African American Music for Voice and Piano

How has African-American experience transformed the American art song? In this recital we trace several generations of Afro-American composers who each approached this question in different ways in their attempt to bring the hopes, frustrations and dreams of Black America vividly to life through the creation of something distinctly their own.

 

On this fascinating journey we discover how art song met spirituals; the poetry of the Harlem Renaissance; and later more contemporary perspectives that challenge traditional notions of the ‘black’ musical idiom. Concluding with Moments in Sonder, Brittney Boykin’s music reveals a tradition that is still evolving and reinventing itself. The inclusion of Gershwin's 'Summertime' also adds an additional layer of complexity to this multi-faceted genre, posing additional questions such as: who gets to represent Black musical America, and how?

 

Performed by acclaimed soprano Roberta Philip and pianist Valentina Wang, this is a recital of extraordinary emotional range celebrating the music of struggle and resilience, love and longing, faith and aspiration — and a powerful celebration of how African-American composers have transformed the Black American experience into new musical forms to profoundly shape the classical sound of America.

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Programme​

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Florence Price Night | Hold Fast to Dreams | Travel's End  | Sympathy 

Britney Boykin Moments in Sonder

George Gershwin 'Summertime' from Porgy and Bess

Undine Smith Moore I am in Doubt | I Want to Die while you Love Me | Lyric for True Love

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INTERVAL

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William Grant Still 'Give me no Body without your Soul' from Blue Steel | Grief
Margaret Bonds Three Dream Portraits

George Walker I Got a Letter from Jesus | Ev'ry Time I Feel de Spirit

Moses Hogan Were you There?

Hall Johnson Ride on King Jesus

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Artists​

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Roberta Philip soprano

Valentina Wang piano​

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A versatile opera and jazz singer, Roberta Philip has been praised for her 'powerfully expressive' (The Opera Critic) and 'outstanding voice' (The Stage). She won first place in the 2024 Edith Poulsen Singing Prize Competition and was a finalist in this year’s Ashburnham English Song Awards. Roberta was a 2024 British Youth Opera Serena Fenwick artist and 2023-24 Pegasus Opera Company mentee.

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Valentina Wang is an Italian collaborative pianist based in London. A graduate of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama’s Artist Diploma in Piano Accompaniment, she previously studied Solo Piano Performance at Conservatorio Peri in Reggio Emilia, where she received the Giovanna and Fabrizia Magnani Scholarship. Winner of the 2025 Guildhall Jubilee Accompaniment Prize, she was also a finalist in the 2026 Ashburnham English Song Awards and the International Bacewicz Chamber Music Competition. She has performed at the Barbican Concert Hall, St James’s Piccadilly, and major venues and festivals across the UK, Italy and Finland, and is a freelance accompanist at Guildhall.