SAT MAR 28, 2026, 7:30 PM
Music Hall
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John Morris Russell conductor
Randall Goosby violin
Jacqueline Echols soprano
Rodrick Dixon tenor
Members of the Nouveau Program
Classical Roots Community Choir Jason Alexander Holmes, resident conductor
Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing — James Weldon Johnson
The Roots of Our Song — Raymond Wise
Novelette, Op. 52, No. 4 — Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
In Bright Mansions — Roland Carter
Mvt. I from Concerto in G Major for Violin — Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges and String Orchestra
Total Praise — Richard Smallwood
INTERMISSION
Come Sunday — Edward K. (“Duke”) Ellington
Charles Fold Suite — James Cleveland & Charles Fold
This Too Will Pass
Tell It
May the Lord Bless You Real Good
“Holy Dance” from Four Black American Dances — Carlos Simon
“Caro nome” from Rigoletto — Giuseppe Verdi
“Niamara’s Aria” from Lalovavi — Kevin Day
“Dio! mi potevi scagliar” from Otello — Giuseppe Verdi
“Home” from The Wiz — Charlie Smalls
If My Jesus Wills, I’ll Overcome Someday — Louise Shropshire
Today's ASL Interpreters are Karen Arnold and Laverne Rutledge.
Classical Roots was financially assisted by the Fifth Third Foundation, Digital Access Partner CVG Airport Authority, Concert Sponsor JRH Consultants, Show Sponsor Metro, Associate Sponsor American Red Cross, Greater Cincinnati-Dayton Region and Supporter Sponsor The Voice of Your Customer.
The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is grateful for the support of the Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund of the Greenacres Foundation and the Nina Browne Parker Trust, and for the thousands of people who give generously to the ArtsWave Community Campaign. This project was supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in-orchestra Steinway piano is made possible in part by the Jacob G. Schmidlapp Trust.
Steinway Pianos, courtesy of Willis Music, is the official piano of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops.
Listen to selections from this program on 90.9 WGUC June 14, 2026 at 8 pm, followed by 30 days of streaming at cincinnatisymphony.org/replay.
Lift Every Voice and Sing: From the Pews to Music Hall
March & April 2026 Fanfare Magazine
Go through the 25-year evolution of Classical Roots through the voices of choir leaders and community members and celebrate the artistic triumph of an intergenerational organization built on commitment to musical excellence and cultural preservation.
Lift ev’ry voice and sing
till earth and heaven ring,
ring with the harmonies of liberty.
Let our rejoicing rise
high as the list’ning skies.
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that
the dark past has taught us;
sing a song full of the hope that
the present has brought us;
facing the rising sun
of our new day begun.
Let us march on till victory is won.
Stony the road we trod,
bitter the chast’ning rod
felt in the days when hope unborn had died.
Yet with a steady beat,
have not our weary feet
come to the place for which our
fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears
has been watered.
We have come, treading our path thru’ the
blood of the slaughtered,
out from the gloomy past,
till now we stand at last
where the white gleam of our bright star
is cast.
God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who hast brought us thus far
on the way,
Thou who hast by thy might
led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places,
our God, where we met thee,
lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of
the world, we forget thee.
Shadow’d beneath thy hand,
may we forever stand,
true to our God, true to our native land.
