With a 50-piece orchestra, a 40-voice chorus, acclaimed soloists — including regular Seattle Opera collaborator Brandie Sutton — and an emcee appearance from Washington state Sen. T’wina Nobles, D-Fircrest, the third annual “Songs of Black Folk: Music of Resistance & Hope” returns to the Paramount Theatre June 16 to celebrate Juneteenth and the tradition of Black music in America. This wide-ranging, genre-busting performance is the brainchild of the Rev.
Leslie Braxton, senior pastor at New Beginnings Christian Fellowship in Kent. Braxton grew up in the Tacoma area, surrounded by music both secular and spiritual, and considers the show a product of his family’s artistic passion. “My mother [Claudette Nash] was a 60-year church musician who always wanted to be a concert pianist,” he said last week, speaking via phone from the 110 th Hampton University Ministers’ Conference.
“She was an honor roll student at Lincoln High School [in Tacoma] in 1957. There were no scholarships for Black students then.” With limited recourse to pursue a career in classical music, Nash channeled her passion into roles as pianist and choir director at her local church, Bethlehem Baptist, founded in 1890.
Through his mother and her record collection, Braxton says he was “constantly involved in music” as a child. But it wasn’t until he went east for school that he witnessed high-value productions of the music he’d grown up listening to. Reflecting on his upbringing in the.
