Join WXXI Classical 9.15 for a special presentation of a film that traces the arc of opera singer Marian Anderson's life and her struggles against racism and poverty, Thursday December 12th at 6pm at The Little Theatre.
"Once in a Hundred Years" refers to the quote of the great conductor Arturo Toscanini who once told Marian Anderson: "A voice like yours is heard once in a hundred years." Marian Anderson's story continues to inspire people from very different backgrounds and her achievements in overcoming bigotry have secured her a place as a true pioneer internationally and in her hometown of Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. We walk the streets where she lived; talk to the people who knew her, knew her family, and someone she babysat; see where she was educated and went to church; and marvel at how she was able to transcend humble beginnings to sing for tens of thousands of people, and for Presidents and queens on the world's stages.
Now, music fans have the opportunity to look back at this iconic vocalist’s journey at this FREE screening of Marian Anderson: Once in a Hundred Years at the Little Theatre (240 East Avenue) on Thursday, December 12 at 6 p.m. No reservations needed. Seats are first come, first served.
Opera singer and Classical 91.5 host Kearstin Piper Brown will lead a discussion with the film's producer Bill Nicoletti immediately following the screening.
Bill Nicoletti is a music documentary film director with over 75 National Awards for excellence in film and television production spanning a 30-year career. Once in a Hundred Years, The Life & Legacy of Marian Anderson has been the winner of The Flicker’s International Film Festival and Best Documentary Feature at The Philadelphia Film Festival. It has also been selected to the Buffalo Niagara International Film Festival and in Consideration for 11 International film festivals. The Kennedy Center, Welcome America and MSNBC Morning Joe have all put Once in a Hundred Years onto the national stage.
Soprano Kearstin Piper Brown just made her San Francisco Opera debut covering the role of Dame Shirley in the world premiere of John Adams’s Girls of the Golden West. Recently, Ms. Brown performed with Rochester Oratorio Society in the Vaughan-Williams Dona Nobis Pacem and Emancipation Oratorio. She also toured Israel as Bess in Gershwin’s masterpiece, Porgy and Bess. This season Ms. Brown will returned as a guest artist with the Chaliapin Festival at the Kazan Opera Theater in Russia and in the spring, she will also begin work singing the lead role in the new opera, Promised Land: An Adirondack Folk Opera. Next season brings Ms. Brown back to the West Coast for Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the San Jose Chamber Orchestra and a return to San Francisco Opera to sing the Clara in Jake Heggie’s, It’s a Wonderful Life. She will also sing her role debut as Pamina in The Magic Flute with Opera in Williamsburg and make appearances in the KeyBank Rochester Fringe Festival.
Marian Anderson: Once in a Hundred Years will also air on WXXI-TV on Tuesday, December 10 at 8 p.m.
