IF YOU GO* What: Roland Hayes birthday concert.* When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.* Where: Roland Hayes Concert Hall, UTC Fine Arts Center, Vine and Palmetto streets.* Admission: Free.* Phone: 425-4601.DID YOU KNOW? * An official marker honoring Hayes was erected in 1995 on property adjacent to the Civic Auditorium in Calhoun, Ga. The site is designated as Roland Hayes Park, and State Highway 136 West in Calhoun is named Roland Hayes Parkway.* In 2000, the Roland Hayes Museum opened in the Harris Arts Center in Calhoun, where concerts are held annually in his honor.Source: www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
Two local institutions that figure in the legacy of a history-making lyric tenor will join forces for a concert Tuesday.
Taking part in the celebration of Roland Hayes are the Chattanooga Choral Society for the Preservation of African American Song and the music department at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Hayes (June 3, 1887-Jan. 1, 1977) is considered the first black man to win international fame as a concert performer.
According to online sources, Hayes was born in Curryville, Ga., near Calhoun to former slaves. He was 11 when his father died and his mother moved the family to Chattanooga.
As a college student, he toured with the Fisk Jubilee Singers. After performing solo recitals and tours in larger American cities, he began singing in capital cities across Europe and was quite famous when he returned to the states in 1923.
In 1948, he published a collection of spirituals, “My Songs: Aframerican Religious Folk Songs Arranged and Interpreted.”
The Choral Society, led by Roland Carter, will sing three of Hayes’ spiritual settings, and tenor Harv Wileman, accompanied by Carter, will perform Hayes’ song cycle “The Life of Christ.”
The concert will take place in UTC’s Roland Hayes Concert Hall, which is marking its 30th anniversary. Special guests will include Dr. Peter Gerschefski, who was head of the music department when the hall opened in 1980; relatives of Hayes who live in Chattanooga; and principal Anne Greene and alumni of Roland Hayes Elementary, once part of the Hamilton County school system.
Birthday cake and punch will be served after the concert.