I Go On Singing: Paul Robeson's Life in His Words & Songs

An Evening with Anthony Brown, Baritone

Thursday, February 13, 7:30 pm

Anderson Chapel, North Park University
5159 North Spaulding Avenue
Campus Map

A lost American hero re-discovered through his music and archival video.

As an All-American athlete, recording artist, and star of the stage and screen, Paul Robeson was once the best-known African-American entertainer in the world. After his emergence in the 1930s, Robeson became an early champion of civil rights. He traveled the world promoting peace, but trouble lay ahead, and ultimately he sacrificed his career and everything he’d accomplished by challenging the dominant culture’s status quo.

The story of this all-but-forgotten American hero will come alive on February 13 at North Park University in a rousing new 90-minute song-filled presentation, I Go On Singing: Paul Robeson’s Life in His Words & Songs, performed by the gifted American baritone and international promoter of peace, Anthony Brown. Accompanied by School of Music faculty member Thomas Jefferson on piano, Mr. Brown will reveal Robeson as an American patriot and towering figure of the 20th century. Told in Robeson’s own words, using many first-hand accounts from his autobiography, Here I Stand, the show traces his humble beginnings as a preacher’s son in Princeton to his international celebrity and as tireless fighter for human rights. The late folk legend Pete Seeger makes three video guest appearances discussing his friendship with Robeson and the music they shared.

I Go On Singing, written by Andrew Flack, delivers equal parts historical documentary with a live concert experience. Musical numbers range from Spirituals to Broadway, and include original arrangements of Robeson favorites like Ol’ Man River, Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child, Shenandoah, Scandalize My Name, It Ain’t Necessarily So, All Through the Night, Joe Hill, Deep River, and many others.

This concert experience is free and open to the public, and is in conjunction with this year's Campus Theme, "What Is Peace?" as well as North Park University’s celebration of Black History Month.

About the Artist

Anthony Brown

Internationally acclaimed baritone Anthony Brown is a promoter of peace and goodwill around the world. Anthony uses music to promote peace and reconciliation in countries where peoples’ lives are torn by war and civil strife.

His peace work has taken him to political hot spots such as Bosnia, Northern Ireland, China, Japan, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, Uganda, South Korea, Ethiopia, and Colombia. In each venue, Anthony’s stirring performances connected people across race, language, religion, and culture—and helped them focus on how all one in the family of humanity.

In addition to his international peace work, Anthony is one of today’s most dynamic performers who sings a wide range of crowd-pleasing vocal repertoire, from musical theater and African American spirituals, to opera, oratorio, and art song. He is artist in residence at Hesston College, Hesston, Kan., and represents the college at various events across the United States.

Additional Events

In addition to the Thursday evening presentation, Mr. Brown will participate in several other campus events during his visit:

• Chapel Service
  Wednesday, February 12, 10:30 am
  Anderson Chapel
• Honoring the Ancestors: Taking the African American Spirituals Around the World
  Wednesday, February 12, 7:00 pm
  Anderson Chapel
  (Workshop with members of the North Park University Gospel Choir; open to the public)
• Performance and Social Change
  Thursday, February 13, 1:30–3:00 pm
  (Undergraduate class; open to the public)

For more information, please contact Karen Dickelman via email or by calling (773) 244-5265.