A Concert for Freedom: Music and Readings celebrate America’s 250th, a concluding event for Rhode Island

A Concert for Freedom: Music and Readings Celebrate America’s 250th

Stages of Freedom, the award-winning Black nonprofit, and the Rhode Island 250 Commission will present “A Concert for Freedom: Revolutionary Black and White Voices,” a free public performance combining music and dramatic readings to explore America’s founding ideals.

Presented as the concluding event of Rhode Island’s celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary, the concert will feature African American spirituals from the Revolutionary era performed by the interracial Schiller Institute Chorus. Rhode Island leaders, artists, and scholars will also read selections from the writings of Black and white patriots, writers, and thinkers.

Together, the music and readings will explore liberty, self-determination, and civic responsibility, highlighting voices often overlooked in accounts of America’s founding.

The event is free and open to the public.

Performers and readers

The Schiller Institute Chorus; Secretary of State Gregg Amore; Robb Dimmick; Ray Rickman; Cathy Clasper-Torch; Frank Mathis; Becky Bass; Natasha Rosario; Lauri Smalls; Jason Roome; Rochelle Garner Coleman; The Rose Conservatory; Greg Fernandes; and Delbert Leon Collins.

Sponsors

RI 250 Commission; RISCA; Willa & Taylor Bodman; Artist Development Fund; Cardi’s Furniture; Center for Community Partnerships; Coca-Cola; Frey Florists; The Schiller Institute Chorus; Mildred Nichols; Robert & Elizabeth Keener; Gregory Mundy; John A. McCluskey, Jr.; and Katherine Fandetti.

For more information, visit Stages of Freedom.