The 2025 Harry T. Burleigh Spirituals Festival
Scholarship Concert
SANKOFA SONORITY
Sounds of Our History, Propelling Our Future
About the Burleigh Festival
Since November 2016, the Tennessee State University Department of Music and the Big Blue Opera Initiatives has hosted the Harry T. Burleigh Spirituals Festival. Beginning as a commemoration of the 150th birthday of the pioneering African American composer and musician and celebration of the legacy of the American Negro Spiritual, the Burleigh Festival focuses on a different area of the Spiritual and African American music under various themes annually.
The Burleigh Festival features panel discussions and lecture presentations led by prominent scholars and musicians, choral clinics for attendees in varying stations in study, a vocal masterclass focused in performance practice and style of African American music, and a scholarship benefit concert in support of the Harry T. Burleigh Fund for Vocal Studies at Tennessee State University. Each year, the Burleigh Festival grows exponentially in attendance, partnerships, and support, adding new innovations and programming such as the 2019 world premiere of the Tupac Shakur Art Song Project. The National Museum of African American Music has been a core partner since its inception with the Burleigh Legacy Alliance of Erie, PA and the 105 Voice of History following shortly after. Other partners and supporters have included ALIAS Chamber Ensemble, the Harry T. Burleigh Society, 91Classical Radio, Early Music City, Weirdo Workshop, Hoskins and Co., Classically Black Podcast, and Intersection Contemporary Music Ensemble.
The Big Blue Opera Initiatives at Tennessee State University, Nashville Black Music Association, the Burleigh Legacy Alliance of Erie, PA and the Nashville Symphony Association join together to present the 2025 Harry T. Burleigh Spirituals Festival Scholarship Concert under theme, Sankofa Sonority: Sounds of Our History, Propelling Our Future on Monday, April 14th. The concert will feature performances from the Nashville Opera-HBCU Fellows, the Fisk University Choir, the Jennie E. Lane Ensemble of Lane College, the Tennessee State University Meistersingers, and the W. Crimm Singers.
Notable Nashville music and community figures will be recognized with the Burleigh Arts Trailblazer and Civic Champion Awards. Honorees will be announced at a later date.
Also, joining the festivities will be renowned composer, multi-instrumentalists, and multi-genre artist, Damien Sneed who will serve the 2025 Burleigh Festival Gala Artist and Conductor. Attendee will experience live some of Sneed's music which has been composed for artists such as leading opera tenor Lawrence Brownlee and the legendary Clark Sisters. Fresh of his role as music director of the acclaimed Faith Evans Tribute at NYC's Town Hall, Sneed will lead the closing portion of the concert in excerpts of Duke Ellington's Sacred Concerts performed by a mass HBCU choir and the Tennessee State University Jazz Collegians. 2025 marks the 60th anniversary of the 1965 Concert of Sacred Music. The inclusion of these selections in the Harry T. Burleigh Spirituals Festival Scholarship Concert offers the Nashville community the only local celebration of this occasion. Proceeds from the concert or any donations go to support the Burleigh Fund for HBCU Vocalists through the Nashville Black Music Association which offers aide to vocal music students at Historically Black Institutions in Tennessee for their artistic pursuits.
Monday, April 14
7 PM
Schermerhorn Symphony Center
Laura Turner Concert Hall
Registration, Donation, and Concert Ticket
For More Information, Contact
Patrick Dailey, M.M. (he/him/his)
Founder and Director, Big Blue Opera Initiatives
Tennessee State University
Department of Music