ABOUT THE CHOIR
Outstanding choirs will collaborate with guest conductor Dr. Zanaida Robles in a performance of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Hiawatha's Wedding Feast at world-famous Carnegie Hall. It is a multi-cultural fusion of Native American legend, classic American poetry, and English late-Romantic music. The London premiere of "Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast" in 1898 was a smashing success, resulting in overnight fame and respect among his colleagues that few men of color could have hoped to enjoy in the early twentieth century.
Choirs will come together to create an unforgettable performance filled with musical artistry and visual projections. Audiences have never seen a choral concert like this before. An evening at Carnegie Hall made even more inimitable in this one-time performance.
ABOUT THE GUEST CONDUCTOR/COMPOSER
Dr. Zanaida Stewart Robles is an award-winning American composer, vocalist, and teacher. She is a fierce advocate for diversity and inclusion in music education and performance. Authentic interpersonal connection and relationship-building are core principles of her teaching and performance methods. Born, raised, and educated in Southern California, she is in demand as a composer, vocalist, clinician and adjudicator for competitions, festivals, and conferences related to choral and solo vocal music.
As a composer, Dr. Robles primarily writes choral music, songs, and keyboard works. Her music has been performed by professional ensembles, community choirs, educational institutions, churches, and individuals world wide. Select works are published by MusicSpoke, E.B. Marks Music, Pavane Publishing, and Stainer and Bell. Most of her works are self-published and are available in digital format directly through her website. Her compositional style can be described as “progressive classical”: energized, soulful, harmonically colorful, rhythmically driven, heavily modal with African elements and touches of progressive rock.
