Underground Battle Legendary Soprano Kathleen Battle celebrates the roots of African .. American spirituals uperstar soprano Kathleen Battle will embrace the inspirat ion and power of Afi-icCln-American spiritu- al mus ic in a show cele- brating the freedom of slaves via the Underground Railroad. Th e id ea for the May 27 perform- Cl nc e with th e Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Mor ga n State Universi- ty Choir is derived from ri ch local his- tory, says BSO Gen e ral Ma nager Kendra Whitlock Ingram. "When we began planning the BSO's 2009- 20 10 season around a musical r oo ts th eme, our Ill.inds imme- diately jumped to the ex iste nc e of th e Underground Railroad between Was h- ington, D.C., and Baltimore, and the African-American spiritual mus ic that grew out of the quest for fr eedom," In- gram says. Ingram a tt end ed an a ll-spiritu al recital by Battle at Ca rneg ie Hall in 2009 and found the performance "in- credible and deeply moving." An or- chestral expansion of that program will tell the story of the origins of African- American spirituals and the history of the Underground Railn'la d. Ninetee nth century slaves developed sp iritual so ngs that somet imes includ- ed hidden mea nings to help others es- 14 APPLAUSE at Strathmore . APRIL 20 10 By Pamela Toutant cape to free states and Canada through an informal n etwo rk of secret mutes and safe houses. The well-known spir- itual "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," fo r example, refers to an underground "sta- ti on" called "Rankin House," the home of th e Rev. Jo hn Ra nkin where fugi- tive slaves were welcome and waited for help. The house, which still exists, is perched on what is known as Libe r- ty Hill ove rl ooking th e town of Rip- ley, Ohio, and the Northern sid e of the Ohio River, an area slaves referred to covertly as "Jordan:" "I loo ked over Jordan and what did I see/Co min g for to carry me home/ A band of angels coming after me." Maryland 's Eastern Shore was also a draw for runaway slaves from a ll over the South. It was the birthplace of lead- ing abolitionists Frederick Douglas and Harriet Tubman. Tubman was a "con- ductor" on the Underground Railroad and risked her life to help dozens of slaves escape the South for freedom in the North. Another histor ic a l figure, Josiah Hemon, was born into slavery near Rockville a nd later escaped to Canada. Henson was the inspirati on for Harri et Beecher Stowe's lead char- acter in U ncle Tom's Cabin . Battle was destined, it seems, to sino African-American spiritual mus ic . She was born in Portsmouth, Ohio, an im- portant hub of the Underground Rai l- road, and began singing spiritual ruusic as a young c hild in the c hoir of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. By the time Batt le was 8, th e beauty of her voice had inspired church mem- ber Charles Varney to tell th e young girl that: "God has blessed you and you must always sing." Varney eventually becam e Battle's high sch oo l music teacher and mentor. After studying voice and music edu- cation at th e University of Cincinnati Co llege-Conservatory of Music, Battle briefly taught music in C incinnati pub- li c schools. Her career as a cl ass ical per- former was Launched when she was cho- se n as th e soprano soloist in Brahms' A Gennan Requiem at " the 1972 Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy. Known for her ag il e, li ght voice and her pure, silvery tone, Battle h as ap- peared on the stages of the world's lead- ing opera houses and performed with many of th e world's great orchestras a nd co nduc to rs. S he is a five-time Grammy Award winner and public oc- casi ons often are marked with her artist ry. In 2008, sh e sang "The Lord 's Prayer" at a Whit e House arrival ce r- emony hon or ing Pope Benedict XVI. The influence of African-American