I, Too Sing America: A Concert Series Celebrating the Unsung Stories of Black America

I, Too Sing AMerica: Masterclass with Dr. Moham

Thursday February 19 @ 6:30pm

Illinois Central College

1 College Drive

East Peoria, Illinois 61635

Admission is FREE and open to the public!

WE INVITE YOU TO THIS PUBLIC WORKSHOP OF ART SONGS AND SPIRITUALS BY BLACK COMPOSERS. DURING THE MASTERCLASS, BETWEEN 8 TO 10 ILLINOIS CENTRAL COLLEGE STUDENTS WILL SING PREPARED PIECES AND RECEIVE IMMEDIATE, CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK FROM MASTER TEACHER AND ILLINOIS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR EMERITUS DR. CARREN MOHAM. YOU WILL LEARN ALONGSIDE WITH THE STUDENTS ABOUT THE MUSIC, HISTORICAL TIMES AND LIVES OF THESE AMAZING KNOWN AND NOT AS KNOWN BLACK COMPOSERS AND GET INSIGHTS INTO HOW TO PROPERLY USE VOCAL STORYTELLING TO INTERPRET AND MASTER THESE STUNNING SONGS.

RETURN ON FRIDAY FEBRUARY 20 @ 7PM TO ILLINOIS CENTRAL COLLEGE TO HEAR AND SEE ALL THE STUDENTS FROM THE MASTERCLASS THEN PERFORM THE PIECES FROM THE WORKSHOP IN A FULL RECITAL, SHOWCASING THE INFORMATION THEY LEARNED IN THE MASTERCLASS.

THIS EVENT IS POSSIBLE THROUGH A PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN ILLINOIS CENTRAL COLLEGE AND MIOPERA. DR. MOHAM'S FEE IS SUPPORTED BY THE HEALING ILLINOIS GRANT.

Global impact and local influence describe the career of soprano and vocal health professional, Dr. Carren Moham, Professor Emerita of Music at Illinois Wesleyan University, former Artist Teacher of Voice at Illinois State University, and former Vice President of Academics at Hesston College in Kansas. Dr. Moham comes from Oklahoma where she received the Bachelor of Arts in Music Education from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and the Master of Music degree with a cognate in theatre arts from the University of Oklahoma in Norman. While at OU, she studied voice with renowned contralto, Dr. Carol Brice. A winner of several prestigious vocal competitions, Dr. Moham later moved to New York City to pursue her singing career. While on the east coast, she continued her vocal studies withinternationally acclaimed soprano, Mattiwilda Dobbs, the first Black singer to perform at the famed La Scala Opera House in Milan, Italy.

Dr. Moham later matriculated to The Ohio State University, where she was the first to receive the doctorate in Vocal Health, and she also earned a doctorate in Black Music History. She is the recipient of an honorary degree in African-American History from Miami University in Ohio. Dr. Moham has done extensive work on the restorative properties of singing following trauma to the throat and was on staff at the Washington Cancer Institute in Washington, DC. She works closely with singers and other clients through her business, Voice Solutions (www.voicesolutionsforsingers.com), to help them alleviate vocal problems they may be experiencing due to vocal misuse, abuse, surgery, or other conditions. She teaches voice students and clients the essentials of good vocal technique and vocal health and advises them on how to care for their voices so that they remain healthy and in optimal condition.

A passion for the art songs of Black composers and to highlight the virtually unknown and unpublished songs of these composers at the time, led Dr. Moham to devise two concert series entitled, “Songs by African-American Composers” and “Songs by African-American Women.” She has performed these concerts throughout the United States, Europe, and South America, as well as on a special arts program for former president, Bill Clinton and former first lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton during their White House tenure. She also recorded a compact disc entitled, Sonnets on Love, Rosebuds and Death: Songs by African-American Women, which is available for purchase from her website or after today’s program.

Dr. Moham maintains an active singing and teaching career and is a much sought after masterclass and workshop clinician.. She has sung numerous operatic roles for major companies in the United States and abroad and has performed with some of the world’s most renowned symphony orchestras. Her recent engagements have included concerts in Lancaster,Pennsylvania and Columbus, Ohio. Upcoming performances include a shared recital in Bloomington, Illinois. Dr. Moham has performed her living history presentation of contralto, Marian Anderson, the first Black person to sing at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and her paternal grandfather’s cousin, entitled, Marian Anderson: Voice of the Century, in several venues including the Ohio Statehouse.

I, Too, Sing America: An Evening of Art Songs and Spirituals by Black Composers

Friday February 20 @ 7:00pm

Illinois Central College

1 College Drive

East Peoria, Illinois 61635

Admission is FREE and open to the public!

JOIN US FOR A STUNNING EVENING OF VOCAL STORYTELLING THROUGH ART SONG AND SPIRITUALS WITH THE VOICE STUDENTS OF ILLINOIS CENTRAL COLLEGE. STUDENTS WILL BE SHOWCASING THEIR WORK FROM THE MASTERCLASS THE EVENING BEFORE WITH DR. CARREN MOHAM, MASTER TEACHER AND ILLINOIS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR EMERITUS. JOURNEY WITH US AS WE EXPERIENCE THE BEAUTY OF THESE KNOWN AND UNKNOWN COMPOSITIONS AND HOW THEY HAVE SHAPED THE MUSICAL LANDSCAPE OF American Culture.

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