The Discovery Orchestra To Present Special Black History Month Concert

The Discovery Orchestra (TDO), the Emmy Award-nominated and Telly Award-winning orchestra, which has introduced millions around the world to the rewards of classical music listening through its Discovery Concerts, has joined forces with the Manhattan Opera Repertory Ensemble (MORE Opera) to present a special Black History Month performance this month.

The program, Discover Angelitos Negros (Little Black Angels), will feature the vocal prowess of soprano Cheryl Warfield with prize-winning pianist and composer Patricio Molina, who will serve as musical director. A dramatic exploration of folk music, opera and spirituals showcasing the musical traditions of Black and Latino cultures from North America, South America and the Caribbean, the event will feature an interactive exploration by TDO Founder and Artistic Director George Marriner Maull. The free concert, which will include historical narration in both English and Spanish, takes place at Grace Episcopal Church in Newark, New Jersey, on Sunday, February 23, at 3 p.m.

A soprano who has performed lead roles in New York and Europe and appeared on Broadway in Hal Prince's Tony Award-winning revival of Show Boat, Warfield is the founder of the MORE Opera, a New York City-based nonprofit opera company. Molina, an acclaimed Yamaha Artist and collaborator for the special concert, will conduct.

The MORE Opera chorus will be joined by additional soloists, including Emmanuel Cruz (tenor), Veronica Lewis (mezzo-soprano), Gabriel De Los Santos (Caribbean vocalist), Mallory Molina (soprano) and Rachel Silverstein (soprano). Musicians Ricky Rosa (percussion) and Vic Sanchez (flute) will also be featured.

TDO brings its teaching Discovery Concerts — musical performances featuring an interactive exploration segment that helps participants focus on specific details of the work — to stages across New Jersey and, through its award-winning television and streaming specials, to audiences around the world. The Orchestra also presents community engagement programs in collaboration with its educational partners for underserved audiences in six New Jersey counties.

Launched by MORE Opera in 2021, Angelitos Negros is a popular concert series which was designed to collectively serve Black and Latino communities severely impacted by the pandemic. The program was based on a poignant moment in the 1948 Mexican film of the same name in which a young child asks why there are no paintings by the great masters of Black angels. In December 2023, second iteration of Angelitos Negros was presented, with Molina serving as musical director.  

The upcoming concert will feature a rousing rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson song known today as the Black National Anthem, in honor of its 125th anniversary; and a Discovery Concert exploration of “Hay una Antilla en Medio del Mar Caribe,” the traditional Dominican poem set to music, arranged by Molina.  The program, which will include a TDO-commissioned piece called “Your World” composed by Molina and performed by Warfield, will be followed by a reception.

“We are very happy to present and participate in this collaboration with MORE Opera, Cheryl, and Patricio,” said Maull. “There is so much music written by Black and Latino composers that is largely unknown to most classical music listeners. We hope to introduce just a tiny portion of this repertoire to our audience and, as usual, help them to listen more perceptively to some of the aspects of one of the compositions featured in the program.”

Sponsored by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the New Jersey Arts and Culture Renewal Fund, the KearnyBank Foundation, Sandra Braddy-Hall, Dyan Bryson and Robert & Sandra Brown Sherman, Discover Angelitos Negros is free with registration at https://discoveryorchestra.org/angelitos-negros/. Groups wishing to attend should contact TDO Executive Director Rick Kaller at rick@discoveryorchestra.org. The concert snow date is Sunday, March 2 (at 3 p.m.).

Grace Episcopal Church is located at 950 Broad Street in Newark.

For more information on the event and The Discovery Orchestra, visit www.discoveryorchestra.org.

About the Artists:

Soprano Cheryl Warfield is the founder and artistic director of Manhattan Opera Repertory Ensemble (MORE Opera), a New York City-based nonprofit blazing a trail in culturally responsive musical programming and arts education to make opera and classical music accessible to underserved audiences. For more than 25 years, MORE Opera has offered free performances, educational initiatives and community choral training to ensure people from all socio-economic backgrounds and age groups can realize the social, cognitive and health benefits of exposure to the arts. MORE's offerings are tailored to meet the needs of the communities it serves, including bilingual Spanish and English programming, and interactive choral training for adults aged 60 and over.

Warfield began classical vocal training at the age of 13. She continued her musical studies after graduating from the Ohio State University with a degree in business administration, at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria. Known as the “The Oprah of Opera,” she has captivated audiences with her performances of some of the most recognized soprano roles in renowned opera houses around the world and on Broadway. She is proud member of multiple performing arts unions, including Actor's Equity, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and the America Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA).

The Discovery Orchestra Artistic Director George Marriner Maull —a three-time Emmy-nominated public television personality — has helped millions of individuals nationwide become more perceptive listeners and to heighten their classical music listening pleasure through his Discovery Concerts distributed by American Public Television. These programs, including the eight-part public television series Fall in Love with Music, named after his signature course, may be found on Amazon Prime and streamed on PBS Passport — free to public television station members.

Whether on the podium or in lecture settings, his enthusiasm for classical music is contagious. His blog posts and thought leadership pieces have been featured by The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and worldwide on the web by Minnesota Public Radio, London-based Bachtrack, The Violin Channel, Pick the Brain and Thrive Global. His YouTube Discovery Orchestra Chats and social media posts continue to attract followers on six continents.

Maull is host of Inside Music on WWFM 89.1 The Classical Network in central New Jersey. Since 2003 he has been the host of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center's Classical Overtures, pre-concert lectures presented before performances by such ensembles as The Philadelphia Orchestra, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, as well as solo artists including Lang Lang, Joshua Bell, Yo-Yo Ma, Renée Fleming and Itzhak Perlman.

Named “a gifted artist” by the New York Times, Dr. Patricio Molina, D.M.A., PH.D., has gained a reputation as a composer, pianist, and educator. He regularly appears on stages such as Carnegie Hall and OPERA America. The New Jersey Youth Symphony, White Snake Projects, Legacy Arts International and Ulysses Quartet are among the many artists and institutions who have recognized his talents with commissioned works. Inspirations for his compositions include his Chilean-Syrian heritage, mythology and literature, as well as his experience as an immigrant. His accomplishments in the field of arts education have been recognized by the New Jersey Education Association with their prestigious Award for Excellence. Molina is in demand as a lecturer on a wide variety of topics including composition, Arabic music and building inclusion in classical music and has presented his research and expertise at institutions such as the College Music Society National Conference, the National Association for Music Education, the New Jersey Music Educators Association and the Penn State International New-Music Festival and Symposium.

Molina holds a master's degree with distinction from the Manhattan School of Music. In 2019, he earned the first double doctorate in the history of Rutgers University: a Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance, and a Ph.D. in Music Composition. He currently serves as senior director of faculty and creative practice at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) and music director at St. Thomas the Apostle Church of Bloomfield, New Jersey. He is founder and president of the Pan-Global Music Initiative, a nonprofit foundation that seeks to promote classical music from underrepresented cultures. Molina was recently awarded a post-doctoral fellowship at Universidad Católica Nordestana (DR) and has begun work on a book for student pianists based on beloved Caribbean melodies set for publication in 2026.

About The Presenters:

The Discovery Orchestra, a 501(c)(3) music education organization based in Summit, New Jersey, teaches the attentive listening skills that help people of all backgrounds better experience and emotionally connect with classical music. Founded in 1987 by Artistic Director George Marriner Maull, the Orchestra uses a welcoming, lighthearted approach to classical music listening education for the general public. It engages audiences through its live interactive Discovery Concerts, community outreach events, television productions and online digital content and its twice-monthly public radio show, Inside Music, broadcast on WWFM 89.1 The Classical Network and heard worldwide at wwfm.org. Its Emmy- nominated programs Bach to the Future, Discover Beethoven's 5th and Discover Vivaldi's Four Seasons; Telly Award-winning specials Discover The Firebird and Discover Saint-Saens' “Organ” Symphony; and

Telly Award-winning series Fall in Love with Music are all available on Amazon Prime Video. Many of the Orchestra's programs can also be viewed on PBS Passport free of charge to PBS station members.

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