Evelyn Simpson Curenton (born 1953) is an American composer,

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational h ...

, and

vocalist Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

Early life and education

Simpson Curenton was a child prodigy. She played the piano at the age of two. She began piano lessons at age five. When she was seven years old she began to perform with the Singing Simpsons of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, a family group, After graduating from Germantown High School she earned a B.M., Music Education and Voice from

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then calle ...

Career

She has been commissioned to write works for the

American Guild of Organists The American Guild of Organists (AGO) is an international organization of academic, church, and concert organists in the US, headquartered in New York City with its administrative offices in the Interchurch Center. Founded as a professional educat ...

George Shirley George Irving Shirley (born April 18, 1934) is an American operatic tenor, and was the first African-American tenor to perform a leading role at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Early life Shirley was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, and r ...

, Duke Ellington, and her sisters Joy Simpson and Marietta Simpson; arranged music for the Carnegie Hall Concert of Spirituals for

Kathleen Battle Kathleen Deanna Battle (born August 13, 1948) is an American operatic soprano known for her distinctive vocal range and tone. Born in Portsmouth, Ohio, Battle initially became known for her work within the concert repertoire through performance ...

Jessye Norman Jessye Mae Norman (September 15, 1945 – September 30, 2019) was an American opera singer and recitalist. She was able to perform dramatic soprano roles, but refused to be limited to that voice type. A commanding presence on operatic, concert ...

, and the

Porgy and Bess ''Porgy and Bess'' () is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play '' Porgy'', it ...

Chorus of the

New York Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

, and has performed with musical organizations such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, Philadelphia's National Opera Ebony (later renamed

Opera North Opera North is an English opera company based in Leeds. The company's home theatre is the Leeds Grand Theatre, but it also presents regular seasons in several other cities, at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, the Lowry Centre, Salford Quays and ...

).She is a highly sought after pipe organist
Biography at Continental Harmony
Based in the

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, area, Curenton is Music Director of the

Washington Performing Arts Society Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

's Men and Women of the Gospel and an associate of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

. She has given lectures and participated in workshops on early 18th-century black religious music and the music of African-Americans during the Civil Rights era. In celebration of composer Leonard Bernstein’s 100 birthday,

Nolan Williams, Jr. Nolan E. Williams Jr. is an American composer, musicologist, and producer. He was an editor of the ''African American Heritage Hymnal''. Early life and education Williams grew up the son, grandson and great-grandson of Baptist ministers. At the ...

commissioned the re-working of Leonard Bernstein’s

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

by four Philadelphia composers – Simpson, Jay Fluellen, Ruth Naomi Floyd, and

Rollo Dilworth Rollo A. Dilworth'' (born July 31st, 1970) is an American choral composer, arranger, conductor, and music educator from St. Louis, Missouri. Education Early education Dilworth, as a young boy, was impassioned by singing experiences in his schoo ...

. Williams tasked them to “collectively write a new version that expresses their faith or crisis of faith”. The new piece premiered at Philadelphia’s Monumental Baptist Church in August 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Curenton 1953 births Living people 20th-century American composers American women singers Temple University alumni 20th-century American pianists 20th-century American women pianists 21st-century American pianists 21st-century American women pianists 20th-century American women composers