Misplaced Pages

#640359

50-736: The orchestra was founded in 1987 by Richard Auldon Clark, who remains the Artistic Director and conductor. The orchestra performs music of all genres with a special focus on contemporary music by American composers. It performs an average of eight concerts per season in New York City and also tours. It has premiered and/or recorded the music of William Grant Still , Alec Wilder , Victor Herbert , John Rutter , Henry Cowell , Alan Hovhaness , Otto Luening , Dominick Argento , Randall Thompson , Eric Ewazen , David Amram , and Dave Soldier . The Manhattan Chamber Orchestra has released 30 CDs on

100-599: A private historically black university in Wilberforce, Ohio . Affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), it was the first college to be owned and operated by African Americans . Central State University , also in Wilberforce, Ohio, began as a department of Wilberforce University. The college was founded in 1856 to provide classical education and teacher training for black youth. It

150-412: A 7% graduation rate within the standard four-year period of study in 2024, making it one of the least successful universities in the world. Wilberforce requires all students to participate in cooperative education to meet graduation requirements. The cooperative program places students in internships that provide practical work experience in addition to academic training. It has been a required part of

200-459: A bachelor of science degree program at Wilberforce University , a historically black college in Ohio. Still became a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. He conducted the university band, learned to play various instruments, and started to compose and to do orchestrations. He left Wilberforce without graduating. Upon receiving a small amount of money left to him by his father, he began studying at

250-528: A college president in the United States. When an arson fire damaged some of the buildings in 1865, Payne went to his network to appeal for aid in rebuilding the college. Salmon P. Chase , then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States , and Charles Avery from Pittsburgh each contributed $ 10,000 to rebuild the college. Mary E. Monroe, another white supporter, contributed $ 4200. In addition,

300-575: A hotel, cottages and 54 acres (220,000 m ) of a former resort property near Xenia. It was named Tawawa House after the springs in the area, a word derived from a Shawnee term for "clear or golden water". This color was associated with the natural springs nearby because of its high iron content. White people had founded the health resort in 1851 because of the springs, which they also called Yellow Springs. The waters had long been reputed to have health benefits. Because of its location, this resort area had attracted summer people from both Cincinnati and

350-503: A leading figure in the field of American classical music as the first African-American to conduct a major American symphony orchestra , have a symphony performed by a leading orchestra, have an opera performed by a major opera company, and have an opera performed on national television. The papers of Still and his second wife, the librettist and writer Verna Arvey , are currently held by the University of Arkansas. William Grant Still Jr.

400-471: A work by an African American was performed by a major orchestra. By the end of World War II, the piece had been performed in orchestras located in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Berlin, Paris, and London. During this time, the symphony was arguably the most popular of any composed by an American so far. As a result of a close professional relationship with Hanson; many of Still's compositions were performed for

450-522: Is considered to be part of the Harlem Renaissance . Often referred to as the "Dean of Afro-American Composers," Still was the first American composer to have an opera produced by the New York City Opera . He is known primarily for his first symphony, Afro-American Symphony (1930), which was, until 1950, the most widely performed symphony composed by an American. Still was able to become

500-483: The Oberlin Conservatory of Music . Still worked for the school assisting the janitor, along with a few other small jobs outside of the school, yet still struggled financially. When Professor Lehmann asked Still why he wasn't studying composition, Still told him honestly that he couldn't afford to, leading to George Whitfield Andrews agreeing to teach him composition without charge. He also studied privately with

550-603: The US Congress approved a $ 25,000 grant for the college, which raised additional monies privately from a wide range of donors. In 1888 the AME Church came to an agreement with the Republican Party -dominated state legislature that brought considerable financial support and political patronage to the college. It negotiated contemporary pressures to emphasize industrial education for many black youth by accommodating both that and

SECTION 10

#1732868575641

600-578: The Underground Railroad in the years before the Civil War. Wilberforce College also supported freedom-seeking slaves. Many of these free people of color were also had Native ancestry, Daniel Payne himself being of Catawba descent. The college opened for classes in 1856, and by 1858 its trustees selected Richard S. Rust as the first president. Overriding some protest by men, in the 1850s the college hired Frances E. W. Harper , an abolitionist poet, as

650-460: The pit orchestra for Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake 's musical, Shuffle Along and another pit with Sophie Tucker , Artie Shaw , and Paul Whiteman . Under Henderson, he joined Henry Pace 's Pace Phonograph Company, known as Black Swan Records . Later in the 1920s, Still served as the arranger of Yamekraw , a "Negro Rhapsody", composed by the Harlem stride pianist James P. Johnson . In

700-464: The 1930s, Still worked as an arranger of popular music, composing works for popular NBC Radio broadcasts like Willard Robison 's Deep River Hour and Paul Whiteman's Old Gold Show. Still's first major orchestral composition, Symphony No. 1 "Afro-American" , was performed in 1931 by the Rochester Philharmonic , conducted by Howard Hanson . It was the first time the complete score of

750-515: The AME Church listed the university as having 20 faculty, 334 students, and 246 graduates. The college became a center of black cultural and intellectual life in southwestern Ohio. Because the area did not receive many European immigrants, blacks had more opportunities at diverse work. Xenia and nearby towns developed a professional black elite. Generations of leaders: teachers, ministers, doctors, politicians and college administrators, and later men and women of all occupations, have been educated at

800-652: The AME Church. Also on the Board were Salmon P. Chase , then Governor of Ohio and a strong supporter of abolition ; a member of the Ohio State Legislature, and other Methodist leaders from the white community. They named the college after the British abolitionist and statesman William Wilberforce . Rev Campbell Maxwell later became a trustee in 1896. As a base for the college, the Cincinnati Conference bought

850-684: The Bulldogs. The university is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), primarily competing as a member of the HBCU Athletic Conference since the 2024-2025 academic year. They previously competed as an NAIA Independent within the Continental Athletic Conference during the 2023–24 academic year; which they were a member on a previous stint from 2012–13 to 2021–22. The Bulldogs competed in

900-544: The CNI department at Wilberforce, enabling hundreds of African-American students to attend classes. The state-funded students could complete liberal arts at the college, and students at Wilberforce could also take "industrial" classes. By the mid-1890s, the college also admitted students from South Africa , as part of the AME Church's mission to Africa. The church helped support such students with scholarships, as well as arranging board with local families. An 1898 report published by

950-625: The Civil War threatened the college's finances. The Southern planters withdrew their children, and no more paying students came from the South. The Methodist church said it had to divert its resources to support the war. The college closed temporarily in 1862 when the Cincinnati Methodist Church was unable to fund it fully. Led by Bishop Daniel A. Payne , in 1863 the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) decided to buy

1000-473: The Newport Classic, KOCH International, AVANT, VOX, Helicon, KLEOS Classics, and Mulatta Records labels. It records an average of three new CDs per year. Manhattan Chamber Orchestra official site This article about a United States classical music orchestra is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . William Grant Still William Grant Still Jr. (May 11, 1895 – December 3, 1978)

1050-445: The OIG found that the university did not comply with Title IV, HEA requirements because of administrative problems, including staff turnover, insufficient financial aid staff, failure to have written procedures, and lack of communication with other offices. The university worked with auditors to set up appropriate staff and procedures. According to US News and World Report , Wilberforce had

SECTION 20

#1732868575641

1100-525: The Ohio River from the South to find better work and living conditions. Some were pushed from Southern states, which often required newly manumitted individuals to leave within a certain time period. Xenia had quite a large free black population, as did other towns in southern Ohio, such as Chillicothe , Yellow Springs and Zanesville . Free blacks and anti-slavery white supporters used houses in Xenia as stations on

1150-489: The South , particularly after completion of the Little Miami Railroad in 1846. Some people in this area of abolitionist sentiment were shocked when wealthy white Southern planters patronized the resort with their entourages of enslaved African-American mistresses and mixed-race "natural" children. Given migration patterns, this was also an area where numerous free people of color settled, many having moved across

1200-640: The United States Navy to serve in World War I in 1918, and eventually moved to Harlem after the war, where he continued to work for Handy. During this time, Still was involved with many cultural figures of the Harlem Renaissance including the likes of Langston Hughes , Alain Locke , Arna Bontemps , and Countee Cullen . He recorded with Fletcher Henderson 's Dance Orchestra in 1921, and later played in

1250-466: The United States. In the late 19th century, Wilberforce enlarged its mission to include black students from South Africa . Wilberforce College was founded to educate African-American students. Twenty years earlier, a similar plan in New Haven, Connecticut , was met with a near-riot ( New Haven Excitement ), and was quickly abandoned. (See Simeon Jocelyn .) In the 19th century, discrimination against Blacks

1300-606: The boy greatly enjoyed. The two attended a number of performances by musicians on tour. His maternal grandmother Anne Fambro sang African-American spirituals to him. Still started violin lessons in Little Rock at the age of 15. He taught himself to play the clarinet , saxophone, oboe , double bass, cello and viola , and showed a great interest in music. At 16 years old, he graduated as class valedictorian from M. W. Gibbs High School in Little Rock in 1911. His mother wanted him to go to medical school, so Still pursued

1350-611: The ceremony because interracial marriage was illegal in California. They had a daughter, Judith Anne, and a son, Duncan. Still's granddaughter is journalist Celeste Headlee , a daughter of Judith Anne. On December 1, 1976, his home was designated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #169. It is located at 1262 Victoria Avenue in Oxford Square, Los Angeles . In 1916, Still worked in Memphis for W.C. Handy 's band. He then joined

1400-428: The classical education. As an act of political patronage, the state legislature established a commercial, normal and industrial (CNI) department at Wilberforce College. While this created complications for administration and questions about the mission of the college, in the near term it brought tens of thousands of dollars annually in state aid to the campus. Each state legislator could award an annual scholarship to

1450-527: The college to ensure its survival; they paid the cost of its debt. They sold another property to raise the money. Founders were Bishop Payne, who was selected as its president; James A. Shorter , pastor of the AME Church in Zanesville, Ohio and a future bishop; and John G. Mitchell , principal of the Eastern District Public School of Cincinnati . Payne was the first African American to become

1500-539: The country. In 2021 the university announced it was cutting tuition by 15% for Ohio residents. In 2008 the US Department of Education, Office of the Inspector General (OIG) completed an audit of financial management, specifically the university's management of Title IV funds, which related to its work-study program. For the two-year audit period (2004–2005, 2005–2006) the audit found numerous faults. In summary,

1550-529: The curriculum at Wilberforce since 1966. In October 2006, Wilberforce held the grand opening and dedication for the NASA Science, Engineering, Mathematics and Aerospace Academy (SEMAA) and the associated Aerospace Education Laboratory (AEL). It was attended by Bernice G. Alston, deputy assistant administrator of NASA's office of Education, and Dave Hobson , U.S. Representative from Ohio's 7th congressional district . The Wilberforce athletic teams are called

Manhattan Chamber Orchestra - Misplaced Pages Continue

1600-400: The first opera by an African-American composer to be performed on national television. Still composed almost 200 works, including nine operas, five symphonies, four ballets, plus art songs, chamber music, and works for solo instruments. He composed more than thirty choral works. Many of his works are believed to be lost. Wilberforce University Wilberforce University is

1650-766: The first time in Rochester. In 1934, Still moved to Los Angeles after receiving his first Guggenheim Fellowship , allowing him to start work on the first of his nine operas, Blue Steel . Two years later, Still conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl, the first African American to conduct a major American orchestra in a performance of his own works. Still arranged music for films such as Pennies from Heaven , starring Bing Crosby and Madge Evans , and Lost Horizon , starring Ronald Colman , Jane Wyatt and Sam Jaffe ,

1700-463: The first woman to teach at the school. In 1859 Sarah Jane Woodson began to teach at Wilberforce. She was a 1856 graduate of Oberlin College. She was the youngest sister of one of the original trustees, Lewis Woodson. She was the first black American to teach at a historically black college or university. She returned to Wilberforce in 1866 after it reopened in a position of greater responsibility. By 1860

1750-404: The latter of which, he arranged the music of Dimitri Tiomkin . Still was also hired to arrange music for the 1943 film Stormy Weather , but left because " Twentieth-Century Fox 'degraded colored people.'" For the 1939 New York World's Fair , Still composed Song of a City for the exhibit "Democracity," which played continuously during the fair's run. Despite writing music for the fair, he

1800-469: The modern French composer Edgard Varèse and the American composer George Whitefield Chadwick . On October 4, 1915, Still married Grace Bundy, whom he had met while they were both at Wilberforce. They had a son, William III, and three daughters, Gail, June, and Caroline. They separated in 1932 and divorced February 6, 1939. On February 8, 1939, he married pianist Verna Arvey , driving to Tijuana for

1850-918: The negative reviews it received. Still was also the first African American to conduct a major orchestra in the Deep South , doing so in 1955 where he conducted the New Orleans Philharmonic Orchestra. Still's works were performed internationally by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra , the London Symphony Orchestra , the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra , and the BBC Orchestra . He died in Los Angeles in 1978. Three years after his death, A Bayou Legend became

1900-509: The only African-American commissioned officer in the US Army, led the newly established military science department. Additional leading scholars taught at the college in the early 20th century, such as Theophilus Gould Steward , a politician, theologian and missionary ; and the sociologist Richard R. Wright, Jr. , the first African American to earn a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania . He

1950-474: The private university had more than 200 students. It is notable that most were from the South, the "natural" mixed-race sons and daughters of wealthy white planters and their enslaved African-American mistresses. The fathers paid for the educations that were denied their children in the South. They were among the fathers who did not abandon their mixed-race children but provided them with the social capital of education and sometimes property. The outbreak of

2000-399: The university. In the 19th century, Bishop Payne established his dream, a theological seminary , which was named in his honor. Top-ranking scholars taught at the college, including W.E.B. Du Bois , the philologist William S. Scarborough , Edward Clarke , and John G. Mitchell, dean of the seminary. In 1894 Lieutenant Charles Young , the third black graduate of West Point and at the time

2050-526: Was a future AME bishop and became president of Wilberforce. These men were also prominent in the American Negro Academy, founded in 1897 to support the work of scholars, writers and other intellectuals. In 1969 the organization was revived as the Black Academy of Arts and Letters . In 1941, the normal/industrial department was expanded by development of a four-year curriculum. In 1947, this section

Manhattan Chamber Orchestra - Misplaced Pages Continue

2100-675: Was an American composer of nearly two hundred works, including five symphonies , four ballets, nine operas, over thirty choral works , art songs , chamber music , and solo works. Born in Mississippi and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas , Still attended Wilberforce University and Oberlin Conservatory of Music as a student of George Whitefield Chadwick and then Edgard Varèse . Because of his close association and collaboration with prominent African-American literary and cultural figures, Still

2150-688: Was born on May 11, 1895, in Woodville, Mississippi . He was the son of two teachers, Carrie Lena Fambro Still Shepperson (1872–1927) and William Grant Still Sr. (1871–1895). His father was a partner in a grocery store and performed as a local bandleader. William Grant Still Sr. died when his infant son was three months old. Still's mother moved with him to Little Rock, Arkansas , where she taught high school English. She met, and in 1904 married, Charles B. Shepperson, who nurtured his stepson William's musical interests by taking him to operettas and buying Red Seal recordings of classical music, which

2200-771: Was designated as a National Historic Landmark by the US Department of Interior , in recognition of his significant and groundbreaking career in the US Army . In the 1970s, the university established the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center , to provide exhibits and outreach to the region. It is now operated by the Ohio Historical Society . The university also supports the national Association of African American Museums , to provide support and professional guidance especially to smaller museums across

2250-487: Was founded as a collaboration among leaders of the Cincinnati Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME Church). They planned to promote classical education and teacher training for black youth. Among the first 24 members of the tri-racial board of trustees in 1855 were Bishop Daniel A. Payne , Lewis Woodson , Ishmael Keith , and Alfred Anderson , all of

2300-623: Was legal, and the white colleges that would accept Black students could be counted on one hand ( Grinnell College , Iowa (1879, first graduate); Hillsdale College , Michigan; the Oneida Institute ; the Oberlin Collegiate Institute (later Oberlin College); and New-York Central College ). Located three miles (5 km) from the county seat of Xenia, Ohio in the southwestern part of the state, what developed as Wilberforce University

2350-583: Was named for the English statesman William Wilberforce , who achieved the end of the slave trade in the British Empire . The outbreak of the American Civil War (1861–65) caused the college to close in 1862 because of reduced enrollment and financial losses. The AME Church purchased the institution in 1863, and Bishop Daniel Payne was president, the first African American to become a college president in

2400-700: Was part of the 1974 Super Outbreak , which destroyed much of the city of Xenia and the old campus of Wilberforce. Older campus buildings still in use include the Carnegie Library , built in 1909 with matching funds from the Carnegie Foundation, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places ; Shorter Hall, built in 1922; and the Charles Leander Hill Gymnasium, built in 1958. The former residence of Charles Young near Wilberforce

2450-432: Was split from the university and given independent status. It was renamed as Central State College in 1951. With further development of programs and departments, in 1965 it achieved university status as Central State University . Growth of Wilberforce University after the mid-20th century led to construction of a new campus in 1967, located one mile (1.6 km) away. In 1974, the area was devastated by an F5 tornado that

2500-422: Was unable to attend the fair without police protection except on "Negro Day" . In 1949, his opera Troubled Island about Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Haiti, was performed by the New York City Opera a decade after its original composition. It was the first opera by an American to be performed by the company and the first by an African American to be performed by a major company. Still was, however, upset by

#640359