Zion Union Heritage Museum will host Sing Sistah Sing!—a dazzling tribute to Leontyne Price, Marian Anderson, Donna Summer, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, and other singers in the pantheon of American music. Lovers of all musical genres—from blues, jazz, and gospel to art song and opera—will enjoy this event. This celebration of the outstanding contributions of black female vocalists to American culture is presented in honor of the 10th anniversary of Zion Union Heritage Museum.
Hors d’oeuvres buffet, cash bar, The 10th Anniversary Celebration Art Raffle, and a silent auction: 6 pm. Concert: 7:30 pm.
Sing Sistah Sing! has been performed to sold-out audiences in Europe over the past two years. The program is conceived, written, produced, and performed by internationally acclaimed vocalist Andrea Baker.
As Ms. Baker pays joyful, soulful homage to women who paved the way for others, she also creates a window into history through her own deeply personal story. Massachusetts-born (and a former student of Cape Cod’s own Maggie Bossi), Ms. Baker is touring this region after living in Europe for twenty-five years. Her great-grandfather Thomas Nelson Baker, Sr. was born into slavery, made his way to Massachusetts, and became the first African American to receive a Ph.D. in philosophy from Yale University. The long-time minister of the Second Congregational Church in Pittsfield, MA, he lent inspiration for Sing Sistah Sing! via an essay he wrote in 1908, titled “The Negro Melodies.”
Andrea Baker will be joined at the piano by the brilliant multi-talented musician Peter Maleitzke. San Fransisco-based, Maleitzke has a 30-year record of accomplishment as a pianist, conductor, composer, singer, and teacher. He performs throughout the United States and in Europe and has worked for many of the major networks and studios in Los Angeles.
Peter Maleitzke conducted the first national production of Phantom of the Opera, as well as productions of Gypsy (for which he won a Dean Goodman Award), A Little Night Music, Rags, The Most Happy Fella, and Closer Than Ever. During an eleven-year residency at the American Conservatory Theater, he composed music for The Gamester, which won the Bay Area Theater Critics Circle Award for Best Original Score. He also worked as Music Director for the first workshop of Far From The Madding Crowd, directed a cabaret production of Pippin, and was the arranger and composer for The Three Sisters. He won the Bay Area Theatre Critics’ Circle Award and Back Stage West Garland Award for A.C.T.’s production of Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera and worked on and performed in the San Francisco Symphony’s televised performance of Sondheim’s Sweeny Todd.