Julia Bullock will present her thoughtfully curated “History’s Persistent Voice” program at Yale University’s Schwarzman Center (Feb 7 & 8) before performing it at New York’s Lincoln Center (Feb 11) to kick off their American Songbook series. Comprising songs developed by people who were enslaved, alongside new works, and words by Black visual artists and incarcerated poets, the program was developed during the 2018–19 season while Bullock was Artist-in-Residence at the Met Museum. It features Jessie Montgomery’s Five Freedom Songs – composed for Bullock – which she also sings shortly thereafter on tour around Maryland with the Baltimore Symphony and Music Director Jonathon Heyward (Feb 27–March 1). “History’s Persistent Voice” also includes five newly commissioned compositions by American women of color: I Come Up the Hard Way and ain’t my home by Yale School of Music alumna Carolyn Yarnell, Quilt by Pamela Z, Mama’s Little Precious Thing by Allison Loggins-Hull, and Green Pastures by Tania León. These performances are produced by Arktype / Thomas O. Kriegsmann and Yale Schwarzman Center. The project is curated by Bullock and features conductor Christian Reif, visual artist Hana S. Kim, and the New Haven Symphony Orchestra.