September 20, 2026
This recital celebrates two inspiring musicians and the legacy left in the absence of their voices.
TRIBUTE begins with a salute to the memory of Joan Frey-Boytim. Mrs. Boytim’s decades-long career as a pre-eminent authority of singing and the modern vocal repertory is memorialized with the premiere of “Three Sacred Pieces” by Robert Wellington Pound. Commissioned by the Carlisle Musical Arts Club (CMAC) on the occasion of its centennial anniversary and in honor of the memory of Joan Frey Boytim, it will be performed by the faculty and students of Dickinson’s Vocal Arts program. 2026 also commemorates another great singer and national hero, Paul Robeson. In this, the 50th anniversary year after Paul Robeson’s death, Dickinson’s own professor of music James Martin celebrates the songs and stories of Robeson’s life and work with selections from spirituals, field songs, protest songs, and art songs to musical theatre, opera, and oratorio. Assisted by his frequent collaborator H. Lynn Raley, the two take us on a journey of remembrance, celebration and inspiration recounting the life of a legend, well-lived. The program focuses on Robeson’s achievements and influence as an activist and includes music from the newly commissioned “Project 2026”, a song cycle featuring premieres by David Amram, Augusta Read Thomas, Brent Michael Davids, Shih Hui Chen, Maria Thompson Corley, Jonathan Mitchell, Robert Wellington Pound, David Vayo, Erik Santos, and Anthony Davis to the words of Robeson’s friend and contemporary Langston Hughes with Let America Be America Again.
Further information
- Location: Rubendall Recital Hall, Weiss Center for the Arts
- Time: 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
- Cost: Free