Music
‘I Dream A World’ At New World Dedicated to Black Trailblazers

The New World Symphony launched “I Dream a World” in 2022 serves also as a platform to encourage dialogue about the enduring relevance of Black artists in shaping American culture. This year’s festival is a four-concert series beginning Thursday, Feb. 6 at the New World Center. (Photo courtesy of New World Symphony)
Black artists like William Grant Still, the first Black composer to have a symphony performed by a major orchestra, and Hazel Scott, who bridged the gap between jazz and classical music, are central to this year’s New World Symphony’s “I Dream A World” festival. The artists, who rose to prominence during the Harlem Renaissance, paved the way for future generations by pushing boundaries within the music industry and society at large.
Titled “Transitions and Trailblazers,” the festival, which is part of NWS’s “Resonance of Remembrance: WWII and the Holocaust” series, marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and highlights the intersection of music, politics, and culture.

Pianist Michelle Cann, a passionate advocate for Hazel Scott’s legacy, will perform jazz interpretations of classical works, including “Bach’s Invention,” as Scott famously reimagined them. (Photo by Titilayo Ayangade)
It is a four-concert series that will take place at the New World Center in Miami Beach and the Black Archives Historic Lyric Theater in Overtown.
Among the highlights of the festival is “The Hazel Scott Show,” an intimate concert dedicated to pianist and jazz singer Hazel Scott. The concert, which takes place Thursday, Feb. 6 at the New World Center and Friday, Feb. 7 at the Black Archives Historic Lyric Theater, will feature pianist Michelle Cann, a fervent advocate for Scott’s legacy.
Cann, who first discovered Scott’s music while working on a project with Washington Performing Arts in Washington D.C. is deeply inspired by Scott’s resilience in both her musical career and her activism.
“Her legacy extends beyond her musical genius,” says Cann, who adds that Scott used her platform to push for equality and challenged industry norms.
“At a time when women artists, performers, and activists were often sidelined, Scott refused to be confined. She married Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and actively supported civil rights. In Hollywood, she fought for better representation, insisting that Black women not be relegated to maid roles.”

Wesley Ducote, a former New World Symphony piano fellow, worked with Michelle Cann to bring Hazel Scott’s previously unpublished arrangements to life by transcribing her complex improvisations. (Photo courtesy of New World Symphony)
Also serving as a mentor at the Curtis Institute of Music and Manhattan School of Music, Cann feels personally connected to Scott’s story and legacy, especially as a Black woman in the arts.
To honor Scott, Cann will be performing “Hungarian Rhapsody,” “Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in C-sharp Minor,” a Bach Invention in A Minor,” “Country Gardens,” and two Chopin waltzes. “Hazel took exact themes, motifs, and ideas from classical standards—like Bach’s ‘Invention,’ dating back to the 1600s—and infused them with a modern, 1940s jazz sound. She called it ‘swinging the classics.’”

NWS Piano Fellow Shih-Man Weng performing at the 2024 I Dream a World Festival’s cabaret performance. This year, she will be part of “The Hazel Scott Show.” (Photo courtesy of Ezequiel Williams, Moment77.com)
Cann has collaborated with Wesley Ducote, a former New World Symphony piano fellow, to bring Scott’s previously unpublished arrangements to life. Ducote has painstakingly transcribed Scott’s complex improvisations from 1940s LP recordings, a process that posed several challenges.
“The greatest challenge is presented by the quality of the recordings themselves”, according to Ducote. “Many of the recordings have static or even the sounds of other instruments (drums and bass) obscuring what Hazel Scott is playing. So, I have to interpolate and experiment with different chord voicings until I find something that blends in perfectly with the recording.”
On Saturday, Feb. 8 and Sunday, Feb. 9, conductor Jeri Lynne Johnson, founder and artistic director of the Philadelphia-based Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra, will debut with NWS, guiding the fellows through an orchestral program spotlighting Black composers whose work connected the Harlem Renaissance to the Civil Rights Movement. The program includes Julia Perry’s “Stabat Mater,” featuring mezzo-soprano Briana Hunter, William L. Dawson’s “Negro Folk Symphony,” and William Grant Still’s “Afro-American Symphony.”

The audience at the 2024 I Dream A World Festival. (Photo by Alex Markow/courtesy of New World Symphony)
“Audiences can expect to hear three very distinct works representing a small but significant cohort from the diverse array of African American compositional voices during this period,” Johnson says. “Emotionally, this concert is wide-ranging, taking people from feelings of pride in country and culture, through depths of agony and heights of religious fervor.”
Johnson emphasizes the importance of exploring the cultural and historical roots of these works with the New World Symphony’s fellows. “I expect that this will be the first time many of them have encountered these three works,” she says. “I’m really looking forward to exploring the cultural and historic roots of these works and the composers.”
The festival, which New World Symphony launched in 2022 with “I Dream a World: The Harlem Renaissance and Beyond,” serves also as a platform to encourage dialogue about the enduring relevance of Black artists in shaping American culture. The inclusion of discussions with Adam Clayton Powell III, son of Hazel Scott and Reverend Adam Clayton Powell Jr., will offer insights into Scott’s life and legacy.
“My hope is that the audience leaves inspired,” says Cann. “By learning about Hazel Scott’s life, they will see the ways in which art, activism, and resilience can change the world.”
Curated by Tammy L. Kernodle, Ph.D., professor at Miami University of Ohio, this year’s festival emphasizes the transition from the Harlem Renaissance to the Civil Rights Movement, exploring the legacy of Black artists, reflecting on their struggles and triumphs during and after World War II.

Tammy Kernodle, Ph.D., professor at Miami University of Ohio, curated this year’s festival that emphasizes the transition from the Harlem Renaissance to the Civil Rights Movement. (Photo courtesy of New World Symphony )
According to Kernodle, the theme “Transitions and Trailblazers” serves to highlight the shift in America’s cultural and political landscape during this time and that the festival’s music honors the contributions to the war effort of Black artists. “The music that audiences will hear during this year’s festival invokes a context of remembrance and reflection that is nested in the Black experience,” she says.
Kernodle emphasizes the significance of Black artists during WWII stating that musicians were key to the war effort.” She talks about Scott, the Trinidad-born pianist, who, Kernodle says made several V-discs (recordings made especially for Armed Forces radio) and film shorts used to boost troops morale.
She also acknowledges the importance of Scott’s music being performed at the Black Archives Historic Lyric Theater.

Conductor Jeri Lynne Johnson will guide the NWS fellows through an orchestral program spotlighting Black composers whose work connected the Harlem Renaissance to the Civil Rights Movement. (Photo by Vanessa Briceno Photography)
“I’m drawn to the story of Overtown as it represents how Black people created communities and spaces that nurtured their existence and upward mobility. It’s important to me that the I Dream a World Festival live in some form beyond South Beach,” says Kernodle.
As the festival looks toward the future, Kernodle envisions expanding its scope to include other forms of cultural expression, such as dance and poetry.
“My prayer is that this festival empowers and educates New World fellows to become advocates for inclusion and cultural change in performance spaces. I also hope that audiences will walk away with an interest in Black history, with a more expansive concept of what constitutes Black music.”
WHAT: The New World Symphony’s “I Dream A World Festival”
WHERE: New World Center, 500 17th S.t, Miami Beach, and Black Archives Historic Lyric Theater, 819 NW 2nd Ave, Miami
WHEN: 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 6, “Cabaret: The Hazel Scott Show,” New World Center; 7:30 p.m., Friday, Feb. 7, The Hazel Scott Show, Black Archives Historic Lyric Theater; 7:30 p.m., “I Dream a World: Transitions and Trailblazers,” 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8, and 7:30 p.m., Sunday. New World Center
COST: “Cabaret: The Hazel Scott Show,” $100 to $500; “The Hazel Scott Show,” $10; “I Dream a World: Transitions and Trailblazers,” $40 to $140
INFORMATION: 305-673-3330 or The New World Symphony
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