American Voices: Selected Piano Works by Black and Native American Composers

Part of Carnegie Hall’s “Voices of Hope: Artists in Times of Oppression” festival

Connor Chee: Navajo Vocable no. 9 (2014)
Louis Ballard: Four American Indian Piano Preludes (1968)
Margaret Bonds: Troubled Waters (1967)
Dawn Avery: Onekha’shòn:a (The Waters; 2009) *
Barbara Croall: Mazhenaabikiniganing Aagawong (Inscription Rock; 2008) *
Talib Rasul Hakim: A Piano Piece in Six Sections (1965)
Hakim: Sound-Gone (1967)
Michael Begay: Adéihozhdìlzin (Know who you are; 2021) World Premiere *
Brent Michael Davids: Testament of Atom (2008) World Premiere *
Arthur Cunningham: selections from Harlem Suite (1970)

*Composed for Emanuele Arciuli

This event of the Academy’s is part of Carnegie Hall’s festival “Voices of Hope: Artists in Times of Oppression” which spotlights the resilience of artists and the life-affirming power of music and the arts during times of oppression and tyranny. This festival examines the role of artists during times of injustice and explores the works they made in response. It is both an exploration and a celebration of music born from and inspired by political adversity and struggle.

Throughout his career, Italian pianist Emanuele Arciuli has been keenly interested in the variety of voices in American classical music. In this recital, he focuses on selections by Black and Native American composers whose works represent an amalgam of different experiences and traditions. From the spiritual-inspired “Troubled Water” by Margaret Bonds and Arthur Cunningham’s jazz-infused Harlem Suite to contemporary works by Michael Begay and Brent Michael Davids, Arciuli showcases the diversity of voices that collectively add to the American music landscape.