Songs for Hope
Todd Clark
A group of singers and band on stage.
Adrian Dunn Singers
This annual holiday concert features an extra special program in 2022: A performance of songs from The Black Messiah, a retelling of the Christmas story mixing gospel, hip-hop and classical music. The score is by Chicago-based composer and singer Adrian Dunn, who will be accompanied by the Adrian Dunn Singers; the evening also includes a performance by Prenicia Clifton . A Black holiday market will feature vendors from around Wisconsin, available to browse before and after the concert. Songs of Hope is hosted by Seein' is Believin', and ticket sales help support the organization's initiatives for youth.
media release: Critically acclaimed multi-genre musical artist and social justice advocate Adrian Dunn brings the “Black Messiah” to Madison. A fusion of gospel, hip hop, jazz and classical genres, this collection of eight songs all written by Dunn are meant to challenge, reshape and give the world a new perspective on George Frideric Handel’s Messiah. On this project, Dunn is joined by his acclaimed group The Adrian Dunn Singers, an all-black professional vocal ensemble established in 2018. Featured vocalists include: DarShaya Oden, Erica Renee, LaQuentin Jenkins and rapper/lyricist Tony Famous.
The Black Messiah is a piece that is rooted in Black liberation and recognizes the Christ as a Black man. In this setting, Jesus is born in the back of a Jeep truck as a product of rape on the Westside of Chicago. The Black Messiah lives in all of us. This emphasizes the mentality of Black liberation and justice rests with all persons not just Black folks. We all must do the work of Black Liberation because that’s the righteous work of God.
The Songs for Hope Annual Holiday Spectacular returns to the Overture Center in Madison Wisconsin on Friday, December 16th at 7pm. This year marks the 10th year for the Songs for Hope Annual Holiday Spectacular. Tickets can be found on the Overture website at https://www.overture.org/
In honor of our tenth year, this concert will include a Black holiday market. The market will feature Black vendors from around the state of Wisconsin. We are honored to support Black businesses during our 10-year celebration. Attendees will be able to make purchases during the intermission and after the show. If you are interested in becoming a vendor, please email us at info@seein-is-believin.com
Prenicia Clifton started this concert series in 2012 in honor of her dad, a dedicated teacher and fierce advocate for youth. Each year the concert is dedicated to supporting youth enrichment initiatives from backpacks and coats for low-income children to holiday gifts and after-school programs, Prenicia is honored to dedicate this year’s performance to supporting Life Readiness Programming for young adults in Dane County.
About Prenicia Clifton
Prenicia Clifton is native of Kansas City, Missouri and a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has nearly 3 decades of performance experience under her belt. Prenicia Clifton started singing opera at age eight after she told her first voice teacher, Millicent Daugherty, that she wanted to sing like Whitney Houston; however her teacher told her that with her talent, she may not sing like Whitney Houston but would someday dine with kings and queens. Decades later, Clifton is an accomplished opera singer with credits in major opera houses around the world, including opening opera houses with Placido Domingo, sharing the stage with opera greats like Renee Fleming, Denyce Graves, Eric Owens and Grammy award winners Thomas Glenn, Adrienne Dandrich. On top of her annual concert, Prenicia invests her musical talents back into her community through teaching at UW-Madison's annual Summer Music Clinic, private vocal coachings, presentations throughout Dane County.
ABOUT ADRIAN DUNN
Adrian Dunn is an acclaimed singer, songwriter and producer with a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degree in Voice from The Music Conservatory at Roosevelt University, along with additional musical studies in opera at The Sibelius Academy of Music in Finland.
Dunn has had the privilege of working with gospel greats such as Tremaine Hawkins, Myron Butler, Melonie Daniels, Troy Bright, Lamar Campbell and many more. His awards include Album Producer of the Year for AME Live featuring the AME International Mass Choir from the Rhythm of Gospel Awards and for his original work Hopera: A Hip Hop Opera he was honored with a MacArthur Grant, which allowed him a nomination for Best Music Director from the Black Theater Alliance Awards as well.
As a singer, Dunn has opened for international Hip Hop Recording Artist The Roots and performed with the Chicago Symphony Chorus, Grant Park Symphony Chorus, Blossom Festival Chorus, as a soloist with the North Shore Choral Society, in the CCM Spoleto Opera Festival in Spoleto, Italy and is a frequent soloist in Handel’s Messiah. He also sang the lead role in the 2017 Chicago premiere of the Paul Laurence Dunbar opera The Poet and in 2016 served as the opera chorus master for the Midwest premiere of the opera Harriet Tubman – When I Crossed That Line to Freedom with the South Shore Opera Company of Chicago.
Dunn has been a guest artist and presented lectures at top universities in the country including The University of Chicago, The University of Wisconsin, The School of the Art Institute, McCormick Theological Seminary, Illinois State University, Columbia College Chicago, California State University and many more.
He served as principle vocal coach for Kanye West’s artist development program Donda’s House and his private voice students can be seen in Broadway National tours of LION KING, GHOST, KINKY BOOTS, RENT, BET’s show Sunday Best, Drury Lane Theater, The Paramount Theater, Black Ensemble Theater, and as background vocalists for major record label artists on tour throughout the US and abroad.
For more information, please visit adriandunn.com.
ADRIAN DUNN SINGERS
The Adrian Dunn Singers (ADS) is an all-black professional vocal ensemble established in 2018. Under the direction of Adrian Dunn, this group exists to reclaim the narrative that African Americans are the authors of American music, and to also offer vocal concert programming for Black communities that deserve World-class music presentations that reflect their experiences. In addition to The Black Messiah, the Adrian Dunn Singers have recorded two other projects that skillfully combine the art of Black music while addressing the social injustices that Black Lives face: Revelations: A collection of Spirituals and Gospel songs seeking justice for Black Lives (2019) and Redemption (2020).
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