Three-Day Musical Residency at Western Illinois University to Celebrate African American Composer

A relationship, developed through a love of music and culture, has led to a unique ensemble gathering at Western Illinois University for a three-day residency in May to record a significant, sacred work by an African American composer. WIU Director of Jazz Studies John Cooper, and his wife, Gayle, have a long friendship with Sharon Reed, the founder and artistic director of the Heritage Ensemble community choir in Peoria, IL. Through her research into music composed by African American artists, Reed discovered works by Glenn Burleigh, an Oklahoma composer who not only published his own pieces,... Read More