Current Grammy Nominated Musicians Will Liverman and Paul Sánchez to Perform their Album ‘Dreams of a New Day: Songs by Black Composers’ for CofC Piano Series

By: CofC Media

Globally recognized operatic baritone Will Liverman and acclaimed pianist Paul Sánchez (right) will perform the 31st season finale concert of the College of Charleston School of the Arts’ International Piano Series. The program on April 19 will feature the Charleston debut of the musicians’ highly praised album “Dreams of a New Day: Songs by Black Composers.” Currently nominated for a Grammy Award, the album highlights Black composers across generations, from early 20th-century pioneers Henry Burleigh, Margaret Bonds, and Thomas Kerr to Robert Owens, Leslie Adams, and contemporary composers Damien Sneed and Shawn E. Okpebholo. “Dreams of a New Day” (Cedille Records) was BBC Music Magazine’s “Album of the Month,” reached number 1 on Billboard’s “Traditional Classical Albums” chart and has been featured in print by The New York Times and the Washington Post, and on-air by NPR, MPR, New York’s WQXR, and several others. 

The concert will include a talk with some of the album’s artists, including poet laureate of Charleston, Marcus Amaker, who wrote the text to the second movement of Okpebholo’s “Two Black Churches,” a song in two movements that reflects on tragic events perpetrated by white supremacists: the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Ala. (1963) that killed four girls; and the Mother Emanuel AME Church shooting in Charleston, S.C. (2015), that killed nine parishioners. 

DETAILS: The College of Charleston International Piano Series concert will take place on Tuesday, April 19, 2022 at 7:30 pm, in the Sottile Theatre, 44 George St, and is presented by The Quattlebaum Artist in Residence Fund.

Tickets are $30 and can be purchased through the George Street Box Office online, at the door, by emailing gsbo@cofc.edu, or by calling (843) 953-4726. FREE admission for College of Charleston students and employees, as well as youth (18 and under). Free tickets must be secured ahead of the concert by emailing or visiting the box office. Patrons can find info and ticket links at go.cofc.edu/ips.

WILL LIVERMAN

Will Liverman’s performance in Charleston will fall between engagements at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Metropolitan Opera. Called “a voice for this historic moment” (The Washington Post), the Grammy-nominated baritone recently starred in the Met Opera’s reopening production of “Fire Shut Up In My Bones” in fall 2021. Liverman is the recipient of the 2020 Marian Anderson Vocal Award, 2019 Richard Tucker Career Grant, and Sphinx Medal of Excellence.

Following a summer at Opera Theatre of St. Louis and Aspen Music Festival, highlights of Liverman’s 2021-2022 season include “Fire Shut Up in My Bones” with Lyric Opera of Chicago, “Spanish Inspirations” with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Park Avenue Armory’s Recital Series, Florence Price’s “Song to the Dark Virgin” with Chicago Sinfonietta, Jonathan Dove’s “Flight with Dallas Opera,” and “Akhnaten” (Horemhab) and “The Magic Flute” (Papageno) at the Met. His new opera “The Factotum,” written together with DJ/recording artist K. Rico, is in process with Lyric Opera of Chicago. “Whither Must I Wander” (Odradek), with pianist Jonathan King, was named one of the Chicago Tribune’s “best classical recordings of 2020.” Performance highlights include starring as the first ever Black Papageno the Metropolitan Opera’s holiday production of “The Magic Flute,” in addition to its premiere of “Akhnaten” (Horemhab); “Il barbiere di Siviglia” (Figaro) with Seattle Opera, Virginia Opera, and Madison Opera; “The Love of Three Oranges” (Pantalone) with Opera Philadelphia; Charlie Parker’s “Yardbird” (Dizzy Gillespie) with Opera Philadelphia and English National Opera; and “La bohème” (Schaunard) with Opera Philadelphia, Santa Fe Opera, and Dallas Opera. More info:  www.willliverman.com 

PAUL SANCHEZ

Grammy-nominated pianist and composer Paul Sánchez has been praised as a “great artist” (José Feghali, 2013; Cecilia Rodrigo 2019) and for his “clarity, sensitivity” (The New Yorker), and “prodigious technical capacities” (The Rehearsal Studio). Sánchez is a Steinway Artist. In a Fanfare Magazine review of Sánchez’ 2016 CD Magus Insipiens, featuring three of his song cycles, Colin Clarke declares, “This is one of the most beautiful discs in my collection…. Haunting in the extreme,” while WFMT’s Henry Fogel, former president of the League of American Orchestras and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, states, “This is hauntingly beautiful music… generously filled with melodic inspiration and evocative atmosphere…. works of originality and a distinctive musical personality.” Sherod Santos, American poet and translator of the Sappho texts in Sánchez’ song cycle “The journey,” describes Sánchez’ composition as “a magnificent achievement, a work of great innovation and hypnotic effect, impossible to walk away from unmoved.”

Sánchez is a recording artist with ten CD releases as of 2022, and his compositions have been featured on the Soundset Recordings and Albany labels. Recent releases include “Dreams of a New Day”; “Lord How Come We Here?” (Navona Records), with mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges and baritone Will Liverman; “Seria Ludo – Piano Music by Graham Lynch” (Divine Art Records); and “Mysteria Fidei” (Innova Records) with his wife, soprano Kayleen Sánchez, as the duo Far Song, performing new music of David M. Gordon. His live recordings of songs by Charles Ives, with William Sharp, are featured in the film “Charles Ives’ America” (Naxos Records). 

Sanchéz is an associate professor and the Director of Piano Studies at the College of Charleston’s Department of Music. He is also the Artistic Director of the College’s International Piano Series. More info: paultsanchez.com

MARCUS AMAKER

Marcus Amaker was named Charleston, S.C.’s first Poet Laureate in 2016. In 2021, he became an Academy of American Poets fellow. He is the award-winning graphic designer of a national music journal (No Depression), an electronic musician, an opera librettist, the creator of a poetry festival, and a mentor.

His poetry has been recognized by The Washington Post, The Kennedy Center, American Poets Magazine, The Washington National Opera, The Portland Opera, Button Poetry, NPR,  The Chicago Tribune, Edutopia, Departures Magazine, People’s World, PBS Newshour, SC Public Radio, Charleston Magazine, Charleston City Paper, North Dakota Quarterly, The Post and Courier, Charleston Scene and several other publications. In 2019, he won a Governor’s Arts award in South Carolina, and was named the artist-in-residence of the Gaillard Center, a world-renowned performance and education venue. His poetry has been studied in classrooms around the country, and has been interpreted for ballet, jazz, modern dance, opera and theater. One of his poems is on a Grammy-nominated album, and Marcus has recorded three albums with Grammy Award winning drummer and producer Quentin E. Baxter.

His ninth book is Black Music Is, from Free Verse Press. More info: marcusamaker.com

Housed within the College of Charleston School of the Arts, the International Piano Series is Charleston’s longest running, year-round program with a pure focus on piano. Consistent with the School’s mission, the series plays a distinctive role in the lives of students and the community by implementing excellence in the arts and education and cultivating piano music appreciation. Artistic Director of the series is faculty member Paul Sánchez.

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