Saturday, April 2, 7:00pm
First Baptist Church
56 South Broadway, Tarrytown

A limited number of reduced-cost tickets will be available to those in need. Please contact our Managing Director Josh Suniewick to arrange for one of these tickets.

Why “Wade in the Water?” Was there a reason to tell the chariot to “Swing Low?”

Yolanda F. Johnson explores the emotional, spiritual journey and hidden communication in traditional African-American spirituals conveyed for the enslaved Africans in America and the influence of spirituals on music of the Civil Rights Movement on through popular music.

In this program, first premiered in Harlem in February 2011 for Black History Month, Yolanda offers audiences special insight on traditional spirituals and illuminates their hidden meaning through performance and conversation.

Part lecture, part recital, the program also includes a sing-along for audience members to gain a new understanding of these well-known and beloved songs. RiverArts’ Producer, Marie-Louise Miller, leads the conversation with Yolanda with opportunity for audience questions.

Presented by RiverArts’ Artist Conversation Series 
Producer, Marie-Louise Miller 

Yolanda F. Johnson has had an outstanding career as a performing artist and philanthropist; as a composer, as an educator, and as a supporter of the arts and women’s equity. A native of Omaha, Nebraska, Yolanda has performed nationally and internationally in diverse musical venues including opera, concert, oratorio and sacred music. She is an active recitalist/lecturer on varied musical subjects, including spirituals as related to the Underground Railroad and the works of women composers. Yolanda has recorded an album of Spirituals, Feel the Spirit! and co-created Music She Wrote, a celebration of women composers, with colleagues, Dr. Brooke Bryant and Dr. Michael Eisenberg.

She completed her B.A. in voice performance, graduate studies in voice, and an M.A. in Arts Management. She then served as the Acting Executive Director of the Barthelmes Conservatory of Music and on the faculty of Tulsa Community College as a Voice and Humanities instructor before relocating to the NYC area. She is currently on the voice and music composition faculty at the Mozartina Music Conservatory and on the artist roster of the Westchester Chamber Soloists.

In addition to her life as an artist, Yolanda is also a current International Advisory Board member and former Representative for the Foundation for Post-Conflict Development to the United Nations, a member of the board of directors of the Hudson River Museum, Special Advisor to the American Composers Orchestra, board of directors of PowHer NY, board of directors of the Lehman College Art Gallery and is the first African American President of Women In Development, New York. Yolanda is also the Founder and President of YFJ Consulting, LLC and Founder of Women of Color in Fundraising and Philanthropy (WOC)® and Allies in Action Membership Network.

RiverArts’ programs are made possible, in part, by support from The New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature and in part, by ArtsWestchester with support from County Executive George Latimer and the  Westchester County Government.

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All attendees will be required to show proof of vaccination at the door. Until further notice, attendees will be required to wear masks at all indoor RiverArts events.