Musical Presentation of Porgy and Bess

NYC professional and community musicians present score of ‘Porgy and Bess’ Oct. 9 A concert performance of “Porgy and Bess,” George Gershwin’s highly acclaimed American folk opera, will feature more than 150 performers that include a dozen professionals from Opera Noire of New York, Sunday, Oct. 9, at 4 p.m. in Ford Hall at the Whalen Music Center on the campus of Ithaca College (IC). The performance also will include IC School of Music vocal students and alumni, the IC Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Michael Hall, The Dorothy Cotton Jubilee Singers, and the Southside Community and Community School of Arts Children Chorus. Baruch Whitehead, artistic director of the production, IC associate professor of music education and artistic director of the Dorothy Cotton Jubilee Singers, notes: “In this score, Gershwin brilliantly blends the African American genres of blues, jazz, folks tunes, jubilees, praying songs, street cries, work songs, and spirituals into the classical art form of opera.” Maestro Leslie B. Dunner, the principal conductor of the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, will conduct the production. This season, Dunner also will perform with the Evansville and Prince George's Philharmonic Orchestras, San Jose's Symphony Silicon Valley and Chicago Sinfonietta, KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra, Johannesburg Festival Orchestra, and the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra. The role of Porgy will be sung by baritone Kenneth Overton, founder of Opera Noire of New York. Heralded by the BBC for his “exceptional voice,” Overton has performed the role of Porgy around the world and has sung in other roleswith more than a dozen symphonies and opera houses throughout the country. Eleven other Opera Noire soloists will join Overton in singing the major roles in the show. Bess will be sung by soprano Janinah Burnett, whose extensive credits include numerous engagements with the Metropolitan Opera, Spike Lee’s film “Red Hook Summer,” Opera Carolina, the Theatre de Chatelet in Paris, New York City Opera and many others. Tickets are $10 and are available at https://ithaca.ticketforce.com or from the Dillingham Box Office, (607) 274-3224. The production is made possible by grants from the Ithaca College School of Music and the Legacy Foundation of Tompkins County.