EXPANDING THE NARRATIVE is a long-term undertaking by Early Music Access Project to center voices of color in the study and performance of early American music.
An outgrowth of EMAP Artistic Director David McCormick’s research on Black fiddlers associated with Monticello, Expanding the Narrative seeks to shine a light on the contributions and lasting legacies of musicians of color from the colonial period to today. Early Music Access Project collaborates with a diverse group of musicians, historians, musicologists, and community leaders to create an ongoing series of live and virtual concerts and lectures.
An outgrowth of EMAP Artistic Director David McCormick’s research on Black fiddlers associated with Monticello, Expanding the Narrative seeks to shine a light on the contributions and lasting legacies of musicians of color from the colonial period to today. Early Music Access Project collaborates with a diverse group of musicians, historians, musicologists, and community leaders to create an ongoing series of live and virtual concerts and lectures.
Sacred Music of Monticello, March 2022
IN PRINT
Learn more about the Black Fiddlers of Monticello in David McCormick's article, Rock and Reel: Monticello's Black Fiddlers, published in the January 2022 issue of EMAg, the magazine of Early Music America, as well as online.
Learn more about the Black Fiddlers of Monticello in David McCormick's article, Rock and Reel: Monticello's Black Fiddlers, published in the January 2022 issue of EMAg, the magazine of Early Music America, as well as online.
WEBINAR SERIES
This series was co-produced by Early Music Access Project artists David McCormick and Loren Ludwig
EPISODE ONE: Slave Songs and Spirituals as Early Music
Premiered November 22, 2020
Premiered November 22, 2020
EMAP Artistic Director David McCormick is joined by countertenors Reggie Mobley and Patrick Dailey and baritone James Dargan for a roundtable discussion on approaching slave songs and spirituals from a historical performance perspective. Exciting connections are made between Charlottesville’s musical past and major national trendsetters like the Fisk Jubilee Singers. All four artists offer musical selections from their respective locations. Click below to watch both this episode and the follow-up discussion sponsored by Early Music America.
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EPISODE TWO: Centering Black Music at Colonial Williamsburg
Premiered June 6, 2021 via Facebook Live | Now available to view on YouTube
Premiered June 6, 2021 via Facebook Live | Now available to view on YouTube
Learn about the lives and music of 18th-century Williamsburg’s enslaved Black residents through performances and interviews with Colonial Williamsburg historical interpreters, including actor Jamar Jones and musician Dylan Pritchett.
EPISODE THREE: Meet the Artists - Sacred Music of Monticello
Filmed live at The Center at Belvedere on March 4, 2022
Filmed live at The Center at Belvedere on March 4, 2022
Early Music Access Project partners with The Center at Belvedere for a panel discussion with artists from Sacred Music of Monticello. The musicians speak about their experiences growing up in the Black church, and composer James Dargan speaks about the ways in which his encounters with various Black sacred traditions have informed his compositional style.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Check back soon for information on upcoming events!
PAST EVENTS
BELLRINGER: Celebrating the Poetry of Rita Dove
June 21, 2025 | The Rotunda at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville VA
June 22, 2025 | Blackfriars Playhouse, Staunton VA
June 21, 2025 | The Rotunda at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville VA
June 22, 2025 | Blackfriars Playhouse, Staunton VA
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Early Music Access Project collaborated with Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Rita Dove for a program that celebrated the intersection of poetry and music. Composer and bass-baritone Jonathan Woody performed the world premiere of his own new work, a setting of Dove’s poem “Bellringer”. This poem honors the life of Henry Martin, an enslaved bell ringer at the University of Virginia’s Rotunda who was born at Monticello the day Thomas Jefferson died. Dove curated a selection of poems that were heard throughout the remainder of the program, with musicians from Early Music Access Project providing a wide range of musical responses, including music from Shakespeare plays. In addition to Jonathan Woody, baroque violinist David McCormick, viola da gamba player Loren Ludwig, and double bassist Sam Suggs performed.
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LAFAYETTE'S FIDDLERS
November 9, 2024 | University of Lynchburg's Sydnor Performance Hall, Lynchburg VA
November 10, 2024 | The Rotunda at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville VA
November 9, 2024 | University of Lynchburg's Sydnor Performance Hall, Lynchburg VA
November 10, 2024 | The Rotunda at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville VA
In November 1824, the Marquis de Lafayette visited his dear friend Thomas Jefferson in Charlottesville. His visit was heralded with great fanfare, including a grand banquet at the Rotunda on the grounds of the University of Virginia. The Scott family fiddlers, of Black and Indigenous heritage, provided the musical entertainment for this event.
Early Music Access Project commemorated the 200th anniversary of Lafayette’s visit to Charlottesville and Monticello with two free concerts inside The Rotunda. Based on his research as a fellow of the International Center for Jefferson Studies, EMAP artistic director David McCormick curated a program that includes music that may have been played for the occasion and French songs that Lafayette and Jefferson admired.
Early Music Access Project commemorated the 200th anniversary of Lafayette’s visit to Charlottesville and Monticello with two free concerts inside The Rotunda. Based on his research as a fellow of the International Center for Jefferson Studies, EMAP artistic director David McCormick curated a program that includes music that may have been played for the occasion and French songs that Lafayette and Jefferson admired.
AMASS: A New Mass for Old Instruments
March 10, 2024 | Christ Episcopal Church, Charlottesville VA
March 10, 2024 | Christ Episcopal Church, Charlottesville VA
Early Music Access Project offered a world premiere from composer James Dargan that featured vocal soloists Brianna Robinson, Patrick Dailey, and the composer himself, accompanied by strings and organ. For this new work, AMASS, Dargan has married two musical styles he has grown up singing, embedding the spirituals of the Black churches he attended as a child into the Latin mass tradition of his professional choral singing career, using compositional techniques of the medieval, Renaissance, and baroque periods, as well as period instruments. Works of Bach and Buxtehude punctuated key moments of the Mass.
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OH, GLORY!
March 9, 2024 | The Center at Belvedere, Charlottesville VA
March 9, 2024 | The Center at Belvedere, Charlottesville VA
Oh, Glory! (OG) grew out of a desire to celebrate Black American musical history; it gathers some of the core repertoire of five great Black musicians (Paul Robeson, Roland Hayes, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, and Robert McFerrin, Sr.) to invoke their spirits, honor their accomplishments, and inspire us. Performed by James Dargan, baritone; Nicole Keller, piano; and David McCormick, violin.
ROCK & REEL: MONTICELLO'S FOLK TRADITIONS
June 2023 | Amherst & Charlottesville VA
June 2023 | Amherst & Charlottesville VA
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What sounds might a visitor to Monticello have heard? Music was often in the air - Thomas Jefferson was a violinist, and nearly every member of his family also played an instrument, including his three enslaved sons with Sally Hemings, all of whom played fiddle. On Charlottesville’s Main Street, the Scott family, related by marriage to the Hemings clan, boasted three generations of fiddlers who played for every sitting president for decades.
In celebration of Juneteenth, Early Music Access Project presented a concert that explored the unique repertoire of these accomplished Black fiddlers, which ranged from raucous reels to stately minuets. The concert also included a newly written work by composer Jonathan Woody, a setting of a story passed down from an enslaved nursemaid at Monticello, performed in this concert by storyteller Sheila Arnold. This story, "Mr. Fox Tricks Mr. Rabbit and is Tricked in Return," comes from the Brer Rabbit tradition and has elements of Ghanaian storytelling. This performance featured Seattle-based fiddler Benjamin Hunter, baroque violinist and EMAP artistic director David McCormick, and Juilliard-trained baroque violinist Carmen Johnson-Pájaro. Dominic Giardino played historical clarinets and Loren Ludwig played early American bass viols. |
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The Hemings Family of Monticello: A Musical History Dinner
April 27, 2023 | Montfair Resort Farm, Crozet VA Dr. Leni Sorensen of Indigo House and David McCormick of Early Music Access Project joined forces for an evening of food, wine, and music that offered a window into the many accomplishments of the Hemings family, once enslaved at Monticello. Leni introduced dinner guests to Chef James Hemings, who was trained in the art of French cooking while accompanying Thomas Jefferson in Paris. In Philadelphia, Hemings would use these skills to cook for countless diplomats and politicians during Jefferson’s time as Secretary of State. This multi-course meal offered a glimpse into the Hemings kitchen and the extended family members who learned from James Hemings and cooked at Monticello after his death. Throughout the evening, David played fiddle tunes associated with this highly musical family. All three of Sally Hemings’ sons with Thomas Jefferson appear to have been fiddlers, and there were three generations of fiddlers among their cousins in the Scott family.
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Black Fiddlers: A Documentary Film
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Early Music Access Project partnered with Heritage Film Project to produce Black Fiddlers, a groundbreaking documentary from filmmaker Eduardo Montes-Bradley. The film was an official selection at the Virginia Film Festival in Charlottesville, Virginia. EMAP sponsored a virtual screening in November 2022. The film is now available for streaming via Kanopy.
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Sacred Music of Monticello
March 6, 2022 | Christ Episcopal Church, Charlottesville VA
March 6, 2022 | Christ Episcopal Church, Charlottesville VA
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Among the music gathered by Thomas Jefferson for his library at Monticello is a unique version of Italian composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's famous Stabat Mater, composed just before Pergolesi died of tuberculosis at age 26 in 1736. In Jefferson's copy, though, the traditional Latin text has been replaced by the words of a poem by Alexander Pope, "The Dying Christian to his Soul." There was also a rich tradition of musical worship at Monticello among the community of enslaved people who lived and toiled there. This musical culture, less well documented but much more influential on American music over subsequent centuries, offers a powerful counterpoint to Pergolesi's hymn for voices and small chamber ensemble. Sacred Music of Monticello presented spirituals associated with Monticello's enslaved people interleaved with movements of the Pergolesi/Pope Stabat Mater. The concert, offered in person and online by Early Music Access Project at Charlottesville's historic Christ Episcopal Church, featured soprano Brianna J. Robinson, countertenor Patrick Dailey, and instrumentalists of Charlottesville's Early Music Access Project. The program included the world premiere of spirituals arranged by baritone James Dargan, who also performed in the concert.
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James Dargan, composer & baritone
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Black Fiddlers of Monticello Walking Tour
April 10 & 17, May 8 & 15, November 6, 2021 @ Maplewood Cemetery, Charlottesville VA
April 10 & 17, May 8 & 15, November 6, 2021 @ Maplewood Cemetery, Charlottesville VA
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Based on his research as a 2020 Fellow of the International Center for Jefferson Studies, David McCormick leads a tour of downtown Charlottesville that illuminates the lives of the Scott and Hemings family fiddlers with stops at the Maplewood Cemetery, the one-time sites of the Scott and Hemings family homes on Main Street, and a few other important landmarks like the Levy Opera House. McCormick caps off each tour with a short outdoor performance of fiddle tunes associated with the Scott and Hemings families.
On February 23, 2022, McCormick presented an online version of the walking tour for the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society via Facebook Live. |
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Les Délices presents SalonEra: Folk Influences
November 16, 2020 | Livestream
Three violinists – Gail Hernández Rosa, Edwin Huizinga, and David McCormick – keep one foot firmly in the Baroque world and the other just outside. In this episode, they share recent work spanning Celtic tunes, traditional music from Spain, and research focused on Black musicians at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. Two musical excerpts from the broadcast can be viewed below.
November 16, 2020 | Livestream
Three violinists – Gail Hernández Rosa, Edwin Huizinga, and David McCormick – keep one foot firmly in the Baroque world and the other just outside. In this episode, they share recent work spanning Celtic tunes, traditional music from Spain, and research focused on Black musicians at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. Two musical excerpts from the broadcast can be viewed below.
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Class: Tunes of Monticello
October 18, 2020 | via Zoom
Intermediate, advanced, and professional instrumentalists of all ages joined violinist David McCormick for a fun and informative class exploring tunes played in and around Monticello by both free and enslaved musicians. Participants played along with the tunes and asked questions throughout this hour-long workshop.
October 18, 2020 | via Zoom
Intermediate, advanced, and professional instrumentalists of all ages joined violinist David McCormick for a fun and informative class exploring tunes played in and around Monticello by both free and enslaved musicians. Participants played along with the tunes and asked questions throughout this hour-long workshop.
Expanding the Narrative: Symposium on Early American Music
August 15 & 16, 2020 via Zoom
In an effort to find ways the early music field can better represent music and musicians of color, Early Music Access Project convened a Virtual Symposium with fifteen early American music scholars presenting on a wide range of topics.
August 15 & 16, 2020 via Zoom
In an effort to find ways the early music field can better represent music and musicians of color, Early Music Access Project convened a Virtual Symposium with fifteen early American music scholars presenting on a wide range of topics.
ICJS Virtual Fellows Forum: Black Musicians in Jefferson's Virginia
August 13, 2020 | Livestream
Performer-scholars David McCormick and Loren Ludwig ended their 2020 Fellowship at the International Center for Jefferson Studies with a Virtual Fellows Forum.
Performer-scholars David McCormick and Loren Ludwig ended their 2020 Fellowship at the International Center for Jefferson Studies with a Virtual Fellows Forum.
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Monticello LIVE with Early Music Access Project
May 27, 2020 | Livestream
Live from the Entrance Hall at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, David McCormick (baroque violin) and Loren Ludwig (viola da gamba) from Early Music Access Project presented a free virtual concert examining various aspects of music-making in Jefferson’s Virginia.
Live from the Entrance Hall at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, David McCormick (baroque violin) and Loren Ludwig (viola da gamba) from Early Music Access Project presented a free virtual concert examining various aspects of music-making in Jefferson’s Virginia.
The Jefferson Project: A First Look
February 23, 2020 | Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society, Charlottesville VA
David McCormick (baroque violin) and Loren Ludwig (viola da gamba) presented musical selections from their research as 2020 Fellows of the International Center for Jefferson Studies.
February 23, 2020 | Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society, Charlottesville VA
David McCormick (baroque violin) and Loren Ludwig (viola da gamba) presented musical selections from their research as 2020 Fellows of the International Center for Jefferson Studies.
The Jefferson Project: Music Under the Stars
February 1, 2020 | Rotunda Planetarium, Charlottesville VA
David McCormick (baroque violin) presented short, on-the-hour performances of music likely heard at Monticello, including pieces from Thomas Jefferson’s extensive music library and tunes played by fiddler Eston Hemings. An array of digital projectors transformed the Rotunda’s dome room into a vast enlightenment planetarium.
February 1, 2020 | Rotunda Planetarium, Charlottesville VA
David McCormick (baroque violin) presented short, on-the-hour performances of music likely heard at Monticello, including pieces from Thomas Jefferson’s extensive music library and tunes played by fiddler Eston Hemings. An array of digital projectors transformed the Rotunda’s dome room into a vast enlightenment planetarium.