The Aeolians of Oakwood University
will perform Sunday, Feb. 10, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
The performance is presented by UAB’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center. General admission tickets to the 5 p.m. performance are $30, with a limited number of $10 student tickets. For tickets, call 205-975-2787 or visit www.AlysStephens.org.
Under the direction of Jason Max Ferdinand, a former Aeolian, the choir returns to the Alys Stephens Center as part of the center’s season of performances. The Aeolians of Oakwood University were originally organized in 1946 by the late Eva B. Dykes. Since its inception, the choir has traveled widely, touching the hearts of both young and old with their inspirational singing. Most recently the Aeolians were named the 2018 winners at the World Choir Games in South Africa. They were named the 2017 Choir of the World during the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Wales, and Ferdinand received the first Gwobr Jane Davies Outstanding Conductor award.
The Aeolians’ repertoire of choral music ranges from the Baroque era to the 21st century. They have become an authoritative exponent of negro spirituals and work songs that express the yearnings of their forefathers to be free.
In October 2015, the Aeolians made their debut at Carnegie Hall performing with the Altino Bros, the Altino Brothers Concert Chorale and the Beyond Boundaries Symphony Orchestra in the Altino Bros’ “Beyond Boundaries” Concert Series. Later that month, the Aeolians accompanied world-acclaimed soprano Kathleen Battle at the Alys Stephens Center in her “Underground Railroad: A Spiritual Journey” Concert Series.
Since January 2013, the Aeolians have teamed up with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra to present an annual Martin Luther King Jr. tribute at the Alys Stephens Center. This collaboration has seen masterpieces performed from the symphonic choral literature to include Brahms, Mozart, Schoenburg, Dvorak, Hailstork and Dett, to name a few. In 2016, it featured Beethoven’s “Choral Fantasy” with guest classical pianist Nervo Altino from the Altino Bros.