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- Liberation: Songs of Harriet Tubman, a symphonic concert at Notre Dame
The Program in Sacred Music at Notre Dame (SMND) in collaboration with the South Bend Symphony Orchestra is proud to present Liberation: Songs of Harriet Tubman, a symphonic concert featuring South African soprano soloist, Goitsemang Lehobye and conducted by Cynthia Katsarelis. The concert is in Leighton Concert Hall in the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center on March 29, 2025 at 7:30 PM, with a Pre-Concert Talk at 6:30 that includes civic leaders Alfred Guillaume and Gladys Mahammad, to discuss Harriet Tubman, her importance to South Bend, a stop on the Underground Railroad, and the installation of her statue in Howard Park.
The Songs of Harriet Tubman, by composer Nkeiru Okoye, includes four of the pivotal arias from Okoye's opera, Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed that Line to Freedom and traces the development of Tubman from an innocent child to a Moses-like liberator, leading enslaved people to freedom. "Nkeiru is a fabulously gifted storyteller-composer who strikes the right chords at the right time to reveal complex emotional truths," says Cynthia Katsarelis, Assistant Professor of conducting in the Program in Sacred Music at Notre Dame, "Tubman's story, with Okoye's music, is inspirational."
Soloist Goitsemang Lehobye, a native of Ga-Rankuwa, South Africa, is an emerging star who in the last year has performed with the Finnish National Opera, the Minnesota Orchestra, and made her Carnegie Hall debut in August 2024. "We are fortunate to have Ms. Lehobye as our soloist, just as her career is skyrocketing," says Katsarelis.
Also on the program is Louise Farrenc's Third Symphony. Farrenc was a virtuoso pianist and composer who taught for many years at the famous Paris Conservatoire. "Farrenc's chamber music and symphonies were extremely well-respected in her time and it is past time for audiences to have the opportunity to enjoy her masterpieces," says Katsarelis.
Harriet Tubman is the quintessential liberation figure in American history. Her courage and activism has inspired many, including the civic leaders in South Bend who brought a beautiful statue of Harriet Tubman to Howard Park. Louise Farrenc was a virtuoso pianist and composer and the first women to serve full-time on the faculty of the Paris Conservatoire. Famously, she fought for, and attained, equal pay with her male colleagues.
The program is a collaboration with Notre Dame and the community, notably between the Program in Sacred Music and South Bend Symphony, but also including community leaders and support from multiple units on the Notre Dame campus, including Gender Studies, the Initiative on Race and Resilience, the Department of Music and is partially supported by a grant from the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts.
Ticket prices range from $5 to $25 and can be purchased in person at the Box Office or online at: https://performingarts.nd.edu/event/17807/liberation-songs-of-harriet-tubman/
The pre-concert conversation at 6:30 p.m. will focus on the meaning of Tubman for South Bend, a "station" on the Underground Railroad. Participants will include Alfred Guillaume, retired from IUSB, a civic leader who helped bring the inspiring Harriet Tubman statue to Howard Park.
Co-sponsorsed by The Program in Sacred Music at Notre Dame, Gender Studies, The Department of Music. This concert is made possible in part by support from the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, College of Arts and Letters, University of Notre Dame.
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