Penn Center Conversations

While performing at the 2016 Spoleto Festival, GRAMMY®-nominated tenor Victor Ryan Robertson was given an out-of-print edition of sheet music of little-known 19th-century Gullah Geechee spirituals from the islands off the coast of his home state of South Carolina. The history, melodies and lyrics resonated with him deeply. In 2022, he invited his friend and colleague – pianist, composer and Georgia native Adrianne Duncan – to set the a cappella melodies to music that reflected their backgrounds in opera, jazz and classical music. Their hope is that this contemporary take on spirituals from the rich Gullah Geechee culture will help preserve and bring forward this profoundly moving music to a new and wider audience.

Robertson and Duncan will perform their collaborative work, “Gullah Meditations,” followed by an audience conversation moderated by Dr. Robert Adams, Penn Center executive director. The event will take place in the Frisell Community House at Penn Center, and is free and open to the public with no reservations required.

Adrianne Duncan is a pianist, singer, composer, and songwriter based in Los Angeles. She has performed and recorded in the United States and internationally with globally recognized musicians including Grammy-nominated Lado B Brazilian Project, with whom she toured Brazil on keyboards and vocals, and on The Jazz Chamber with legendary multireedist Bennie Maupin. Duncan’s latest release Gemini features her original compositions and arrangements, and her voice and piano playing can be heard in numerous films and television shows.

Victor Ryan Robertson is an American musical artist distinguished by the compass and color of his tenor voice; he performs in genres including classical, contemporary, pop, and Broadway on both opera and theatrical stages. He recently sang the roles of Elijah and Street in X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X at The Metropolitan Opera of New York, and appeared on the soundtrack for the 2023 Netflix movie Rustin.

This conversation explored the impact that Gullah and Geechee cultures have on various contemporary forms of Black artistic expression. Panelists were invited to consider how their engagement with Gullah Geechee culture and history uniquely enables them to speak to audiences today. The conversation highlighted the liberating and catalyzing role that Gullah Geechee cultures continue to play in the Black creative imagination more broadly.

During this Penn Center Conversation, Nicole M. Morris Johnson, Ph.D. interviewed Chanon Judson, Tina McElroy Ansa, Kathy J. Brown, Ph.D., and Dianne McIntyre.

Judson, choreographer and artistic director of Urban Bush Women, conceived, directed, choreographed, and is currently touring Haint Blu, a “site responsive” show informed by Gullah culture.

Facilitator of an annual Sea Island Writers Retreat on Sapelo Island, novelist Tina McElroy Ansa is deeply aware of the creative implications that Gullah and Geechee cultures hold for African American literature broadly, as is evinced in her own writing.

Kathy J. Brown is the 2023 Carter Community Artist and Assistant Professor of Art Education at the University of North Texas College of Visual Art and Design. In both her own artistic practice and in her research and teaching, Professor Brown engages Gullah and Geechee cultures as key sites of visuality in African American art.

A legendary dancer and choreographer for stage and film (credits include Beloved), Dianne McIntyre’s formative, movement-defining research in the Sea Islands has had a lasting impact on her work. This impact shows up in her work referencing Gullah culture directly (In Living Color: A Gullah Story) and indirectly.