I enjoyed Phil Hands’ well-deserved cartoon tribute to James Earl Jones ( Sept. 12). Jones was an award-winning star on stage, screen and television who was a ground-breaking inspiration for Black performers in America.
The impact of Black artists was brought home to me recently when my wife and I attended several performances in Baltimore during the week of Sept. 14. On Tuesday, we watched “POTUS: or Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive,” a hilarious play at Everyman Theatre in which two of the seven actresses were Black.
On Wednesday, we attended an outstanding performance by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra conducted by wunderkind Jonathon Heyward. Included in the program were two compositions by the gifted composer James Lee III, a Baltimore native and professor of composition and theory at Morgan State University. On Thursday, we were treated to a beautiful concert at Goucher College by Anthony McGill, principal clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.
To top off the week, on Sunday, we heard acclaimed jazz pianist and Baltimore native Cyrus Chestnut perform at the Second Presbyterian Church as part of its Community Concerts at Second series. Thanks, in at least a small measure, to pioneering Black performers such as James Earl Jones, we can benefit from a rich, diverse cultural heritage in America. — Beryl Rosenstein, Pikesville.