This hour our musical highway runs through antebellum cotton fields, alongside the underground railway, through gospel camps and churches, into the long march for African American Civil Rights and ultimately to Carnegie Hall. What unites all these places? A very special, very American, genre of music: the spiritual. And today the talented baritone, Robert Sims, is here to sing and talk with us.

As a boy Robert Sims used to practice singing in the stairwell of his grandmother’s apartment building. He attended music lessons every Saturday, carrying his music book in a small bag, and soon the whole street knew Robert, knew he dreamed of being a singer and that he was off to his weekly lesson. He went on to study singing at the Oberlin Conservatory, SUNY Binghamton, Northwestern University, and Music Academy of the West.

He has performed throughout the United States, Europe, Africa and Asia and has appeared with several orchestras, including a tour in Japan with the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra. He’s been a special guest of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for “Music and the Spoken Word” and performed several times on the “Hour of Power” at the Crystal Cathedral in California. He made his recital debut at Carnegie Hall in 2005, and returned in 2009 when opera superstar Jessye Norman asked him to sing in: “Honor! A Celebration of the African American Cultural Legacy.”

Left to Right: Marian Howe Taylor, Robert Sims, Jayne Galloway (pianist), Jackie Tateishi (producer)

Special thanks to Marian Howe-Taylor and the Salt Lake Community College for helping arrange this performance. 

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