Ithaca College

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.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.”

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.

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 roles with more than a dozen symphonies and opera houses throughout the country. The role of Bess will be sung by soprano, Lisa Daltirus. Eleven other Opera Noire soloists will join Overton in singing the major roles in the show.

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.  

In addition to this performance, there will also be a panel discussion with Dr. Ellen Noonan, author of The Strange Career of Porgy and Bess: Race, Culture, and America’s Most Famous Opera. Dr. Noonan is Visiting Assistant Professor of History and Interim Director of the program in Public History and Archives at New York University. Respondents to Dr. Noonan include Ithaca College music student Namarah McCall, creator of the “IC Color” week; Dr. Nia Makepeace, assistant professor of education, women’s and gender studies at Ithaca College; and Kenneth Overton (Porgy), co-founder of Opera Noire of New York City.  The panel will be moderated by Dr. Sara Haefeli, assistant professor of music history.The panel will be held in Hockett Family Recital Hall ‪Saturday, October 8 at 7 pm. Admission is free.

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact Erik Kibelsbeck at ekibelsbeck@ithaca.edu or by phone at (607) 274-3717. We ask that requests for accommodations be made as soon as possible.