Prominent University of Pennsylvania alumni to serve as narrators
New Spirit of Penn Gospel Choir and Penn Jazz Ensemble also featured
(Philadelphia, February 7, 2011) — In celebration of Black History month, the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts presents Grammy® award-winning bass player and composer Christian McBride’s jazz opus The Movement, Revisited on Saturday, February 26 at 8:00 PM. This moving musical tribute, which blends together spoken text with gospel and jazz, features four movements about the great icons of the Civil Rights movement – Rosa Parks, Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as a newly created fifth movement inspired by President Barack Obama. McBride will be joined onstage by University of Pennsylvania musical ensembles the New Spirit of Penn Gospel Choir and the Penn Jazz Ensemble, as well as prominent University of Pennsylvania alumni, who will serve as the narrators for each movement. For tickets or for more information on both performances, please visit www.AnnenbergCenter.org or call 215.898.3900. Tickets can also be purchased in person at the Annenberg Center Box Office.
Confirmed narrators include University of Pennsylvania alumni Lolita Jackson (C’89) as Rosa Parks; Stephanie Renee (C’ 91) as Malcolm X; Christopher Sample (C’03) as Muhammad Ali; and Claire Lomax ( C’84 and Penn Trustee) as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Clemson Smith Muñiz (C’79) will serve as master of ceremonies.
According to McBride, “the sacrifices made by these African-Americans have been so enveloped in myth, that, to a large extent, their names are remembered more than their accomplishments. This piece will capture musically how their deeds shaped our world, and remind us of our responsibility to see, paving the way for so many to live a better life.”
Christian McBride composed The Movement in 1998 as a four-movement suite. Ten years later, the piece was expanded and revamped to feature a gospel choir, jazz band and four speakers, as well as a fifth movement inspired by the election of our nation’s first black president, Barack Obama. The Movement, Revisited had its world premiere at the Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles in 2008, marking the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Born on May 31, 1972 in Philadelphia, McBride began playing electric bass at age nine, followed by acoustic bass two years later. His first mentors were his father, Lee Smith (a renowned bassist in Philly) and his great uncle, Howard Cooper (a disciple of the jazz avant-garde). While intensely studying classical music, McBride's love for jazz also blossomed. Upon his 1989 graduation from Philadelphia's High School for the Creative and Performing Arts (C.A.P.A.), he was awarded a partial scholarship to attend the world-renowned Juilliard School in New York City. McBride has been featured on more than 200 recordings and composed nearly 40 musical works along with dozens of arrangements. He has collaborated with a broad spectrum of artists from McCoy Tyner and Sting to Kathleen Battle and Diana Krall. In 2005, he was officially named the co-director of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. That same year, he was named the second Creative Chair for Jazz of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association.
Pre-Show Artist Chat
Ticket holders will have the unique opportunity to attend a special pre-show artist chat with Christian McBride facilitated by Lolita Jackson, Annenberg Center Board Member, jazz singer and former member of the Penn Gospel Choir. The chat is part of the Annenberg Center’s Artists & Audiences Changing Lives program and begins at 7:00 PM. To learn more about the Artists & Audiences Changing Lives program, please visit Annenberg Center.org/ACL.
