Contemporary Classics June 10, 2025 Shawn E Okpebholo

Tonight on Contemporary Classics I am talking with Shawn E. Opebholo about his recent album “Songs in Flight” which was released back in February 14, 2025 on Cedille Records   At the center of the album is his “Songs in Flight”, a 12-song, song cycle for soprano, countertenor, baritone, and piano that features texts reflecting on and quoting from the Freedom on the Move database, a collection of historical runaway slave advertisements from early U.S. newspapers.  Songs in Flight has performances by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Rhiannon Giddens, baritone Will Liverman, countertenor Reginald Mobley, soprano Karen Slack, and pianist Paul Sánchez. In addition to “Songs in Flight”, the album also includes one song from each of Shawn Okpebholo’s four other song cycles — Unknown, Three Psalmic Meditations, Words Like Freedom, and Four Songs on Love — two of which feature saxophonist Julian Velasco.