Sweet Honey In The Rock Set for Celebrity Series of Boston, 3/2

Celebrity Series of Boston will present the vocal ensemble Sweet Honey In The Rock on Sunday, March 2, 2014, at 5:00pm at Symphony Hall, 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA. Sponsored by Charlesbank Capital Partners LLC.

Tickets for Sweet Honey In The Rock start at $30, and are available online at www.celebrityseries.org, by calling CelebrityCharge at (617) 482-6661 Monday-Friday 10:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m., or at the Symphony Hall Box Office, 301 Massachusetts Ave., Boston.

This is the Sweet Honey In the Rock's fifth appearance with the Celebrity Series of Boston; they most recently performed in 2011.

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 always expanding. The ensemble has performed in Nairobi and Beijing at the U.N. World Conference on Women, toured the UK, 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 also 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 In The Rock also debuted their first ever orchestral collaboration, providing the lyrics for composer William Banfield'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 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 In The Rock's on-stage line-up has also included an American sign language interpreter, a position held by Shirley Childress since 1981). The current Sweet Honey In The Rock ensemble comprises of Louise Robinson, Carol Maillard, Nitanju Bolade Casel, Aisha Kahlil, and Shirley Childress (ASL).

Celebrity Series of Boston was founded in 1938 by pianist and impresario Aaron Richmond. Over the course of its 75-year history, Celebrity Series has presented an array of the world's greatest performing artists, including Sergei Rachmaninoff, Arturo Toscanini, Ignace Paderewski, Artur Rubenstein, Vladimir Horowitz, Glenn Gould, Fritz Kreisler, Jascha Heifetz, Isaac Stern, Andrés Segovia, Kirsten Flagstad, Marian Anderson, Luciano Pavarotti, Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, Martha Graham, Ballet Russe De Monte Carlo, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Mstislav Rostropovich, and the New York City Opera Company.

The Celebrity Series has been bringing the very best performers-from orchestras and chamber ensembles, vocal and piano music, to dance companies, jazz, and more-to Boston's major concert halls for 75 years. The Celebrity Series of Boston believes in the power of excellence and innovation in the performing arts to enrich life experiences, transform lives and build better communities. Through its education initiatives, the Celebrity Series seeks to build a community of Greater Boston where the performing arts are a valued, lifelong, shared experience-on stages, in schools, at home- everywhere. For more information on Celebrity Series of Boston, call (617) 482-2595 or visit us online at www.celebrityseries.org.

The Celebrity Series of Boston, Inc. receives generous support from Amy and Joshua Boger; Eleanor and Frank Pao; Donna and Mike Egan; Susanne Marcus Collins Foundation; The Little Family Foundation; Tufts Health Plan; Foley & Lardner LLP; The John S. and Cynthia Reed Foundation; First Republic Bank; The Peabody Foundation; Charlesbank Capital Partners; PTC, The D.L. Saunders Real Estate Corp; Massachusetts Cultural Council; New England Foundation for the Arts.

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