Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts to Welcome SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK, 12/13

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College continues its 60th Anniversary Season with internationally renowned a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey In The Rock, performing a seasonal concert entitled Celebrating the Holydays on Saturday, December 13, 2014 at 8pm. Tickets for this one-night-only event are $30-$40 and can be purchased at BrooklynCenter.org or by calling the Brooklyn Center box office at 718-951-4500 (Tues-Sat, 1pm-6pm).

Celebrate the holidays with this joyful concert of music from many faiths, performed with Sweet Honey In The Rock's stunning vocal prowess rooted in the rich textures of African American traditions. The program honors the holiday spirit from Christmas to Kwanzaa with music containing Latino, Chinese, African, and Hebrew influences, as well as American spirituals and traditional standards such as "Go Tell it on the Mountain," "This Little Light of Mine," and more, blended with new holiday favorites.

Challenge and change are the themes underlying the 40-year career of the revered female African-American a cappella ensemble, Sweet Honey In The Rock. In the course of creating its adventurous and diverse mixture of blues, African, jazz, gospel and R&B music, with excursions into symphonic and dance theater, 23 vocalists have passed through the group, formed as a quartet in 1973 at a workshop at the D.C. Black Repertory Theater Company in Washington by Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon.

The ever-growing list of Sweet Honey In The Rock's musical and activist achievements since its creation is beyond stunning. The ladies have performed in Nairobi and Beijing at the U.N. World Conference on Women, toured the U.K., Japan, Africa, Australia and various European locations, been the subject of two PBS documentaries, Gotta Make This Journey and Sweet Honey In The Rock: Raise Your Voice, recorded film soundtracks, received Grammy nominations for several of their albums for children, and shared a Grammy Award for their participation in the multi-artist record Folkways: A Vision Shared - A Tribute to Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly. They again honored Guthrie in a Centennial Celebration of his birthday presented at the Kennedy Center in Washington in November 2012. The group appeared in a 1986 PBS special, The Dream and the Drum, on the first national observance of Martin Luther King Day and in early 2012 performed at the unveiling ceremonies for the monument for Dr. King on the National Mall. The same year, Sweet Honey also debuted their first ever orchestral collaboration, providing the lyrics for composer William Bandfield's "Symphony 10: Affirmations for a New World," co-commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. They also released a thought-provoking single and video, "Are We a Nation," inspired by the controversial immigration law that was enacted in Arizona. The song captured a Gold Songwriter Award from the 27th Mid-Atlantic Song Contest and was featured on an all-star compilation, Bordersongs, that raised money for the No More Deaths organization, which provides water and humanitarian aid along the Arizona/Mexico border. Their latest 2-CD set, A Tribute - Live! Jazz at Lincoln Center, (SHE ROCKS 5/Appleseed Recordings) pays homage to some of the great female African-American vocalists whose songs helped shape the group, including Abbey Lincoln, Odetta, Miriam Makeba, and Nina Simone.

For decades, Sweet Honey's on stage line-up has also included an American sign language interpreter, a position held by Shirley Childress since 1981. The group recently returned from tours in Europe and Australia, and this year celebrates Sweet Honey In The Rock's 40th Anniversary: Forty & Fierce (January 2014 - January 2015).

The current Sweet Honey In The Rock comprises Louise Robinson, Carol Maillard, Nitanju Bolade Casel, Aisha Kahlil, and Shirley Childress (ASL).

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College's presentation of Sweet Honey In The Rock: Celebrating the Holydays is made possible, in part, by Con Edison and WFUV Radio.

Multibuy discounts (four or more shows) save 15% off individual ticket prices (not applicable for all 60th Anniversary Season performances). 50% discount for children ages 12 and under. Discounts also available for seniors, students, Brooklyn College faculty/staff/alumni, and groups. $10 student rush tickets available day-of-show.

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