Consider William Leathers and Rashaan Allwood — young Black men whose prodigious musical talents propel you to stand up and cheer, and forget the stereotypes.
Next Saturday night (Feb 23) the two Toronto-area residents bring their astonishing brilliance to the
Aga Khan Museum stage, as part of the Black History Month series co-sponsored by TD Bank and Joy Bullen, who takes particular joy in presenting Black talent of unsurpassed quality.
Six years ago the
Star interviewed Allwood, now 23, when he earned an unprecedented perfect score on a one-hour piano performance exam with the Royal Conservatory of Toronto.
Last year, another prodigy popped into our consciousness when Leathers, 18, became one of just three trumpeters to be accepted to the elite undergraduate music program at the legendary Juilliard School of Music in New York. When people heard the youth needed $91,000 a year to accept the offer, they quickly covered his first-year cost, via crowdfunding.
Now you can hear and see both young phenoms — in another Black History Month treat, with Leathers being the headliner.
Hip-hop, reggae, R&B, soul, gospel, jazz and their many variations are readily available at many Black History Month events. But these two stars, and a growing constellation of Black performers, more than we recognize, are shattering stereotypes with every note they strike or blow.
This is not to suggest Black folk are not intertwined in the history of classical music. The kids I grew up with were mimicking Paul Robeson, Louis Armstrong, Marian Anderson, Kathleen Battle and singing Harry Burleigh compositions. Wynton Marsalis transcends multiple genres.
Right now in Toronto the incomparable
Jessye Norman is being feted as the 12th Glen Gould laureate, delivering a speech at TIFF Lightbox, a Master Class at U of T and a concert planed for Wednesday at the Four Seasons.
But in staging performances each Black History Month, Bullen aims to make this music accessible to a wider audience. One year she had Andrew Forde at Koerner Hall, breaking down the classics with a hip-hop and spoken word bent. One year she had Eddie Bullen and son Quincy on duelling pianos. This year she is looking to the future.
I could tell you about the practice regimen of these young men, how Leathers sees eight-hour practice days as the norm, his career aspiration to perform around the globe, his maturity, his published gratitude to the many people who donated to his crowdfunding, his promise to “make you proud,” and his pledge to give any excess money raised to a foundation to help other youth pay for expensively prestigious education.
