The 1997 Gateways Music Festival features African-American classical instrumentalists in performances throughout the city

Artistic Director Armenta Adams Hummings announces programs and artists for the second festival in Rochester 

ROCHESTER, NY - Armenta Adams Hummings, founder and artistic director of the Gateways Music Festival, has announced the newly expanded festival for 1997.  During the weekend of Sept. 5, 6 and 7, more than 60 African-American classical musicians from across the United States will perform.  The nonstop schedule of events includes performances from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. in schools, churches and concert halls throughout Rochester - - even on an outdoor stage - - for a total of 26 concerts.  An added feature of the 1997 festival will be performances by Gateways participants during the Sunday morning worship service at more than a dozen area churches. 

Among the renowned guest artists are the Anderson Quartet, Eastman School of Music graduates now based in Los Angeles; duo-pianists and recording artists Richard and John Contigulia; conductor Michael Morgan, music director of the Oakland East Bay Symphony; pianist and conductor Awadagin Pratt, first prize winner of the 1992 Naumberg International Piano Competition; and conductor Kay George Roberts, tenor George Shirley, former member of the Metropolitan Opera; Herman Taylor, organ; and baritone and Rochester native William Warfield. 

Featured soloists will be pianist Sandra Rivers, faculty member of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music; Jerome Ashby, French hornist of the New York Philharmonic member; and young concert pianist Scott Patterson.  Returning for the second Rochester festival are Michigan cellist Anthony Elliott and Texas violinist Eliesha Nelson.  Popular artists returning from the 1995 festival are pianists Roy Eaton and Dr. Raymond Jackson. 

Music by African-American composers will be featured, including a work arranged for the Gateways festival.  William Warfield will narrate a new work, The Life of Frederick Douglass.  Florence Price, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Scott Joplin, Michael Abels and George Walker are among the African-American composers whose music will be celebrated. 

Programs will also pay tribute to the bicentennial of Franz Schubert’s birth and the centennial of Johannes Brahms’ death.  Music by Beethoven, Mozart, Albinoni, Haydn, Chopin, and Bach will be heard in solo recitals, chamber music, lecture demonstrations and an orchestra concert with soloists. 

About the Gateways Music Festival 

The festival began in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with events in 1993 and 1994.  Then in 1994, founder Armenta Adams Hummings came to Rochester to establish a pilot program of musical mentoring in the African-American community under the auspices of the Eastman School of Music.  Since then, Gateways has been hosted by Rochester, NY, in 1995 and 1997. 

Gateways celebrates the universal appeal of classical music, and in particular, its ability to cross racial lines and bring diverse communities closer together.  Festival participants are classically trained professional – members of symphony orchestras, teachers at the public-school and college levels, recording artists and solo recitalists. 

The festival’s mission is to increase the visibility and viability of African-American classical musicians and to heighten public awareness of their contributions to the music field.  In 1995, excerpts from the Rochester festival were broadcast in a two-hour, nationally distributed radio program, produced by Rochester public broadcasting station WXXI for Public Radio International. 

This year, a first-ever collaboration will begin with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to underwrite the videotaping of 1997 Gateways performances.  Each performer will be given a tape they can use for auditions and further career development. 

Gateways also seeks to establish role models for young musicians of all ethnic origins and specifically to encourage young African-Americans to study and seek careers in classical music.  As in past festivals, participants this year are bringing young musicians that they are teaching and mentoring so they can share the musical and community experience. 

Also, the festival provides an opportunity for African-American musicians to meet, exchange ideas and revitalize their musical energy. 

About Armenta Adams Hummings 

A concert pianist, Hummings is Distinguished Community Mentor of the Eastman School of Music.  In addition to performing as a guest soloist with orchestras, Hummings gives individual and group lessons to young children in a variety of instruments.  She teaches at community centers located in the children’s neighborhoods.  On Saturday, Sept. 6, many of her young students will perform at Midtown Plaza and during the Eastman School of Music Youthfest. 

Festival Sponsors 

The Gateways Music Festival thanks the following organizations for their support of the 1997 programs: Eastman School of Music, WDKX 104 FM, GeVa Theatre, Chase Manhattan Bank, Odyssey Partners, the Rochester Area Foundation, Eastman Kodak Company, ITT Automotive-Electrical Systems, Action for a Better Community, the Urban League of Rochester and About…Time Magazine.