Contact: Crystal Drake, Office of Strategic Communications
On July 1, Tuskegee University’s Golden Voices Choir performed on the stage of the world-renowned Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City as part of The Declaration Project, a nationwide initiative created by pianist Lara Downes to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States – an invitation that highlights the ensemble’s growing national visibility and its longstanding tradition of artistic excellence.
Twenty-one members of the Golden Voices Choir joined artists and community voices from across the nation in a program that explored modern interpretations of America's founding ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The choir's repertoire included American Tune” by J.S. Bach and Paul Simon, “I Wish I Knew” arranged by Shelbie Rassler and “Somewhere” also arranged by Ms. Rassler.
“I am deeply proud of the musical excellence our talented students shared with the Lincoln Center audience to celebrate the sacred ideals our nation continues to aspire to,” said Dr. Mark A. Brown, president and CEO. “Every American has a right and responsibility to join the chorus of respectful discourse about the pursuit of a more perfect union and our Golden Voices choir was an important part of that conversation last night.”
Dr. Brown added that he’s glad the world is hearing more from these voices and that Tuskegee’s Renaissance Era is reintroducing the Golden Voices to worldwide audiences.
“We want the world to experience what we at Tuskegee have long known – that the soul stirring sounds of the Golden Voices Choir reflect extraordinary talent, discipline and artistry,” he said. “These exceptional representatives of Mother Tuskegee carry forward one of our institutions most treasured traditions and this performance on the historic stage of Lincoln Center is a powerful example of that renewed global visibility.”
For Dr. Wayne Barr, Choral Director and Head of the Department of Fine and Performing Arts, the Lincoln Center appearance represented an extraordinary milestone for both the ensemble and its student performers.
“The opportunity to perform in the internationally acclaimed Lincoln Center is both an experience of a lifetime for our students and a stage for placing the choir before the world,” said Dr. Barr. “I hope our students will remember the thrill of performing in such a space and the professional expectations that come with performing at such a high level.”
Downes, a celebrated pianist, NPR host, and cultural advocate created The Declaration Project as a nonpartisan national storytelling and community engagement initiative designed to encourage Americans of all ages and backgrounds to reflect on the nation’s future as it approaches its semiquincentennial in 2026.
The project invited participants to share personal hopes, experiences, and aspirations while considering the enduring meaning of the Declaration of Independence’s founding principles. These stories, poems, reflections, and artistic expressions are being preserved in a national digital archive and were displayed on the Hauser Digital Wall in the David Geffen Hall lobby of the Lincoln Center before and after the show.
The July 1 performance capped months of collaboration between Downes and partners across the country. Earlier this year, Downes traveled to Tuskegee as part of a series of regional residencies. She met with Golden Voices Choir members in the University Chapel engaging them in conversations about democracy, opportunity, freedom, and the future of the nation.
More than 25 Tuskegee students participated in those sessions with students contributing original poetry, personal narratives, and musical performances exploring both the promise and unfinished work of American democracy.
Alana Jackson, an animal science major from Riverside, California, shared an original poem that grappled with complex and powerful imagery the colors red, white and blue can evoke. “Why do we love these colors? I don’t want to choose,” she reflected in one passage.
“As I spoke I was thinking of issues that are happening today, that my parents and grandparents also faced. With my poem I hoped to open people’s eyes.”
Barr praised his students' thoughtful participation throughout the process. He also emphasized the unique power of the arts to convey complex ideas and emotions.
“The arts are perhaps the most effective method of articulating the import of the Declaration of Independence, and ideas, emotions, and ideologies in general,” Dr. Barr said. “Music, dance, and the visual arts all tend to invite the art to live on in the soul of the observer.”
The day before the performance, Ms. Downes, Dr. Barr and choir president Imani Edwards and Brandon, a member of the Royal Court as Mr. Choir, were also guests on WQXR, New York City’s only all-classic music station. They discussed the legacy of the Golden Voices Choir, including the transformational musical director leadership of William Levi Dawson, and Dr. Roland Mario Carter’s powerful arrangement of the African American spiritual, “In Brighton Mansions Above.” The group also reflected on the unique and rigorous preparation for the special night ahead.
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