BRISTOL, Tenn., March 11, 2019 – “Sing Sistah Sing!,” an award-winning celebration of the sound and extraordinary breadth of African American female voices featuring mezzo-soprano Andrea Baker, will be presented at 7 p.m. on Monday, April 15, at First Presbyterian Church. The event is presented by the Institute for Faith & Culture at King University.

Baker’s visit to the region will also feature a talk about her radio documentaries on civil rights in Alabama at Lee Street Baptist Church in Bristol Virginia on Sunday, April 14, at 7 p.m. Her acclaimed producer, Pauline Moore, will join her for this event. Both events are free and open to the public.

“Sing Sistah Sing” uniquely features traditional storytelling and music ranging from African American field songs to spirituals, gospel, jazz, blues, and opera. The show celebrates such musical greats as Leontyne Price, Marian Anderson, Donna Summer, Nina Simone, and Billie Holiday. It weaves together their struggles in the civil rights movement with their fight for artistic freedom and what all African American women carry in their souls and voices: the sounds of their ancestors’ songs of the plantation.

“Andrea Baker brings a powerful finish to our 2018-2019 series, Remembrance and Hope,” said Martin Dotterweich, director of the King Institute for Faith & Culture. “In both her radio work and “Sing Sistah Sing!” she has looked back at a past that is full of pain and hardship but has brought forth beauty and freedom. We are delighted to welcome her to Bristol.”

Baker’s 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 Massachusetts, he lent inspiration for “Sing Sistah Sing!” via an essay he wrote in 1908, titled “The Negro Melodies.”

“Sing Sistah Sing!” has been performed to rave reviews in Europe and was spotlighted in “The Best of the Fringe” in Edinburgh’s prestigious Fringe Festival.

The King Institute for Faith & Culture is dedicated to discussing central issues of our time honestly, clearly and faithfully. For additional information, please email [email protected].