IMPACT! Guest Performers

Uzee Brown, Jr. ,

• Dr. Uzee Brown, Jr., educator, singer/performer, composer/arranger, and choral director is retired Professor Emeritus, and former chair of the Division of Creative and Performing Arts at Morehouse College. Dr. Brown is current Executive Editor of the GIA Music Publications’ Morehouse College Choral Music Series, and president of the 111 year old Atlanta Music Club. His career includes twelve years as Church Choir Director at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, founder and director of the Uzee Brown Society of Choraliers, and numerous solo vocal performances. He is composer/arranger of three collections of solo spirituals and inspirational songs and numerous choral compositions.

Monica Cantrell

• Monica Cantrell is a versatile vocal stylist and actor whose early passion for art songs, lieder, and opera arias evolved into a broader artistic expression encompassing musical theatre, jazz—with a particular affinity for the Great American Songbook—and sacred music.
  
• She earned her B.A. in Vocal Performance from Butler University and further refined her vocal technique, musicianship, and artistry under the distinguished tutelage of Dr. Willis C. Patterson. Her ability to move authentically among these genres reflects both her versatility as a performer and the depth of musical foundation cultivated through her training and mentorship.
  
• Early in her career, Monica was honored to perform the music of Duke Ellington at a gala
  celebrating Beyond Category: The Musical Genius of Duke Ellington, a traveling exhibition
  organized by the Smithsonian Institution. She later appeared as a guest artist with symphony orchestras throughout the United States and Canada in Sophisticated Ellington: Symphony and Swing, a tribute enriched by anecdotes shared by Ellington’s granddaughter, Mercedes Ellington.
  
• As an actor, Monica garnered enthusiastic audience response and critical acclaim for her
  portrayal of Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill at Indianapolis’ Fonseca
  Theatre Company, prompting an extended run. International opera star Angela Brown praised her performance, declaring, “Run, don’t walk, to see Monica Cantrell embody the character of Billie Holiday… a must-see.”
  
• It is with immense honor, gratitude, and humility that Monica celebrates Dr. Willis C.
  Patterson—a remarkable teacher, mentor, and visionary whose enduring legacy lives on through the voices he inspired.
  

Sample Performance

Dr. Darnell L. Ishmel, baritone

• Dr. Darnell L. Ishmel is a baritone, educator, author, and founder of MicroMissions who now serves as a full-time volunteer in missions in Africa. Singing only occasionally, he brings to selected engagements a lifetime of musical experience and a calling grounded in service, cultural memory, and human dignity.
  
• A University of Michigan graduate, Ishmel earned his Doctor of Ministry from Pacific School of Religion in 2022, completing his doctoral work with distinction. His research centered on Black Political Theology and its application to urban outreach, international missions, and ministry among marginalized men. His capstone, “Salvo the Subterranean!,” provides a theological foundation for his work alongside people often overlooked by institutions.
  
• His performance career has encompassed opera, oratorio, concert, gospel, and African American art song. Recognized by The New York Times for his artistry and stage presence, he has performed internationally and participated in a national tour of Porgy and Bess. He formerly directed the Willis Patterson Our Own Thing Chorale and served in music leadership at First Congregational Church of Ann Arbor.
  
• Through MicroMissions, Ishmel works alongside African partners to support education, food security, housing, youth enterprise, and family stability. His practice emphasizes relationships, shared responsibility, and the principle: “Never do for people what should be done with people.”
  
• A student and mentee of Dr. Willis C. Patterson for nearly four decades, Ishmel returns for this tribute with gratitude for the teacher whose example continues to shape his artistry, scholarship, and commitment to nurturing the gifts and dignity of others.

Richard Hobson, baritone

• Richard Hobson is an accomplished American baritone whose career has encompassed performances with major opera companies in the United States and abroad. He has appeared with the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, and The Dallas Opera, building a career distinguished by a broad repertoire of leading baritone roles.
  
• Hobson has been particularly associated with Porgy in George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, a role he has performed in the United States and internationally. His appearances in Porgy and Bess have included performances with New York City Opera as well as productions in Brazil, Germany, Australia, France, and Poland. He also performed Porgy with OperaDelaware in its 2005 production.
  
• His repertoire has included many of opera’s major baritone roles, among them Germont in La Traviata, Marcello in La Bohème, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, Count di Luna in Il Trovatore, and Amonasro in Aida. His work with Metro Lyric Opera under conductor Anton Coppola included several of these important Verdi and Italian repertory roles.
  
• In addition to his performing career, Hobson has devoted a significant part of his professional life to the education and development of young singers. He is a Full Professor of Music at Southern University and A&M College and the founder of Opera Southern, bringing his extensive professional stage experience into both the classroom and fully staged operatic productions.

Sample performance

Ray M. Wade, Jr., tenor

• Ray M. Wade, Jr. began his career in his hometown with in the chorus of the Ft. Worth Opera Theater in 1983.
  Mr. Wade has sung on several recordings including Lucia di Lammermoor and Norma with Edita Gruberova. He can also be heard in Cartellieri’s Christmas Oratorio and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with Das Neue Orchester, on William Grant Still's opera Highway One, in George Antheil's The Brothers, Pierantonio Tasca’s A Santa Lucia and in Antonio Gomes’ Salvator Rosa. Most recordings can be heard on Spotify or Amazon.
  Mr. Wade was a member of the ensemble in the Opera Cologne from 2004 until 2009 where he sang Don Alvaro in Verdi’s La Forza del Destino, Rodolfo in Puccini’s La Boheme, Laca in Janacek’s Jenufa, Turiddu in Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, Canio in Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci and Riccardo in Verdi’s Un ballo in Maschera, Samson in Saint-Saëns Samson et Dalila. He sang Pinkerton in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and Salvator Rosa in Antonio Gomes’ Salvator Rosa, Faust in Boito’s Mefistofele, and in March 2011 made his debut in the role of Otello in Verdi’s Otello (a role he has proudly performed over 100 times). Mr. Wade made his Viennese debut at the Volksoper as Canio in I Paglacci. Mr. Wade sang the role of Peter Grimes.
  He sang Erik in Der fliegende Holländer, Manrico in Il Trovatore, Max in Der Freischütz, Chevalier Renato Des Grieux in Manon Lescaut and Ismaele in Nabucco. He sang Sporting Life in Porgy and Bess at the Volksoper Wien.

Sample Performance

Karen Walwyn, concert Pianist, composer

• International Steinway Artist Karen Walwyn, Concert Pianist, Composer and an Albany Recording Artist, is the first female African American pianist/ composer to receive the Steinway Artist Award.
  A native of New York, Ms. Walwyn made her New York solo piano debut at Merkin Hall as a follow-up to her 2-CD series for Albany Records entitled Dark Fires, offering premiere recordings of works by African American composers. The American Record Guide said “ Walwyn's pianism is superb”, and Fanfare Magazine said “Walwyn gets through this technically demanding program with aplomb.
  As a Champion and Scholar of Florence Price, Walwyn premiered Florence Price Piano Concerto in One Movement: Bob McQuiston, wrote: “Walwyn provides a magnificent account of the concerto displaying her considerable technical skills”.
  As a composer, Walwyn received the Global Award: “Gold Medal -Award of Excellence” for her composition entitled Reflections on 9/11. Fanfare Magazine wrote: “Imaginatively conceived and executed, it both disturbingly transposes the catastrophe into appropriately cataclysmic sound and artistically suggests the aftermath’s lingering sense of numbing devastation.”
  Walwyn looks forward to completing a recording of her solo piano work entitled “An American Awakening” and the completion of her first piano concerto to be premiered with the Colorado Chamber Orchestra.
  Berklee College of Music, Professor of Piano, Walwyn, recently awarded the Brother Thomas Artist Award, is in constant demand nationally and internationally for both concert performances of repertoire from Frédéric Chopin to Florence Price, as well as commissions for works from solo instrumental works to orchestral works.