Dashon Burton, Baritone and Annemieke McLane, Piano

Hailed as an artist “alight with the spirit of the music” (Boston Globe), three-time Grammy-winning bass-baritone Dashon Burton has built a vibrant career, performing regularly throughout the U.S. and Europe. His deep, expressive voice wields extraordinary power and warmth. At Middlebury, Burton will perform selections from the 1946 Middlebury recital of Paul Robeson, a celebrated singer, actor, athlete, and advocate for the civil rights of people around the world.

Tickets: $30 general public | $20 Middlebury ID holders/PASS Members | $10 youth (under 21) | $5 Middlebury students. Reserved seating. Tickets on sale in September: http://go.middlebury.edu/tickets

Approximate running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes, including 1 intermission

Learn more about this concert’s music in a free pre-concert lecture by Professor Emeritus of Music Larry Hamberlin, at 6:15 PM in MAC room 125.

About the Artists:
Bass-baritone Dashon Burton is known for performances that move fluidly between the worlds of Bach, spirituals, contemporary music, and the concert repertoire of the great orchestral tradition. A three-time GRAMMY Award winner, Burton has built an international career as a concert soloist, collaborative musician, and educator.

Burton appears regularly with leading orchestras including the Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Boston Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, and New Jersey Symphony. His performances have taken him to major venues and festivals across the United States, Europe, and Asia, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Hollywood Bowl, Wigmore Hall, Barbican Hall, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, and the Salzburg Festival.

Highlights of the 2025–2026 season include Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Don Fernando in Fidelio with the Cleveland Orchestra under Franz Welser-Möst; Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer and Mozart’s Requiem with the New Jersey Symphony conducted by Xian Zhang; Britten’s War Requiem with the Erie Philharmonic; and Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle with the Cincinnati May Festival. Recent engagements have also included appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the St. Louis Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, and a return to the Carmel Bach Festival.

Burton first came to major award attention as a founding member of the vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth, with whom he received his first GRAMMY Award. His second GRAMMY came in 2021 for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album for Dame Ethel Smyth’s The Prison with The Experiential Orchestra, and his third for Roomful of Teeth’s album Rough Magic. His recordings also include Songs of Struggle & Redemption: We Shall Overcome, Paul Moravec’s Sanctuary Road, Lori Laitman’s Holocaust, 1944, and Caroline Shaw’s The Listeners with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. The New York Times described his spirituals album as “profoundly moving…a beautiful and lovable disc.”

A native of the Bronx and Williamsport, PA, Burton studied at Case Western Reserve University, earned his Bachelor of Music from the Oberlin Conservatory, and completed his Master of Music at Yale University’s Institute of Sacred Music. Early distinctions in his career include prizes at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich, the International Vocal Competition in ’s-Hertogenbosch, the Oratorio Society of New York Vocal Competition, and the Bach Choir of Bethlehem’s Young American Singer Competition.

In addition to his performing career, Burton is Assistant Professor of Voice at Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music, where he teaches applied voice, vocal literature, and performance classes. He is also active internationally as a teacher and mentor through residencies and masterclasses with organizations including San Francisco Performances, the Carmel Bach Festival, and Roomful of Teeth. Learn more about Dashon Burton: 
https://www.dashonburton.com/

Annemieke (Spoelstra) McLane is a Dutch-born pianist with a Master’s in Piano Performance from the Zwolle Conservatory, where she earned the Student of the Year Award. She has performed widely as a soloist and collaborator, winning the National Young Music Talent Award at 21 and specializing in Art Song accompaniment at the Sweelinck Conservatory.

She was a finalist in the Lily and Nadia Boulanger Competition and studied with Tan Crone, among others. Now based in Sharon, VT, she performs internationally, teaches at her home studio, and has taught at St. Michael’s College. Her recordings include Toccare, Birds and Beethoven, and Bach & My Bicycle, noted for their expressive style. Learn more about Annemieke McLane: https://www.jeremiahmclane.com/band/jeremiah-mclane-annemieke-spoelstra/

Program:
Dashan Burton, Baritone 
Annemieke McLane, Piano

Paul Robeson at Middlebury: 80th Anniversary

I. The Light of His Song
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART In diesen heil’gen Hallen from Die Zauberflöte*
AARON COPLAND The Golden Willow Tree
JOHN JACOB NILES Black Is the Color of My True Love’s Hair
H. LESLIE ADAMS Creole Girl
AARON COPLAND The Dodger
JOHN JACOB NILES I Wonder as I Wander
WILLIAM GRANT STILL Grief
Traditional, arr. HARRY T. BURLEIGH Scandalize My Name*

Intermission

II. From His Soul to Ours
Traditional African American work song, Arr. AVERY ROBINSON Water Boy*
First published in 1922 for Roland Hayes (Hayes appeared on our series in 1938)
Traditional spiritual, arr. by HARRY T. BURLEIGH I’ve Been in de Storm So Long
Traditional spiritual, arr. by HARRY T. BURLEIGH Little David, Play On Your Harp*
Traditional spiritual, arr. by HARRY T. BURLEIGH Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
Traditional protest song If You Miss Me from the Back of the Bus
Traditional protest song Freedom in the Air
Traditional spiritual, arr. by HARRY T. BURLEIGH My Lord, What a Mornin’
Traditional spiritual, arr. by HARRY T. BURLEIGH By An’ By*
Traditional spiritual, arr. by HARRY T. BURLEIGH Ride On, King Jesus!

*sung by Paul Robeson on the Middlebury Performing Arts Series on December 4, 1946

Sponsored by the Performing Arts Series Society (PASS), the Performing Arts Series, the Paul Nelson Performance Endowment, and the Rothrock Family Residency Fund.

Learn more about the artists:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dashonburtonbaritone/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@dashonlateefburton
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3ltQeC9VYBT3gXcrehAAUf?si=gOAQ—x4RAmEE…;
Watch a video:  https://youtu.be/-PgtFXDOxrM?si=QY19TPTUyujmdZKJ

Performance subject to change.