Live Concert! Spirituals and Gospel Music, Influence and Celebration of African American Music at Christ Church, Greenwich

Out of the pain and suffering of being enslaved and losing their homelands came the miracle of the glorious music of the American Spiritual. As they worked and worshiped they sang their stories through ‘coded’ lyrics featuring appropriations of stories from the religion of their enslavers, of freedom trains, promised lands, and deep rivers.

An accomplished, recorded pianist and composer and Chair of Jazz Studies at the SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music, Pete Malinverni has had a career in inspirational settings including 18 years as the Minister of Music at Devoe Baptist Church, pianist and conductor at Westchester Reform Temple and Music Director at the Pound Ridge Community Church. Mr. Malinverni will discuss this musical history and perform a program of songs with some of his SUNY Purchase students.