Jason Max Ferdinand, Associate Professor and Director of Choral Activities at Oakwood University (Huntsville, AL), takes a new approach to choral directing.  In 2019 he took his ensemble, the Aeolians of Oakwood University, to the American Choral Directors Association's national conference where the singers blew away the audience by challenging racial biases in the choral world with their outstanding performances of traditional Western classical songs and Black music. 

One of WXXI's (recent) Community Advisory Board Members and lover of classical music, shared Alex Ross' September 14, 2020 New Yorker article with me, titled Black Scholars Confront White Supremacy in Classical Music. It is long; it is deep; it gives perspective; it challenges; it enlightens; it is thought-provoking, and so much more.  As we face the challenges of race, diversity, equity and inclusion, I will not make a personal statement about this article - I will simply challenge you to read it and think about it. 

In this edition of HomeStage, we'll visit a different kind of home.

Peter DuBois is the director of music and organist at Third Presbyterian Church in Rochester. They have been streaming their Sunday services online since March.

Benjamin Krug has been playing with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra for 13 seasons.

Watch them perform "A Song Without Words" by Craig Phillips, an alumnus of the Eastman School of Music.

In the mid-1970s, more than 40 years before he won the Pulitzer Prize for music, pianist and composer Anthony Davis was driving with his wife to Boston for a concert when a police officer pulled them over .

This HomeStage performance comes all the way from the Lone Star State.

Oboist Erin Hannigan is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and she played in the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Now she's the principal oboist with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

Erin loves animals and has always had rescue dogs. But she wanted to do more. She and photographer Teresa Berg joined forces to create Artists for Animals. They have raised tens of thousands of dollars for animal shelters in northern Texas, with concerts, galas, community outreach, and even cute calendars.

One secret about Erin: Even though she's a dog lover, she also rescued a Siamese kitten named Gabby.

On this week’s HomeStage, she performs a piece called “Jimson Weed,” composed by Alyssa Morris.