Five Freedom Songs
with Julia Bullock
“Five Freedom Songs was conceived in collaboration with Soprano Julia Bullock between 2017-2018. From the composer’s program note: “we wanted to create a song cycle that honors our shared African-American heritage and the tradition of the Negro spiritual, while also experimenting with non-traditional stylistic contexts. Each of the five songs in this cycle are sourced from the historical anthology Slave Songs of the United States (originally published by A. Simpson & Co., New York, 1867), which categorizes each song based on origin and social context.”
Five Freedom Songs has evolved into part of the concert-length work History’s Persistent Voice, curated by Julia Bullock for performances throughout the US from past into the 2022 season.