Athens Hip Hop Harmonic
Thursday, October 20 at 7:30 PM
UGA Performing Arts Center
FREE, family-friendly, no tickets required
https://www.athenshiphopharmonic.com
Launched in August 2021, the Athens Hip Hop Harmonic is a multi-year collaboration between the local Hip Hop community and the UGA Hodgson School of Music, supported by UGA’s Arts Lab. It is produced by saxophone professor Connie Frigo, who developed it in collaboration with Hip Hop impresario Montu Miller and Mariah Parker (aka Linqua Franqa), along with a team of other artists, educators, and supporters eager to create music together to explore their mutual artistic and cultural curiosities. They started with a simple question: What would happen if a Hip Hop artist and a classically-trained composer co-created a piece of music? Answer: Come to the show to find out!
Building upon creative partnerships that began last year, this special show — the Athens Hip Hop Harmonic’s biggest to date — features premieres of music co-created by four Hip Hop artists and four UGA composers, performed by four UGA ensembles. There are approximately 100 undergraduate and graduate student performers involved. Montu Miller will serve as emcee.
Hip Hop artists include recent Athens Music Walk of Fame inductee Ishues, the 2020 Vic Chestnutt Songwriter of the Year Cassie Chantel, compelling and soulful alternative R&B singer Convict Julie, and dynamic poet and spoken word performer Celest Ngeve.
UGA composers include piano and African American studies professor James Weidman, commercial music and media professor Tom Hiel, composition/music education major Ayako Pederson-Takeda, and composition/performance major Julien Berger.
The featured UGA ensembles include the African American Choral Ensemble, Jazz Combo, Wind Symphony, and Contemporary Chamber Ensemble.
The project’s collaborative performances can be seen and heard on the AHHH Youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyXqmhqyTE8G2ke9d4-glZw