Five students from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music will perform alongside Grammy-winning singer Julia Bullock Oct. 9 in a free recital she curated around the poetry of Langston Hughes and the legacy of the Harlem Renaissance.
Bullock, the Shepherd School’s 2026-27 Aleko Endowed Artist, has built an evening that moves between art song, instrumental chamber music and readings of Hughes’ poems. She first assembled the program in 2018-19 as the first singer to hold an artist residency at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Researching the museum’s history led her to “Harlem on My Mind,” a 1969 Met exhibition that drew protests from members of the Black community before it opened until it closed. Bullock went on to build a program of music and poetry celebrating Harlem during its Renaissance with Hughes at its center. By Bullock’s account, composers across every musical discipline have been drawn to his words since his career began.
“Whether working on poetry, prose or a libretto for an opera with Kurt Weill, his lyrical voice seemed to guide his writing,” Bullock said.
The recital puts that idea onstage, setting readings of Hughes’ poems among the songs and chamber works, so audiences hear his language both spoken and sung.
“Hughes, ‘the people’s poet,’ sought to reeducate both audience and artist, so presumably, if a person were sensitive enough, they could find a way to tap into Hughes’ writing and illuminate it through music,” Bullock said.
Sharing that work with Bullock will be Shepherd School vocalists and instrumentalists: sopranos Dejah Watts and Shikta Mukherjee, baritone Christopher Gray, violinist Fiona Shea and clarinetist Eliza Reimold, joined by pianist Lyndsi Maus, artist teacher of opera studies at the Shepherd School.
The performance falls early in Bullock’s residency, which runs Oct. 6-16 and gives students extended time to work directly with her. Through the Aleko Endowed Artist Series, the Shepherd School brings leading artists and teachers to campus to work alongside its students. Previous Aleko guests have included Renée Fleming, James Conlon, Joyce DiDonato, Frederica von Stade and Isabel Leonard.
“Julia’s stratospheric career has been defined, in part, by her sharp eye for meaningful and adventurous programming,” said Joshua Winograde, professor of opera and director of opera studies at the Shepherd School. “Preparing this recital and studying with her during her residency, our students have the opportunity not only to rehearse and perform alongside such a consummate vocalist and musician but also to spend significant time with an artist who has, in many ways, changed and expanded the landscape for classical singers today.”
Beyond the Met, Bullock has held residencies with London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Berkeley’s Cal Performances and the San Francisco Symphony. She also co-curated the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Rock My Soul Festival with Ava DuVernay’s Array. This year, she served as director of Cincinnati’s May Festival. Her debut solo album “Walking in the Dark” won the 2024 Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album, and she sang the world premiere of “Song of the Reappeared,” a Chicago Symphony Orchestra commission Matthew Aucoin composed for her.
“Julia Bullock & Friends in Recital” begins at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 9 in the Morrison Theater at Brockman Hall for Opera. Admission is free, but tickets are required and available.