PAUL ROBESON: “HERE I STAND”
Editors Choice“I came to see the roots of my own people’s culture, especially in our music which is still the richest and most healthy in America.”
Athlete. Actor. Activist. Ambassador for freedom.
Paul Robeson’s voice sang to the very soul of America. And to its conscience.
The truths he spoke deemed him subversive and in 1950 his passport was revoked. Blacklisted, no longer free to travel, or to speak, or to earn, Robeson published Here I Stand, his autobiographical manifesto at the dawn of the Civil Rights movement. Not a single mainstream newspaper would dare to review it.
Robeson’s words resound still, now set to music by Carlos Simon and Dan Harder. He holds our story in his voice. Hear it be moved to act.
“Racism, backed by the power and technology of a modern industrial state, is a monster that must never be unleashed again.”
THIS FRIDAY (February 16) at 8:00pm, the Oakland Symphony performs the world premiere of “Here I Stand: Paul Robeson.” The performance is at The Paramount (2025 Broadway, Oakland).
Tickets start at just $25. Slipped Disc readers can enjoy a 15% discount on all other priced tickets with this promotional code: DISC021624.
HERE I STAND
OAKLAND SYMPHONY
Kedrick Armstrong, conductor
Morris Robinson, bass
Oakland Symphony Chorus
JOAN TOWER: Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman No. 6
CARLOS SIMON WITH LIBRETTO BY DAN HARDER:
Here I Stand: Paul Robeson
(World Premiere Oakland Symphony Commission, generously funded by the Robeson Centennial Committee)
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 5
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