Julia Bullock: 'History's Persistent Voice'

Grammy Award-winning American soprano Julia Bullock brings her versatile artistry, probing intellect, and commanding stage presence to her multimedia ensemble program History’s Persistent Voice. The program’s focus is on the influence of pre-Emancipation voices across generations, emphasizing that era’s poetic musical traditions while centering the multifaceted identities of the Black American experience, realized through art. These works are given new life through Bullock's powerhouse vocal renditions, far-ranging connective research, and a quintet of newly commissioned compositions crafted by an esteemed roster of American women of color that features Jessie Montgomery, Tania León, Allison Loggins-Hull, Pamela Z. and Yale School of Music alumna Carolyn Yarnell ‘89. Additional collaborators for Bullock’s Schwarzman Center performance include fellow Grammy Award-winning conductor Christian Reif, the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, and the Tony Award-winning designer and immersive visual artist Hana S. Kim. Produced in partnership with Tony-nominated producer ArKtype / Thomas O. Kriegsmann as part of a multi-year residency and commission series with Bryce Dessner.

History’s Persistent Voice, curated by Julia Bullock

• Christian Reif conductor
• Julia Bullock singer and curator Hana S. Kim video installation
• Members of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra

JESSIE MONTGOMERY / Five Freedom Songs
Co-commissioned by the New Haven Symphony Orchestra
From Slave Songs of the United States: The Classic 1867 Anthology, Edited by William Francis Allen, Lucy McKim Garrison, and Charles Pinkard Ware

1. "My Lord What a Morning"
2. "I Want to Go Home"
3. "Lay This Body Down"
4. "My Father How Long"
5. "The Day of Judgement"

CAROLYN YARNELL / I Come Up the Hard Way

CAROLYN YARNELL / ain’t my home

ALLISON LOGGINS-HULL / Mama’s Little Precious Things
Text derived from interview of Louise Williams, granddaughter of quilter Willie “Ma Willie” Abrams (1897 - 1987). Inspiration also drawn from Ma Willie’s “Roman Stripes” Variation Quilt c. 1975

PAMELA Z  / Quilt
San Francisco Symphony Commission

TANIA LEÓN / Green Pastures
Text derived from interview of Thornton Dial (1928-2016)