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Moses and the Cantor sing
Songs of Struggle/Songs of Faith -
Celebrating the African-American and
Jewish Musical Traditions
Oral Moses, bass-baritone, performs regularly throughout the United States and Europe singing oratorio and recitals with special emphasis on a wide variety of Negro Spirituals and Art Song repertoire by African-American composers.
He has had numerous successes in oratorio and opera performing major roles in Le Nozze di Figaro, Regina, La Boheme, Albert Herring, Tremonisha, Rigoletto, and Die Zauberflöte among many others. Symphonic engagements have included works with the Nashville Symphony, the Jackson Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Lansing Symphony, Tacoma Symphony and the Atlanta symphony. He has toured Eastern Europe, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Austria and Berlin singing the role of Porgy in Porgy and Bess.
“…likened to a 1968 concert by Leontyne Price in its scope
and impact for the Birmingham community.”
Dr. Robert Corley, Civil Rights era historian,
University of Alabama, Birmingham
Baritones Oral Moses and Cantor Daniel Gale perform a dual-vocal recital entitled Moses and the Cantor – Celebrating the African-American and Jewish Musical Traditions. The recital features vocal works from the Jewish and African American traditions, including spirituals, Yiddish songs, art songs by Black and Jewish composers, and songs from the American musical theater. They are accompanied at the piano by Dr. Kathryn Fouse of Samford University in Birmingham, and Judith Cole of Atlanta.
An inspiring and uplifting event, Moses and the Cantor is a musical celebration of the shared historical and cultural experiences of the African-American and Jewish communities. A vast song repertoire from each tradition speaks to this common bond, expressing the faith and hope of each community in its struggle for freedom from oppression, the striving for acceptance and equality within a majority culture while valuing and maintaining each culture’s uniqueness and identity.
In celebrating the shared experiences and values of the Jewish and African-American communities, Moses and the Cantor speaks also to the universal ideals of tolerance and understanding – and the promise of finding shared values and dreams within seeming diversity.