The 2024 Harmonies & Healing Concert
with The Hartford Symphony Orchestra
January 24, 2024 ~ 7pm
at Rehoboth Church of God
(1170 Blue Hills Avenue, Bloomfield, Connecticut)
The 2024 Harmonies & Healing Concert marks the 95th Anniversary of the first gallery showing of Black art in the City of Hartford and is a revival of the popular Hartford Symphony Orchestra’s winter community concert series from the early 2000s. The venue, theme and partnership aims to pair and parallel the traditional musical and theological means of healing with conventional health care. Admission is free.
Featured Artists
Marking its 80th season in 2023-2024, the HSO is Connecticut’s premier musical organization and widely recognized as one of America’s leading regional orchestras. The Hartford Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1934 and formally established as the Symphony Society of Greater Hartford in 1936. Angelo Coniglione, Jacques Gordon, Leon Barzin, Moshe Paranov, and George Heck were the Orchestra’s first music directors. With the appointment of Fritz Mahler in 1953, the HSO began its Young People’s Concerts and made several highly acclaimed recordings for Vanguard. www.hartfordsymphony.org
Acting Principal, John Charles Thomas
Guest Conductor, Wayne J. duMaine
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He has performed frequently with the New York Philharmonic, L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Vienna Symphony and was a member of the Grammy Award® winning Chestnut Brass Company. He has appeared in Europe, Asia, Canada and the U.S. as soloist and chamber musician, and represented the U.S. State Department on tours in Central America. He has recorded Mahler Symphonies with the New York Philharmonic, and several film soundtracks. John currently teaches privately and at The Hartt School.
A native of St. Louis, MO, Wayne J. du Maine has been performing successfully in the New York City area for over thirty years. As a trumpeter, Wayne has performed and recorded with such ensembles as the New York Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and Orchestra of St. Luke’s. He currently holds the principal chair with the Brooklyn Philharmonic and the American Composers Orchestra. Mr. du Maine has also led the Hartford Symphony, Brooklyn
Philharmonic, and Westchester Philharmonic as conductor of educational concerts. As a trumpet soloist, he has performed numerous concerti with the Concord Orchestra as well as orchestras from Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Jacksonville, Springfield (MA), and Mid Coast (ME). Mr. du Maine holds degrees from the Juilliard School where he received the Peter Mennin and William Schuman Awards for outstanding excellence. He has been an associate musician with the Metropolitan Opera for 26 years. As a member of ensembles such as Absolute, Xenakis, and Orpheus, he has toured five continents.
The Voices of Hartford, featuring Miles Wilson-Tolliver
Voices of Hartford was founded in June of 2021 by Artistic Director Miles Wilson-Toliver and the Hartford-based professional choral ensemble Voce.Voices of Hartford works closely with leadership in the communities it serves to ensure that its programming addresses the needs of young people living and working in Hartford’s neighborhoods. Bass-Baritone Miles Wilson-Toliver is an award-winning Opera singer, Arts advocate, and voice instructor. His Operatic debut (A Gathering of Sons 2017) won a New York Film Festival Award for “Best Opera Dealing with Social justice.”
Rehoboth Church of God & Friends Community Choir
This choir is a collaboration of the Rehoboth Church Choir and singers from the area church community. This special event ensemble will perform in a joint concert to honor the works of African American composers and celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This community choir will be conducted by Dr. Felicia Barber, who is an Associate Professor of Choral Conducting at Institute of Sacred Music and the Yale School of Music.
Rehoboth Church of God is a multi-generational, multi-racial church serving in various capacities in Greater Hartford and the surrounding communities for more than 55 years. The mission is soul winning, and the equipping of men and women to serve in the kingdom of God. The church is connected to 120 affiliated congregations in the Connecticut region, has a 1400 seat capacity and hosts various ministries and events. (www.rehobothcog.org)
The Amistad Center for Art & Culture was founded in August 1987, and has been housed in the Wadsworth Atheneum since June 1992.Our Collection contains 7000 items, that tell the story and impact of Black People in the United States. Our organization has sponsored nearly 70 exhibitions at the Wadsworth and in other locations. The Center’s on-going exhibition program builds upon our collection to introduce ideas, episodes and generative figures in Black history and culture with the potential to inspire creativity and necessary conversations on the nation’s history, our endeavors for equity and our present and future.