University Park, Pennsylvania — The 2023 African American Music Festival will take place February 1-4 on the Pennsylvania State University Park campus, featuring music school students and faculty, special guest John W. Jones, and Unified Jazz. Ensemble will participate. Maria Thompson Corey (piano), Lara Downes (piano). The festival is organized by Anthony Leach and Essence of Joy.
The festival kicks off on Wednesday, February 1st at 7:30pm with ‘Music and Spoken Word’ in the Recital Hall. This includes performances by Essence of Joy and the Unified Jazz Ensemble, Mojatuba.
The line-up on February 2nd includes a Bach lunch concert at 12:10pm at the Eisenhower Chapel and “Music by African American Women Composers” at 7:30pm at the Recital Hall. It is included.
February 3 highlights include a concert celebrating the music of renowned composer and 1951 Penn State graduate TJ Anderson at 7:30 PM in Recital Hall .
The festival concludes with ‘Color My Music’ at 1pm at the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center Worship Hall.
See the College of Arts and Architecture Calendar of Events for a complete schedule. Admission to all festival events is free and most are live-streamed.
Festival funding provided by the Anthony T. Leach and Neil Holter Foundation, the University Park Allocation Board, the Pennsylvania State University Equal Opportunity Planning Board, and the School of Music.