History’s Persistent Voice is a multimedia ethnographic anthology envisioned by Julia Bullock. The program’s focus is on the influence of pre-Emancipation voices across generations, emphasizing that era’s poetic musical traditions while centering the multifaceted identities of the B/black American experience, realized through art. There are nearly 25 contributing voices featured on this project.
These works are given continued life through Bullock’s powerhouse vocal renditions, far-ranging connective research, and newly commissioned compositions crafted by an esteemed roster of women of color that features Jessie Montgomery, Tania León, Allison Loggins-Hull, Cassie Kinoshi, Courtney Bryan, Carolyn Yarnell, and Pamela Z. The Tony Award-winning designer and visual artist Hana S. Kim provides an immersive framework for this ever evolving project.
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“Five Freedom Songs: Black American Spirituals” was conceived in collaboration with composer Jessie Montgomery 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 worldwide.
HISTORY’S PERSISTENT VOICE
Concept by Julia Bullock
Music by Courtney Bryan, Tania León, Allison Loggins-Hull, Jessie Montgomery, Carolyn Yarnell and Pamela Z.
Video Installations by Hana S. Kim
PAST PERFORMANCES AND FEATURED ARTISTS
Singer Julia Bullock
Conductor Christian Reif
The Met Museum – San Francisco Symphony – Yale University Schwarzman Center – Lincoln Center
Critical Acclaim
“Bullock easily textures and colors her voice without sacrificing her unique and true control over her sound. … the overall message — the narratives, research, and performance practices — that Bullock has entered into the lexicon never wavered. This revived and arranged music is already canon — even if unfamiliar to the Eurocentric Western art music canon.”
“The power and thoughtfulness of Bullock’s voice took the life-affirming works–though born of violence, trauma and oppression–and held the audience in its thrall, turning what one could imagine as a grief-stricken tone instead to be uplifting.”
“For Bullock, the project is deeply personal, because of her heritage and because of her dedication to justice and liberation. She contributed to creating the text of several of the works on the program. History’s Persistent Voice intersperses appropriate readings among the songs, including writings by incarcerated people and interviews with the quilters.”
