January 18, 2007
Internationally-renowned baritone Tony Brown will present a concert at 7 p.m., Saturday, January 27, at First Mennonite Church in Newton.
The church is located at 429 East First. Sponsors of the free concert are the church and Hesston College, where Brown serves as artist-in-residence and part-time professor.
The concert will feature selections from Brown's new CD Each Other's Light: Songs of Peace, Hope, and Justice. The CD will be available for purchase for $15; 10 percent of the proceeds will be given to Peace Connections, a Newton organization that promotes peace in simple, everyday ways. Brown will also share about his trip to northern Uganda last summer.
Brown, artist-in-residence at Hesston (Kan.) College, uses music to promote peace and goodwill around the world and across the U.S. In recent years, he has made peace-building trips to northern Uganda; Seoul, South Korea; Moldova; Russia; Bosnia; Northern Ireland; the People's Republic of China; and Japan. He's planning to visit Ethiopia in May.
Prior to the latest CD released in December 2006, Brown had recorded three CDs. The first one is entitled Spirituals with cover art by the renowned African-American artist Jacob Lawrence. His second recording, titled Embracing American Song, is a collection of folk songs, sacred songs, and popular songs of the 19th century. His third recording, in collaboration with the Spirituals Project Choir of Denver (Colo.), is titled Toil and Triumph.
While Brown also sings the standard classical repertoire, he has made a specialty of performing “music of the American experience.” This includes art songs, Broadway show tunes and ballads, folk songs, American songs of the 1800s, and spirituals. Music critics around the country have applauded his performances.
In addition to being a long-term student of voice, Brown has had a professional career as a psychotherapist and brings the depth of that experience to his work as peacemaker and artist.
He is also part-time professor in the sociology and history departments at Hesston College. You can learn more about his music at www.anthonybrownbaritone.net.
For more information about the concert, contact Dallas Stutzman, Vice President of Alumni and Church Relations, toll-free at 866-437-7866 (866-HESSTON); locally at 620-327-8110.