Robert Sims and Friends Present
Majesty of the Spiritual:
Songs of Hope and Resilience
Curated by baritone Robert Sims, Majesty of the Spiritual features 12 award-winning singers from the great opera houses of the world. In addition to the performance of moving spirituals, the show also includes works by living African American composers complete with a film component highlighting each composer. “Majesty of the Spiritual” reveals the Spiritual as a continually evolving art form, as deeply rooted in the present as it is in the past. “Majesty of the Spiritual” is a testimony in music to the indomitable will that navigated an impossibly tragic, unforgettable past, and a vivid demonstration of musical lineage and poetic tradition, dynamic and powerfully alive today.
Emerging from a long continuum of musical creativity, the African American spiritual is a distinctive genre in that it is a uniquely American musical tradition. While the combination of African enslavement and Protestant Christianity existed in many other geographical locations, it was only in the United States that spiritual developed. It is from this genre that other important African-derived musical traditions sprang including the blues, jazz, gospel music, rhythm and blues, and other important expressions.
​It was the likes of musical pioneers like Harry T. Burleigh, Roland Hayes, and Paul Robeson, who established an art music tradition for the genre through their performances, compositions and arrangements. Their efforts began yet another tradition which continues today. African American concert vocalists including Dorothy Maynor, Todd Duncan, Inex Matthews, William Warfield, Robert McFerrin, Shirley Verrett, Florence Quivar, Jessye Norman, and Benjamin Matthews are among many great interpreters of the art form. They have contributed to it becoming recognized along with German lieder, French melodie, and other art song traditions from Italy, Russia, and Spain.​ Majesty of the Spiritual represents the perpetuation of a long and proud tradition.