  |
Emory University will host the first major exhibition documenting the life of William L. Dawson, a composer who organized the School of Music at Tuskegee Institute and conducted for many years its magnificent choir. A child of the rural agricultural south, Dawson brought the African American folk songs of his youth into the classical concert halls of New York City through his many arrangements of Negro spirituals and in his ground-breaking work, The Negro Folk Symphony. The exhibition will feature items from the recently-acquired Dawson papers held by Emory’s Special Collections and Archives Division. It will include original musical scores, photographs, correspondence, and personal artifacts.
Sponsored by:
The exhibitions, To Work His Wonders on a Scene: The Life and Times of William L. Dawson and Music of Social Change, share the sponsorship of Emory University's Special Collections and Archives Division of the Robert W. Woodruff Library, the Departments of Music and African-American Studies, the Office of Multicultural Programs and the Martin Luther King Holiday Observance Committee. The exhibitions and related programming that will be scheduled throughout the spring semester of 2005 are also made possible in part by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. |
