For Immediate Release

Event Time and Location:

Sunday, February 23, 2020 (5:00 PM)
St. Martin de Porres Church, 1119 West Bancroft Street, Toledo, Ohio

Contact: Sister Virginia Welsh (419) 241-4544

St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church celebrates its 30th Annual Black History Month Concert with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra. The performance will feature Conductor Dr. Leslie Dunner with Janinah Burnett as Soloist. The event honors Dr. Celia Williamson with the St. Katharine Drexel Award.

This concert, part of the Black History Month observance at St. Martin de Porres Parish, features soprano soloist, Janinah Burnett. World renowned soprano Janinah Burnett began her training in jazz and then moved to opera. She is one of the few singers to perform roles on both Broadway and the Metropolitan Opera Stage. She studied vocal performance at Eastman School of Music and received her Master’s Degree in Music.

Janinah is in high demand and recently returned to Broadway where she began her career. Presently she is making appearances as “Carlotta Giudicelli” and the “Innkeeper’s Wife” in “The Phantom of the Opera.” At St. Martin de Porres she will be singing excerpts from Nkeiru Okoye’s opera Harriet Tubman: When I Crossed That Line to Freedom.

The guest conductor for this concert is Dr. Leslie Dunner. Dunner is the Conductor of the Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra. Dr. Dunner has been Music Director of the South Shore Opera Company in Chicago. He also served as Music Director of the Joffrey Ballet and the symphony orchestras of Annapolis, Dearborn, and Nova Scotia.

Dr Celia Williamson will receive the St. Katharine Drexel Award for her research work focusing on human trafficking with particular attention to domestic minor sex trafficking. She published numerous articles on the subject and delivered over 200 presentations. Williamson served as keynote speaker for more than 20 conferences. She founded the first Anti-trafficking Program in Ohio in 1993.

Additional accomplishments include founding the annual International Human Trafficking and Social Justice Conference in Toledo and founding the Lucas County Human Trafficking Coalition. She opened the Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute in 2015 to further the mission of combating human trafficking and supporting victims of this crime through research, education, and engagement.
She follows in the spirit of St. Katharine Drexel who used her resources generously in creating opportunities for children. St. Katharine Drexel founded over sixty schools for Black and Native American children. She also founded Xavier University in New Orleans.

Tickets

Concert tickets are on sale at the Parish, 1119 West Bancroft Street, (419) 241-4544 at $20.00; $25.00 at the door. Student tickets at $10.00

Shuttle parking is available at Swayne Field, Toledo Ohio.

For more information, please call: Sister Virginia Welsh or Rochelle Hite at (419) 241-4544.