AfroSolo Gives Lifetime Achievement To Foye

AfroSolo Arts will be giving the Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award to Hope Foye.  
 
Ms. Foye, 86, is a living African American treasure.  A classically trained and acclaimed soprano.  As a youth, she was befriended and mentored by Paul Robeson.  As a result, she was drawn into the human rights movement that set the stage for the civil rights struggle.  In 1951 she was called before the infamous McCarran Senate Committee during the McCarthy era.  Rather then relinquish her visa; she fled into exile in Mexico, where she had a phenomenal career that included a television show and numerous critically-acclaimed performances.
 
She performed on and off Broadway, in Madison Square Garden, and at clubs such as Village Vanguard and Café Society. She appeared as Bess, in productions of Porgy and Bess, throughout Europe.

Ms. Foye's career includes three Rockefeller Grants, residencies and performances in 2008 Hope Foye - AlbumBerlin, Israel and Zurich. Now living in California, she earned a BA in music at Immaculate Heart College, shortly before her 60th birthday, and began work on a Masters at Cal State Long Beach. In addition to her native English, she is fluent in both Spanish and German, and sings in other languages.  Color photo by Eddie Milla.
 
The following are upcoming events at AfroSolo:
 
Visual Arts Programming
 
 Keina Davis Visual Arts Exhibit: RESILIENCE: My Culture, My People, Me!
Saturday, August 16 - Saturday, October 16
Main San Francisco Public Library (100 Larkin Street at Grove)
(Artist Reception Sunday, August 17, 2-4pm)
Free and open to the public
 
Focusing on the theme of resilience, we invited alumni AfroSolo visual artists to examine the Black experience.  This exhibit is a mixed media extravaganza illustrating the resilience in ourJim Dennis history, our culture and our lives.  It is an uplifting, inspiring, and thought-provoking multi-media exhibit showcases the works of. Featuring: Opal Adisa; Traci Bartlow; Christine Carmel; Karen Carraway; Jim Dennis; Alan Kimara Dixon; Keina Davis Elswick; Ajuan Mance; Ramekon Oarwisters
Justice Renaissance; Joseph Robinson; Michael Ross; Tasin Sabir, Malik Seneferu; Nena St. Louis and Orlonda Uffre.
 
Painting by Keina Davis Elswick
Photo by Jim Dennis

 2008 Yoshi's LogoGala Concert at Yoshi's San Francisco
In Honor of Four Great Ones:
John Coltrane, Sammy Davis, Jr., Duke Ellington, and Hope Foye
 
 Monday, August 18, 6 pm  (Gala Reception & Performance)
Lush Life Gallery (1320 Fillmore Street)
Ticket: $60 (Includes Gala Reception, performance and VIP Seating)
 
Monday, August 18, 8 pm (Performance Only)
Yoshi's San Francisco (1330 Fillmore Street)
Tickets: $25 Balcony, $35 Main Floor
 
Buy tickets now!
Visit:  http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/39398
 or call 1-800-838-3006

Featuring Hope Foye, Noah Griffin, Ohnedaruth, and Robert Sims
 
In Addition to our Guest Artist: Ms. Hope Foye (Above)
 
2008 Noah GriffinNoah Griffin

Mr. Griffin performs  A Tribute to Sammy Davis, Jr.  Mr. Griffin began his singing career at the age of seven when he joined the San Francisco Boys Chorus; since then, he has performed with Duke Ellington, and shared the stage with Paul Robeson, Nat King Cole, and Leontyne Price. He has performed at many venues including: Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas and New York's Birdland. Most recently, Griffin played a six-month engagement at the Fairmont Hotel and was featured in Oakland Opera Theater's production of Duke Ellington's Queenie Pie.
 
Ohnedaruth

Comprised of members of the Saint John Coltrane Church in San Francisco, Ohnedaruth Coltrane Church(Sanskrit for "compassion") will perform A Tribute to John Coltrane, featuring the melodies, harmonies and rhythms of John Coltrane's masterpiece A Love Supreme. Ohnedaruth has performed to critical acclaim at virtually every Jazz venue in the Bay Area, including Kimball's East, Yoshi's, Bimbo's, and the San Jose Jazz Festival. The group has also played at the Antibes Jazz Festival and at the Sorbonne in Paris.
 
Robert SimsRobert Sims

Mr. Sims will performs tribute to Duke Ellington entitled The Sacred Music of Duke Ellington. His interpretations of African American folk songs have won him praise throughout the Unites States, Europe and Asia.  Following the tradition of Paul Robeson, Roland Hayes, and William Warfield, Sims has emerged as one of this generation's spiritual specialist.  Upholding this proud heritage for today's audience, Sims is equally effective at bringing a deep intimacy to African American folk songs, as well as to the traditional classical repertoire.  
 
A leading interpreter of African American spirituals, Robert Sims recently made his recital debut at Carnegie Hall. He has been featured in concerts at Lincoln Center, the Smithsonian, the African American Museum in Los Angeles, Grace Cathedral, the Latour de France International Music Festival, and the American Church in Paris.
 
To see and hear Mr. Sims visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j9MOt63E54&feature=related
 
AfroSolo Community Resilience Awards

AfroSolo proudly announces the launch of its Community Resilience Award.  This award is given to individuals who exemplify the spirit of fighting and overcoming setbacks, disappointments and failures.  This year we honor:

Bernice Brown:
For her service as an educator, philanthropist, community activist and her distinguished career in community services
 
Lisa L. Williams:
For her service as a political, community and human rights activist.
 
 
Black Voices Series
 
Black Voices Series

The Marsh LogoThursday, August 21-Sunday, August 24
Thursday-Saturday, 8 pm; Sunday, 3 pm
The Marsh, 1062 Valencia Street (near 22n and Mission, SF)
Tickets: $25 General Admission
                             Buy Now at:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com:80/event/38564
or call: 1-800-838-3006

 In addition to general admission tickets ($25), a limited number of Special Festival Passes ($100) are available (passes include priority seating at all events, admission to a Black Voices performance, and the Yoshi's Gala Concert and Reception)
 
In collaboration with The Marsh, AfroSolo presents its seminal Black Voices Series. Idris Ackamoor, Angela Dean-Baham, and Laura Elaine Ellis will perform original solo stage works inspired by our theme of resilience.

Idris Ackamoor - Music for One Hand Clapping
Idris Ackamoor - TuxMr. Ackamoor, directed by Rhodessa Jones, will perform a poetic essay on loss, resilience, and triumph inside a life of music. Using memory as ritual, Idris will tell his story, and reflect on other artists, such as Peg Leg Bates and Django Reinhardt, who have overcome incredible physical challenges to garner worldwide acclaim.
 
Mr. Ackamoor is an award winning multi-instrumentalist, composer, actor, tap dancer, director, and producer. He is the Founder and Executive/Co-Artistic Director of the San Francisco performance company, Cultural Odyssey.  An accomplished tap dancer, his signature performance is his uncanny ability to combine tap dancing with playing his saxophone simultaneously: a one-of-kind act! Mr. Ackamoor received an Individual Artist Commission Grant from the San Francisco Art Commission to create and perform Music for One Hand Clapping.
 
To see a video of Peg Leg Bates visit:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H62Xsxziiw
 
 Angela Dean-Baham - Unsung Diva: The Life and Times of Sissieretta Jones, aka Black Patti     
                                                                                                                              Angela Dean-Baham
Ms. Dean-Baham, directed by Rhodessa Jones, will perform Unsung Diva: The Life and Times of Sissieretta Jones, aka Black Patti. Dubbed the "Black Patti", after the renowned Metropolitan Opera singer Adelina Patti, Sissieretta Jones was the most accomplished Black singer of her time.

Angela Dean-Baham began her performing career in Cincinnati where she appeared with the Cincinnati Opera Young Artist Program in the classical operetta Ruddygore.  She has appeared with Festival Opera of Walnut Creek, Berkeley Opera, Pocket Opera, Oakland Lyric Opera and Oakland Opera Theatre.
 
Laura Elaine Ellis - i that is we

Laura Ellis Ms. Ellis will perform the World Premiere of i that is we, an original dance performance inspired by Nina Simone's song Four Women.  The work was created in collaboration with poet Marc Bamuthi Joseph, composer Ajayi Lumumba, and photographer Kimara Dixon.
 
Ms. Ellis is an award winning dancer who has presented solo and ensemble works in the Bay Area since1995.  She is a founding member and executive director of The African & African American Performing Arts Coalition that currently presents the Black Choreographers Festival: Here & Now.
 
Marvin K. White - Our Name Be Witness
 
Mr. White reads stories to, from and about the women he came from, mostly gone now but whose spirited Marvin K. Whitevoices challenged, begged, egged and demanded that they have their say.  Part mother-tongue and part fortune-tale Marvin speaks the truth of these women and all things spirit, legacy, memory, men, failings, successes, discovery and love that they were. This work is a cup to the wall of their secrets that were held and let go of in dreams, in wake, in life and in after life.   

 United in Health 3:
Artists, Healthcare Workers and Community

Health Fair LogoSaturday, August 23, 2008, 10 am - 2 pm
Ella Hill Hutch Community Center, 1050 McAllister Street (at Webster, SF)
Free and open to the public
 
In collaboration with Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, MoMagic, St. Mary's Hospital, and United in Health BrochureCalifornia Pacific Medical Center, AfroSolo hosts a community health fair aimed at increasing health awareness in the African American community. With the goal of motivating participants to make positive health decisions, the fair will provide health screenings, demonstrations, and access to healthcare professionals, in addition to food, games, and prizes.

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