audiences will remember the evocative, moving score she created for Dance Theatre of Harlem’s Passage, commissioned by the Festival; now the Festival is one of the co-commissioners of Montgomery’s latest work, Five Freedom Songs.
Conceived in collaboration with famed operatic soprano Julia Bullock, who performs it here with Montgomery, the new song cycle honors African American heritage and the tradition of the Negro spiritual, revealing historic songs’ deepest meaning and emotion in new music that takes on new importance today. “Brilliant…a tour de force” (Bachtrack.com).