The Ordering of Moses
an oratorio by R. Nathaniel Dett
October 13, 2022 | 7:30 PM
Hochstein Performance Hall
50 Plymouth Avenue North, Rochester, NY 14614
Masking strongly encouraged
The Rochester Oratorio Society presents “The Ordering of Moses,” a classic American oratorio by R. Nathaniel Dett.
The ROS Chorus and Orchestra are joined by the Nathaniel Dett Chorale, Canada’s first professional choral group dedicated to Afrocentric music of all styles, and their director, Brainerd Blyden-Taylor; The Roberts Wesleyan Chorale, Adam Potter, Director; Thomas Warfield, and featured artists:
About R. Nathaniel Dett and The Ordering of Moses
R. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943) completed The Ordering of Moses in 1937, having begun it as his MM thesis at the Eastman School of Music (1932). The oratorio’s rich, emotional orchestration offers a symbolist portrait of Moses from the burning bush up to his deliverance of the Israelites through the Red Sea.
R. Nathaniel Dett
Born in the historic slave refuge of Drummondville (now Niagara Falls), ON, Dett and his family moved across the Rainbow Bridge into Niagara Falls, NY. Ultimately, it was Rochester’s Clarissa Street neighborhood which Dett called home from the 1930s until his death. Dett fully immersed himself in Rochester, serving as president of its NAACP, forming choirs at the Clarissa St. YWCA, and directing music at Trinity Presbyterian (now Trinity Emmanuel) and Two Saints Episcopal churches. A mentor to Rochester’s William Warfield, Dett composed megahits such as “Listen to the Lambs,” which was known to thousands of Rochesterians. With his WHAM American Choir on national radio broadcast, Dett also lent his talents to high school students in the Inter-High Choir and set his piano piece, “Juba Dance,” for them.
As the first Black recipient of a Bachelor of Music in the US (Oberlin, 1908), Dett was also the first Black graduate of the Eastman School (1932). He completed his four-volume collection of spirituals in Rochester, presenting important historical transcriptions alongside his own fusions of African and European idioms. Two piano suites during the Rochester years, Tropic Winter and 8 Bible Vignettes, evoke the abstraction of Scriabin. While The Ordering of Moses is Dett’s only orchestral piece known to survive today, he composed at least two symphonic pieces for CBS Radio and provided incidental music for Rochester’s 1934 Centennial Pageant.
We hope that Rochester becomes reacquainted with one of its most famous residents by diving deeper into Dett!
About ROS
The Rochester Oratorio Society (ROS) was founded in 1945 and offers year-round cultural, musical enrichment and education to residents in seven counties in Western NY.
The mission of ROS is to produce high quality, live choral performances including:
- Classical concerts
- Small ensemble and tour performances
- In-school concerts
- Performances with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra
Each year, ROS hosts the Rochester International Vocal Competition (RIVC). RIVC has fostered the careers of dozens of emerging Black professional solo vocal artists, including Jorell Williams, Key’mon Murrah, and Elena O’Connor. They carry their Rochester success to top-level performing institutions the world over.
ROS has consistently engaged and promoted BIPOC artists, ever since William Warfield first performed with ROS. Prominent collaborating artists have included vocalist Kearstin Piper Brown, choreographer Nydia Padilla-Rodriguez, and Turtle Clan Haudenosaunee representative Jamie Jacobs, among many others.
Collaborating ensembles include the NTID Dancers, Morgan State University Choir, and Sankofa African Dance and Drum Ensemble.
Commemorative, humanistic, multi-media events are a hallmark of ROS seasons. The 2009 project “Partners in Freedom” celebrated the friendship between President Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. ROS performance of Karl Jenkins’ “The Peacemakers” involved more than 200 performers, incorporating dance, a Native American invocation, and artworks from the Memorial Art Gallery.
ROS Community Initiatives:
- ROS supports young singers through its Choral Scholar program, and Choral Fellows programs.
- ROS offers two scholarships per year to highly qualified high school students from Monroe and Livingston Counties.
- ROS is also developing a new partnership with ROC Music Collaborative.
- Resonanz, ROS’s small ensemble, annually performs numerous free or low-cost concerts in libraries, and at historical venues such as the Women’s Rights National Historic Park, and the Genesee Country Village and Museum.
- ROS advances arts access through dozens of free performances for the community each season. Our signature holiday charity benefit concert, A City Sings for the Season, presented free of charge through co-sponsorship with the City of Rochester.
Join ROS
ROS welcomes new singing members year round through an online audition process. Music-reading tutorials, financial assistance, and virtual rehearsal options help members participate as their talents and resources best permit. Click here for further information.
https://youtu.be/UM-lH2n-M_Y
“If you’re in the Rochester area, this would be the group to join”
Paulette Gissendanner, Soprano
“Everything that we sing, we fall in love with and is absolutely fun”
Eric Logan, Bass
Thank You to Our Sponsors
Made possible thanks to support from the William & Sheila Konar Foundation; The Rochester Area Community Foundation; The Max and Marian Farash Charitable Foundation; Monroe County; and media sponsor WXXI Classical. This project is made possible in part by Vision and Action Grants from HumanitiesNY, and with funding from the Decentralization Grant program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the NY State Legislature and Kathleen C. Hochul, Governor, and administered by the Genesee Valley Council on the Arts.
