Village Voices: With James Martin, baritone & Lynn Raley, piano World Premières of New Work by David Amram, Carman Moore & Maria Thompson Corley

The world première of Five American Voices, a song cycle by David Amram, “the renaissance man of American music” and Artist Emeritus of The Village Trip. The work “reflects the diverse voices of our cultural mosaic” and features settings of writings by Carolyn Cassady, Leslie Marmon Silko, Ron Whitehead, Ted Joans, and Tom Piazza. The piece was commissioned by the Roger Shapiro Fund for The Village Trip and will be performed by baritone James C Martin, and pianist Lynn Raley.

Village Voices celebrates the diverse culture of human rights embodied in Greenwich Village, a neighborhood of change, rebirth, and renewal. We will honor the centrality of David Amram to the Village community as he approaches his 95th birthday and, as we acknowledge the Amram legacy, we also celebrate the inclusion of a relatively new voice with a première by the gifted Jamaican-born composer and pianist Maria Thompson Corley. And we première Carman Moore’s A Village Triptych for voice and piano. You’ll also hear songs that were performed around the Village by the great troubadours of the 1950s and ‘60s. Songs of love, songs of peace, songs of empowerment, and songs of rage and redemption.

Featuring guitarist William Anderson and cellist Michael Cameron.

[image: Lynn Raley, pianist and James Martin, baritone]