{"id":18665,"date":"2026-02-26T19:16:36","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T19:16:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=18665"},"modified":"2026-02-26T19:16:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T19:16:36","slug":"st-martin-de-porres-36th-annual-black-history-month-concert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/26\/st-martin-de-porres-36th-annual-black-history-month-concert\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Martin de Porres 36th Annual Black History Month Concert"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Truth Staff<\/em><\/p>\n

Maestro Antoine Clark directed the Toledo Symphony Orchestra in a program of music to celebrate Black History Month on Sunday, February 22 at St. Martin de Porres Church. The program included compositions by Black musicians such as William Grant Still. This year\u2019s theme was \u201cGod\u2019s Mosaic Masterpiece.\u201d<\/p>\n

The orchestra was joined by the Clarence Smith Community Chorus.<\/p>\n

The evening\u2019s concert began with \u201cHope from Sinfonietta of Dreams\u201d by composer Jeff Scott. Scott, a French hornist, composer and educator, specializes in compositions which he terms \u201cUrban Classical Music.<\/p>\n

A Suite of Dances by composer Florence Price followed \u2013 \u201cAllegretto: Rabbit Foot;\u201d \u201cAllegretto: Hoe Cake;\u201d \u201cAllegretto molto: Ticklin\u2019 Toes.\u201d Price, a classical composer, pianist and music teacher was the first African American woman to be recognized as a symphonic composer and the first to have a composition played by a major orchestra.<\/p>\n

\u201cDarker America\u201d by Still followed. Still composed nearly 200 works, including five symphonies, four ballets, nine operas and more than 30 choral works. He was an integral part of the Harlem Renaissance.<\/p>\n

After an intermission, the presentation of the St. Katherine Drexel Awards followed. According to the organizing committee, the St. Katherine Drexel Awards are given to outstanding individuals \u201cwho express the spirit of St. Katherine Drexel\u2019s mission by their dedication and commitment to celebrating the diversity of people who make a beautiful masterpiece of God\u2019s gifts.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s honorees were Drs Zaheer and Samina Hasan; Joseph and Joyce Moran.<\/p>\n

Dr. Zaheer Hasan, a neurologist is chair of the United Muslims Association of Toledo and Islamic Society of Northwest Ohio. He has also served on the Community Relations Board and is a founding member of the United Muslims Association of Toledo.<\/p>\n

Dr. Samina Hasan is a practicing family physician and co-founder of the United Muslim Association of Toledo and has had a longstanding participation with the Multifaith Council of Toledo.<\/p>\n

Joseph Moran, an adjunct professor for 20 years in the sociology department at Lourdes University is a volunteer with Salem Lutheran Church, St Paul\u2019s Community Center, Read for Literacy, Meals on Wheels and is a mentor for an inmate in the Ohio prison system.<\/p>\n

Joyce Reichin Moran, a retired social worker, has served on a number of non-profit boars and volunteers at the Jewish Federation of Greater Toledo, Meals on Wheels, Salem Lutheran Church, the Toledo Repair Caf\u00e9 and the Multifaith Blood Drive.<\/p>\n

The musical program continued after the award ceremony with \u201cLift Ev\u2019ry Voice and Sing\u201d by J.R. Johnson and J.W. Johnson. The Clarence Smith Community Chorus presented a selection of songs.<\/p>\n

The 36th<\/sup> Annual Black History Month Concert was organized by Sister Virginia Welsh, pastoral leader of St. Martin de Porres Parish, and the church symphony committee.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike the beautiful mosaic above the altar, our community is made up of the variety of peoples that come together to make us strong,\u201d wrote Sister Virginia. \u201cOur cultural, ethnic, linguistic and religious differences create a beautiful mosaic of God\u2019s love. They create a masterpiece.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Truth Staff Maestro Antoine Clark directed the Toledo Symphony Orchestra in a program of music to celebrate Black History Month on Sunday, February 22 at St. Martin de Porres Church. The program included compositions by Black musicians such as William Grant Still. This year\u2019s theme was \u201cGod\u2019s Mosaic Masterpiece.\u201d The orchestra was joined by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18667,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[250],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[336],"class_list":["post-18665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18665"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18668,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18665\/revisions\/18668"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18665"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=18665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}