GENESEO, N.Y. – The choral performance series “Emancipation Again” celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation is following the path of the Underground Railroad with concerts in six cities stretching from Alabama to New York.

Series composer Glenn McClure, a faculty member at the State University of New York at Geneseo and Eastman School of Music, has transformed a series of foundational American documents and writings on abolition into a global artistic vision through the choral works.

McClure says, “This anniversary provides a unique platform to ask ourselves what emancipation means today. Singing these texts allows them to resonate deep within our minds and bodies. Singing these texts reminds us of how far we have come in the struggle for universal freedom, and how far we still need to go.”

The series started in Birmingham, Ala., where the University of Alabama at Birmingham Choir, Virginia Wesleyan University Choir and Alabama State High School Honor Choir performed the world premiere of McClure’s “Voices of Freedom.”  The two university choirs that performed in Birmingham will present the Virginia premiere of “Voices of Freedom” April 8 in Virginia Beach. They also will perform the premiere of works by composer Michael John Trotta. University of Alabama Choir will be in Philadelphia on April 6 and perform selected “Voices of Freedom” pieces as part of a concert at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Chestnut Hill.