The World House Choir will join forces with MUSE, Cincinnati’s Women’s Choir for two powerful concerts—one in Springfield on April 25 and one in Cincinnati on May 2—celebrating the remarkable life and musical legacy of Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon. Reagon was the founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock, the world renowned, Grammy award winning acapella ensemble of five Black
women that has created and performed music for over 50 years rooted in the lived experiences of Black women while offering a voice of truth, resilience, and meaning for all.
The concert, entitled “Give Your Hands to Struggle,” features performances by each choir as well as a collaborative presentation of Liberty or Death Suite, an original work by Dr. Reagon about Harriet Tubman commissioned by MUSE in 2004 for the opening of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati.
The choirs will be lifting up beloved songs by Dr. Reagon such as Ella’s Song, Greed, Seven Principles, I Woke Up This Morning with My Mind Stayed on Freedom, We’ll Understand It Better By and By, and I Remember, I Believe. Audiences will also be invited to join in singing throughout the concert.
To honor the full depth of Reagon’s legacy as an activist, historian, and scholar, the choirs have invited two distinguished voices to offer pre-concert talks: Dr. Tammy Kernodle, professor of music at Miami University who is in the process of writing a book about Reagon, and Dr Portia Maultsby, professor emerita of ethnomusicology at Indiana University, who has known Reagon since their collaborative work at the Smithsonian in the 1970s..
Here is the schedule of events for Give Your Hands To Struggle: A Tribute and Celebration of Bernice Johnson Reagon
- Springfield Performance – Saturday, April 25 at 4:00pm at the John Legend Theater, 700 South Livermore St., Springfield. Preconcert talk at 3:00pm. Tickets available here
- Cincinnati Performance – Saturday, May 2 at 4pm at The House of Joy, 3220 Central Parkway, Cincinnati. Preconcert talk at 3:00pm. Tickets available here