Listen to how Native American melodies and uplifting African American spirituals influenced the music of beloved Czech composer Antonín Dvořák with Cultural Crossroads: Dvořák in America. With its stellar cast of musicians, this ensemble entertains, educates, and inspires through a program drawn from the curiosity of a Czech composer a century ago
About the performing artists
R. Carlos Nakai (Navajo-Ute) is the world’s premier performer of the Native American flute. He has appeared as a soloist and educator worldwide, released more than 40 albums, and been nominated for several Grammy awards. He also founded the R. Carlos Nakai Quartet. A Navy veteran, Nakai earned an MA in American Indian Studies from the University of Arizona, authored The Art of Native American Flute with composer James DeMars, and has received a multitude of awards and honors for his lifetime achievements.
Will Clipman began playing drums and piano at age three and has since mastered a pan-global palette of percussion instruments. A seven-time Grammy nominee and winner of several US, Canadian, and Indigenous awards, he has recorded over 70 albums, and collaborated with many internationally acclaimed artists and ensembles, most notably through his 30-year association with Native American flutist R. Carlos Nakai. Clipman is a widely published, prize-winning poet, as well as an accomplished mask-maker and storyteller. In his 40-year career as an arts educator, he has given hundreds of presentations, impacting a range of communities from traditional school settings to hospitals, prisons, and parks.
Kenneth Kellogg is a Washington, DC native and alumnus of the city’s Duke Ellington School of the Performing and Visual Arts. Active in both the US and Europe, he has worked with the San Francisco Opera, LA Opera, Washington National Opera, Opera de Oviedo, and Opera de Lausanne, among others. A sample of his many operatic roles includes the title role in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, as well as Leporello and Il Commendatore; Mephistopheles in Gounod’s Faust; and Don Alfonso in Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte. Of note, Tazewell Thompson's opera Blue was written for him. Kellogg holds degrees from University of Michigan and Ohio University.
The Ciompi Quartet of Duke University was founded in 1965 by renowned Italian violinist Giorgio Ciompi. Always comprised of Duke professors, its career spans five continents and hundreds of concerts. In recent years, the Quartet has performed extensively throughout the US, Europe, and Asia. Its programs mix the old and new in exciting ways, including an extensive catalog of commissions and close ties to composers such as Paul Schoenfield, Stephen Jaffe, and Melinda Wagner. Members of the Ciompi Quartet are violinist Eric Pritchard, violinist Hsiao-mei Ku, violist Jonathan Bagg, and cellist Caroline Stinson.
Pamela Freund-Striplen served as artistic director and violist of San Francisco’s Gold Coast Chamber Players for 35 years. She has also performed with members of the St. Lawrence, Alexander, Escher, and Verona String Quartets, New European Strings, and Amati Ensemble; with the San Diego Symphony, San Francisco Opera Orchestra, and San Francisco Symphony; and as principal violist with the San Diego Opera and Western Opera Theater. Motivated by the social impact of her special projects like Cultural Crossroads: Dvořák in America, she now focuses on presenting these programs to national and international audiences. In this performance, Freund-Striplen serves as violist, curator, and narrator.
Program
Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
Finale from String Quartet No. 12 in F Major, op. 96, B179, "American"
R. Carlos Nakai (1946-)
Butterflies Dancing
Traditional African American spiritual
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
Dvořák
Allegro non tanto from String Quintet No. 3 in E-flat Major, op. 97, B180
Traditional African American spiritual
My Lord, What a Morning
Nakai
Clan of the Mists
Dvořák
Allegro vivo—Un poco meno mosso from String Quintet No. 3 in E-flat Major, op. 97, B180
Traditional African American spirituals
Go Down Moses
By and By
Nakai
Honoring Song
John Newton (1725–1807)
Amazing Grace
Dvořák
Finale. Allegro giusto from String Quintet No. 3 in E-flat Major, op. 97, B180
Going Home
Program subject to change.