“I came to see the roots of my own people’s culture, especially in our music which is still the richest and most healthy in America.”
Athlete. Actor. Activist. Ambassador for freedom.
Paul Robeson’s voice sang to the very soul of America. And to its conscience.
The truths he spoke deemed him subversive and in 1950 his passport was revoked. Blacklisted, no longer free to travel, or to speak, or to earn, Robeson published Here I Stand, his autobiographical manifesto at the dawn of the Civil Rights movement. Not a single mainstream newspaper would dare to review it. Robeson holds our story in his voice. His words resound still and have inspired this work by Carlos Simon and Dan Harder. Hear it and be moved to act. “Racism, backed by the power and technology of a modern industrial state, is a monster that must never be unleashed again.”
Music Director Kedrick Armstrong leads the Oakland Symphony in this powerfully conscientious work, along with music by Jasmine Barnes and the lyrical Second Symphony of Brahms.
THIS FRIDAY (May 16) at 8:00pm, the Oakland Symphony “Here I Stand: Paul Robeson.” The performance is at The Paramount (2025 Broadway, Oakland).
Tickets start at just $25. Slipped Disc readers can enjoy a 15% discount on all other priced tickets with this promotional code: DISC051625.
HERE I STAND
OAKLAND SYMPHONY
Kedrick Armstrong, conductor
Morris Robinson, bass
Oakland Symphony Chorus
JASMINE BARNES: Sometimes I Cry
CARLOS SIMON with libretto by DAN HARDER:
Here I Stand: Paul Robeson
JOHANNES BRAHMS: Symphony No. 2
https://www.oaklandsymphony.org/event/paul-robeson-here-i-stand/
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