Drama
Gullah Meditations
A staged performance of new interpretations of Gullah-Geechee spirituals.
Featuring tenor Victor Ryan Robertson
Dancer/Actor/Choreographer Fana Minea Tesfagiorgis
Pianist/ Arranger Adrianne Duncan
While performing at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston in 2016, tenor and VHO Troupe member Victor Ryan Robertson was handed some out-of-print sheet music of 19th-century Gullah spirituals. The songs resonated with him deeply, and he created new arrangements with his longtime collaborator Adrianne Duncan expressing their backgrounds in jazz, opera & gospel.
Gullah Meditations returns to the source of the very lifeblood of African-American music. A musical revelation and a watershed historical event, this project represents the first significant new arrangements of "unknown" spirituals in 100 years.