Lift Every Voice and Sing
Lift every voice and sing, till earth and Heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise, high as the listening skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.
Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat, have not our weary feet,
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered;
Out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
Thou Who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou Who hast by Thy might, led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee.
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee.
Shadowed beneath Thy hand, may we forever stand,
True to our God, true to our native land.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH CONVOCATION
February 23, 2016
Xavier University of Louisiana Convocation Center • 12:15 p.m.
C. Reynold Verret, Ph.D.
President
Presiding
Kenneth G. Boutte, Sr., Ph.D., ‘76
Professor, Biology Department
Grand Marshal
DR. JEAN MONTÈS
Associate Professor of Music, Director of Orchestral Studies,
Coordinator of Strings
Loyola University New Orleans
An accomplished conductor, educator, clinician, lecturer, and performer, Dr.
Jean Montès is passionate about challenging and stimulating audiences and
musicians alike. At Loyola University New Orleans, he conducts orchestral
ensembles and teaches conducting and string pedagogy courses for music
education majors. In addition, Montès is the Artistic Director of The
Greater New Orleans Youth Orchestra (GNOYO) where he conducts the
Symphony, and is also the founder and director of Molto, a chamber music
ensemble.
Growing up in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, Montès studied the cello at the Holy
Trinity School of Music. He left Haiti after winning a full scholarship to
pursue his bachelor’s degree in cello performance at Duquesne University
in Pittsburgh, PA. He earned a master’s degree in Music Education at
the University of Akron in Ohio and completed his Doctorate of Musical
Arts in orchestral conducting at the University of Iowa under the tutelage
of Dr. William LaRue Jones. His dissertation topic was “An Annotated
Translation from French to English of the History of Music in Haiti.” He
is presently focusing his research on the performance and promotion of
orchestral works by Haitian composers.
Dr. Montès is in constant demand as a conductor, clinician, judge, and
lecturer with orchestras and schools at all levels throughout the country. He
spends his summers teaching strings and directing ensembles at summer
music festivals in the United States and at the Holy Trinity Music Camp
in Haiti where he has been the Assistant Director.
Deidre D. Labat, Ph.D.
Interim Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Master of Ceremonies
Processional: Kilimanjaro: An African Portrait.....................Robert Washburn, (b. 1928)
Xavier University Symphonic Band
Tim Turner, D.M.A., Conductor
Invocation...................................................................Reverend Etido Jerome, S.S.J., S.T.L.
Chaplain, Office of Campus Ministry
Introduction of Presenter................................................................. Joseph K. Byrd, M.Ed.
Vice President for Student Services
Convocation Performance: Musical Reflections of Haiti................... Jean Montès, D.M.A.
Conductor, Molto Chamber Ensemble
Dara Rahming, ’95, Soprano
Honors for Freshman and First-Year Pharmacy Students....................... Deidre D. Labat
Reflections..................................................................................................C. Reynold Verret
Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing.................................................. J.R. Johnson, arr. Roland Carter
Led by John E. Ware, D.M.A., ‘77
Wilfred Delphin, D.M.A., Accompanist
Benediction............................................................................. Reverend Etido Jerome, S.S.J.
Recessional: Courage March................................................Henry Fillmore (1881 – 1956)
Xavier University Symphonic Band