'The Legacy Show' pays tribute to African-American artists at UTC

Violinist Tami Lee Hughes presents work of black musicians, poets

Tami Lee Hughes
Tami Lee Hughes

EnVaGe concert Saturday

For the second performance in the Festival of African-American Concert Music & Poetry, EnVaGe will present a mixed-media concert with readings from poet Earl Braggs and the winners of a poetry contest for area high-school students.The concert is set for 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 10, in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s Fine Arts Center, 752 Vine St. Tickets are $15 adults, $12 senior adults and $10 students.EnVaGe — whose name is derived from Ensemble of Variable Geometry — is the duo of UTC professor and clarinetist Dr. Nikolasa Tejero and University of the South conductor Dr. Cesar Real.

photo Violinist Tami Lee Hughes presents her tribute to past and present black composers in "The Legacy Show" Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018, in the UTC Fine Arts Center.

Critically acclaimed violinist Tami Lee Hughes brings "The Legacy Show" to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Thursday night, Feb. 8, for a free performance at 7:30 p.m. in the UTC Fine Arts Center, 752 Vine St.

Dr. Jonathan McNair says "The Legacy Show" features Hughes in "a program she designed, pairing music influenced by diverse styles from spirituals and blues to jazz, hip-hop and classical, with poetry and visual images. All of the featured composers and poets are African-American."

"The Legacy Show" is the first of two weekend performances billed jointly as the Festival of African-American Concert Music & Poetry. The second is a multimedia performance by EnVaGe and poet Earl Braggs on Saturday, Feb. 10.

McNair, the Ruth S. Holmberg Professor of American Music at UTC, is sponsoring "The Legacy Show" in cooperation with the UTC Department of English and the UTC Honors College.

Hughes' album, "Legacy: Violin Music of African-American Composers" was named one of the top 10 albums of 2011 by "All Music Guide" and has been broadcast via radio around the world.

Composers whose music will be featured in "The Legacy Show" include Duke Ellington and Francis "Frank" Johnson, who McNair says was a cornet player and the most popular dance band leader in Philadelphia, Penn., during the early- to mid-1800s. Poetry is selected from the work of James Weldon Johnson, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou and others.

Hughes will be joined by pianist Byron Burford-Phearse, who has performed across the U.S. in addition to Paris as part of the European American Musical Alliance.

For more information: 423-425-4269.

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