Fowler Center at Arkansas State University will present a Festival of Spirituals in concert Sunday, April 1, at 3 p.m.

The performance is part of Fowler Center’s series of professional presentations.

A Festival of Spirituals presents a gala celebration of the Negro Spiritual and a tribute to this, America’s first musical art form. This festival brings the beauty of the Negro Spiritual to the concert stage in all of its artistic and emotional expressiveness, according to a spokesperson for the group.

The group consists of vocalists William Brown and Alpha Floyd; pianist Wilfred Delphin; and flutist Harold Jones.

Floyd studied at the Juilliard School of Music, has sung with orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic and the Pittsburgh Symphony, and performed the roll of Bess in the Bennett version of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. Brown is a charter member of the Black Music Research Ensemble of Chicago and a professor of voice at the University of North Florida.

Delphin has toured extensively as half of the piano duo Delphin and Romain, and performed with the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta and the Minnesota Orchestra under Neville Marriner. Jones also studied at the Juilliard School of Music, made his New York debut at Town Hall, and has served as first flutist and soloist with the American Symphony Orchestra and the Brooklyn Philharmonic.

All tickets for the concert in Riceland Hall are for reserved seating. Admission is $13 and $18 ($10 and $14 for students). The Central Box Office telephone is 870-972-ASU1 (2781).

For more details, contact the director’s office in Fowler Center, 870-910-8115.

Photo caption: Members of a Festival of Spirituals include vocalists Alpha Floyd (seated) and (from left) William Brown, flutist Harold Jones and pianist Wilfred Delphin.

Downloadable Image:  Festival of Spirituals  (532k)

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