Jeffery McGhee & Michael Landrum

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courtesy Mead Witter School of Music

Jeffery McGhee (left) and Michael Landrum.

Jeffery McGhee (left) and Michael Landrum.

Baritone Jeffery McGhee, a former UW-Madison doctoral student, is a professor at Roberts Wesleyan College in New York; pianist Michael Landrum is a former professor at Roberts. The duo are also longtime collaborators in the field of spiritual music, including the forthcoming album How Lovely Are Thy Dwellings. This concert, part of the Mead Witter School of Music's DEIB Festival (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging), will focus on spirituals and African American art songs. DEIB Festival events continue through April 6; find more info at deibfestival.com.

Mead Witter School of Music DEIB Festival event.

media release:  General admission: $15

Students: Free (ticket required)

Jeffery McGhee, baritone; Michael Landrum, piano

Baritone Jeffery McGhee and pianist Michael Landrum have specialized in sacred songs and spirituals for nearly 20 years. Their presentations of spirituals have taken them to venues in New Jersey, Wisconsin, Mississippi, New York, and Florida.  They have been well received at numerous churches and universities.  In particular, they have devoted much time to researching the life and career of Harry T. Burleigh, sometimes designated as “the father of the spiritual.”  Their CD, How Lovely Are Thy Dwellings, will be released in the near future.

Program 

Celebrate Black History Month with Spirituals and Art Songs

EVERY VOICE IN HARMONY

Lift Every Voice and Sing        James Weldon Johnson/John Rosamond Johnson/arr. Timothy Amukele

Go down, Moses      arr. Florence B. Price (1887-1953)

Guide My Feet       arr. Jacqueline Hairston (b. 1932)

Dead Fires       Carlos Simon (b. 1986)

For You, There is no Song         Leslie Adams (b. 1932)

Prayer

You Won’t Find a Man Like Jesus     arr. Florence B. Price

Oh, Wasn’t that a Wide River       arr. H.T. Burleigh (1866-1949)

City Called Heaven      arr. Hall Johnson (1888-1970)

This Little Light of Mine   arr. Jacqueline Hairston

Brief Interval

 The Negro Speaks of Rivers          Margaret Bonds (1913-1972)

Hold On

Riding to Town     Thomas H. Kerr, Jr. (1915-1988)

Balm in Gilead     arr. John L. Cornelius, II    (b. 1966)

Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child      arr. Howard Helvey (b. 1968)

I am Bound For the Kingdom     arr. Florence B. Price

I’m Workin’ on My Buildin’

Stand the Storm          arr. Timothy Amukele

Jeffery McGhee, baritone, is professor of voice at Roberts Wesleyan College. He received the doctor of musical arts degree from  UW-Madison as a student of Professor Mimmi Fulmer. While at the UW-Madison, Jeffery performed the roles of Alidoro in Rossini’s La Cenerentola, the poet in Salieri’s First the Music, Then the Words, the Baron in Verdi’s La Traviata, the Leader in Kurt Weill’s Lost in the Stars, and El Gallo in The Fantasticks.

He received the bachelor of music degree from the University of Southern Mississippi and his master of music degree in vocal performance from the University of Akron. At Akron, Jeffery performed as Sid in Albert Herring by Benjamin Britten, Matt in The Fantasticks, and the poet in Kismet. He was also soloist with the Akron Symphony Chorus in performances of the Fauré Requiem.

In a season with Opera for the Young, Jeffery portrayed the role of Belcore in Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love. With the Ohio Light Opera company, he has also performed the roles of the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance, and the Counsel in Trial by Jury, both by Gilbert and Sullivan. In 2009, Dr. McGhee was the featured soloist with the Rochester Oratorio Society in their concert, Partners in Freedom: Lincoln and Douglass, which also featured The Morgan State University Choir and the Bach Children’s Chorus.

Dr. McGhee is currently recording a CD of hymns, spirituals, and spiritual songs, accompanied by Roberts faculty member Dr. Michael Landrum.

……

A native of Augusta, Georgia, Michael Landrum received the bachelor of music degree from Oberlin College and the master of fine arts degree from California Institute of the Arts. After completing his doctor of musical arts degree in piano performance from Temple University, he became professor of music and film studies at Roberts Wesleyan College, a position from which he retired in December 2017.

A past first-prize winner in the J.S. Bach International Competition for Pianists in Washington, D.C., he has performed widely in that area, both with orchestra, including the Baltimore Symphony, and as a solo recitalist. In the Upstate New York area, he has performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Rochester Chamber Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and at numerous colleges and universities.

He has had an active career in chamber music, as well, having often performed with the Society for Chamber Music in Rochester. He has been on the faculty of Csehy Summer Music School, both at Cairn University and Houghton College, and is an Affiliate Artist with the Dorothy Taubman Institute. Recent performances include recitals at the University of Southern Mississippi, UW–Madison, First Presbyterian Church of Jacksonville, Florida, and Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York.

In late August of 2012, his double-disc Nocturne CD was released on the Sono Luminus label. It was selected as “CD Pick of the Week” on radio station WETA in Washington, D.C., and “Album of the Week” on KDFC in San Francisco and WQXR in New York City. It was also the subject of an online essay in MUSICAL AMERICA on Sept. 20, 2012. Dr. Landrum presented a Nocturne Lecture/Recital at the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy in Chicago in July of 2013. He has also been a frequent solo and collaborative performer on the Live from Hochstein series, broadcast on WXXI in Rochester and surrounding areas.

Since retiring to Jacksonville, Florida, he has performed at the University of North Florida, Jacksonville University, and at the Friday Musicale.