The Ninth Annual Harry T. Burleigh Spirituals Festival Scholarship Concert will take place on Monday, April 14th at 7:30 p.m. at the Laura Turner Concert Hall in the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. Presented by the Tennessee State University Department of Music and Big Blue Opera Initiatives (BBOI), in collaboration with the Nashville Black Music Association (NBMA), Burleigh Legacy Alliance of Erie, PA, and the Nashville Symphony, this special event honors the rich legacy of African American music and culture as well as raising funds to support deserving students.
This year’s concert, themed “Sankofa Sonority: Sounds of Our History, Propelling Our Future,” will showcase the powerful traditions of the African Diaspora while celebrating emerging young musicians. Performances will include the Nashville Opera-HBCU Fellows, the W. Crimm Singers, the Tennessee State University Jazz Collegians and Meistersingers, the Fisk University Choir, and the Jennie E. Lane Ensemble from Lane College.
As is costumery for the festivities, the Burleigh Festival will honor local leaders with two prestigious awards presented in partnership with the National Museum of African American Music. Dr. Darryl G. Nettles, acclaimed composer, pianist, and interim chair of TSU’s Department of Music, will receive the Burleigh Arts Trailblazer Award, while Lorenzo Washington, founder and curator of the Jefferson Street Sound Museum, will be honored with the Burleigh Civic Champion Award.
Renowned multi-genre artist and conductor, Damien Sneed, will serve as this year’s Burleigh Festival Gala Artist. Known for his collaborations with figures such as star opera tenor Lawrence Brownlee and gospel icons the Clark Sisters, Sneed will lead a performance of excerpts from Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concerts in honor of the 60th anniversary of the first Concert of Sacred Music in 1965 sponsored by Jazz at Lincoln Center. This performance, featuring a mass HBCU choir, the TSU Jazz Collegians, and soloists San Franklin, Alysha
Nesbitt, and Patrick Dailey, will be Nashville’s exclusive commemoration of this iconic moment in music history.
The Burleigh Spirituals Festival also serves as a fundraiser for the Harry T. Burleigh Fund for HBCU Vocalists, which supports scholarships and programming for students at area Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Since its founding in 2016, the festival has raised funds to provide world-class experiences for underserved students and celebrate the legacy of the American Negro Spiritual. This year, festival partners aim to raise $10,000 in anticipation of the program’s 10th anniversary in 2026. Attendees will be the first to hear of the exciting future plans for the Burleigh Festival’s programming.
