Photo courtesy Charles Smith/JSU

Phyllis Lewis-Hale, assistant professor of music and director of the Opera Workshop at Jackson State University, received a $6,500 grant from the Mississippi Humanities Council this November to host a two-day event called “From Delta Blues to Opera News: A Mississippi Musical Exposition,” which will take place from Feb. 28 to March 1, 2021, in the F.D. Hall Music Center at JSU.

Lewis-Hale has taught and managed the Opera Workshop at JSU for 16 years. She conducts the university's annual opera concerts and also coordinates with the JSU Community Orchestra for collaborative performances. In addition to her work with the opera group, she is a specialist in Negro Spiritual and Creole music.

"Spirituals in particular are a type of song that have been dying out in recent years, and we need to perform them to keep them alive," Lewis-Hale says. "I also put heavy focus on classically arranged music that African American composers created."

Lewis-Hale was born in Jackson and graduated from Provine High School before enrolling at JSU, where she received a bachelor's degree in music education in 1989. She then went on to attend Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., for one year before transferring to the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she received a master's degree in music and vocal performance in 1992. She moved back to Jackson after graduating and took her current position with JSU in 2003. Lewis-Hale later returned to UCCCM and received a doctorate in vocal performance, cognate and opera stage direction in 2016.

“From Delta Blues to Opera News" will demonstrate the historical contributions of Mississippi artists and arts organizations to American music and opera and honor the legacy of performing arts organizations in Mississippi, including JSU’s Opera/South Company, which relocated to JSU from the Mississippi Museum of Art in 1984.

The exposition will feature a panel discussion on Mississippi’s involvement in American music development and African-American musicians and arts organizations, a concert honoring African-American performers and arts organizations from Mississippi and a second panel discussion for high school and college students, which will be open to the public. JSU will also host masterclasses and panel discussions on the musical genres featured in the event.

"I feel that an event like this is relevant to today's society because it's so important that students know about these artists," Lewis-Hale says. "In the time I've been teaching I realized that many of them have never heard about these important Mississippi artists, and their contributions need to be spoken about and honored.

It is my hope that my project will inspire people, especially young people, in Jackson and beyond to embrace blues, jazz, gospel and opera," Lewis-Hale says. "I want to help them open their minds to explore the music from Mississippi that was so inspirational within the state and without.”

“Mississippi has been a great influence on the musical world and made a monumental impact. Up-and-coming artists need to understand the importance of continuing this legacy of great musicianship, and everyone from professionals to amateurs should come together to honor this aspect of music," she says.

Lewis-Hale's husband, Glenn Hale, is a double bass player in the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra. The two have been married for 23 years and have two children, Jeston and Gabriella.

For more information on “From Delta Blues to Opera News," visit jsums.edu.