Director of Music Dr. Brent Runnels and Adjunct Lecturer in Voice Dr. Wanda Yang Temko are featured performers on Bound for the Promised Land: Songs and Words of Equality and Freedom. Notably, this album features the very last live performances of opera legend Jessye Norman.

Norman, an operatic soprano, is a venerated figure in music. With five Grammys, a Kennedy Center Honors award and a National Medal of Arts, she was an effortlessly beautiful performer with a long and storied career. Tragically, she passed away just last year at 74. However, Bound for the Promised Land, released earlier this year, features four solo pieces by the late artist. The album is a collection of classical pieces that depict the history of civil rights in America through 25 different songs and speeches.

Dr. Runnels and Dr. Yang Temko are both featured on one track each. Dr. Runnels appears on Track 18, “Cantata Toccata: Ride on King Jesus,” playing the piano. Dr. Yang Temko lends her voice to Track 25, “Bound for the Promised Land,” singing soprano.

Dr. Brent Runnels has been teaching music at Oglethorpe since 2008 and is the director of the music department. Currently, he conducts the Oglethorpe University Symphony and the Jazzy Petrels, a jazz ensemble. Both groups will be performing concerts in April.