As a gift from Pampers, admission to the Freedom Center is free for each of the concert days.  Pre-booked groups are not eligible for the free admission.

Violinist Heidi Yenney and pianist Jessica Madsen will perform the opening concert of the 2008 William Grant Still Festival on Tuesday, Dec. 2, at 5 p.m. at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

The concert is free and open to the public, and includes a lecture on the music of Still, (1895 - 1978),  an African-American classical composer who wrote more than 150 compositions. Still studied at Wilberforce University and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.  In a varied career spanning classical and pop musical genres, Still achieved fame as the first African-American to conduct a major American symphony orchestra, the first to have a symphony of his own (his first symphony) performed by a leading orchestra, the first to have an opera performed by a major opera company, and the first to have an opera performed on national television.

He is often referred to as “the dean” of African-American composers.