San Diego California has had its ups and downs in sustaining organizations that provide public accessible arts programs over the last several decades. Classical music support in communities outside of South East San Diego have benefited from endowments, grants, and philanthropic gifts. For many African Americans, our churches and schools have historically been and continue to be a large community outlet for classical concert artists. Although it has more diversity than at mid-twentieth century, the twenty-first century classical music concert world remains a mysterious aural landscape into which few of our children will venture.

Many contemporary African American concert performers achieve in a world that is at times isolated from our community. Those of us who are aware of this distancing affect attend functions and gala celebrations to reflect our appreciation for our artists' dedicated hard work and resilience. They have chosen to create and perform in a world where, unfortunately, their lives as artistic creators and collaborators are often invisible to our children in classrooms with overworked teachers struggling to share their love of music in downsized music programs.

Having said the above, it is with pleasure that we can enjoy a variety of performances at the Lincoln High School Center for the Arts in Southeast San Diego. The center, under Artistic Director Donald Robinson and Principal Vernon Moore, celebrates diversity and values excellence and community accessibility. The Center for the Performing Arts is only in its second year. On Saturday May sixteenth, collaboration with the San Diego Mainly Mozart Festival and Sylvia M'Lafi Thompson brought renowned clarinetist Anthony McGill in a benefit concert to a diverse audience that shared a common love for classical music. The Lincoln High School Gospel Choir, under the direction of Sharletta Richardson who is a graduate of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and an appointed member of the City of San Diego's Commission for Arts and Culture in 2008, gave a mini-concert before Mr. McGill's performance. One of their highlights was the harmonic blend and tessitura control of each part in a cappella polyphonic interplay during the choirs' rendition of Richard Smallwood's "Oh Lord, How Excellent." Their exit was followed by Sylivia M'Lafi Thompson who was the Mainly Mozart representative and the host.

Ms. Thompson's brief speech inspired the community to continue to support the arts and Lincoln High School's efforts to bring live performances to the community. She then introduced Anthony Mc Gill to the audience followed by a video. The video footage of Mr. McGill's Inauguration performance with Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, and Gabriela Montero of John William's "Air and Simple Gifts" was a dramatic snippet of the artistic feast about to occur. Anthony Mc Gill is a gracious, personable and humble artist. Acknowledging the young singers' performance, he expressed that he would have liked to have collaborated on a performance with them. He then continued talking to the audience and collapsed the fourth wall, creating an intimate ambiance. Below are a few highlights from the concert.

Mr. McGill, accompanied on piano by Ines Irawati, an award winning artist in her own right, embraced the audience with a musicianship that transposed the 700 capacity auditorium into a private salon. The softer, less forceful sounds of the clarinet in A during the "Adagio" from Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A K.622, possessed a richness and liquidity evident from the first notes of the opening theme. Ms Irawati's accompaniment interlaced quietly in the background as Mr. McGill's sonic tapestry became a sensitive exploration of the clarinet's mid and lower register melodic voice as well as its capacity for fluid arpeggiation. He switched from clarinet in A to clarinet in Bb while talking casually about music. Changing reeds, he stayed on stage winning admiration for this low-key, yet high powered presentation. Then, he played several selections from Bizet's opera, Carmen.

Of particular note was the "Seguidilla," a sensual delight. Mr. McGill's rich full intonation was reminiscent of Grace Bumbry's portrayal of Carmen, playful, with a hint of smoldering flirtatiousness. Piano and clarinet synergy sizzled. The duo became a masterful blend of clarinet and piano in selections from American composer George Gershwin.

"Summertime" was a wistful legato lullaby, with creamy tones evoking images of a baby on a porch drifting to sleep in midday Georgia hot sun. "It Ain't Necessarily So" offered a vibrant, in your face" vocal" tone with defiantly phrased dynamic contrasts and subtle intonation shifts. Mr. McGill's interpretation of Gershwin's Prelude No. 1 playfully showcased Ms. Irawati's ability for call and response as piano and clarinet danced a jazz duet with fortes and dazzling pianissimos and pianississimos that had many in the audience holding their breathe.. Their artistry infused musical moments with a creative palpable essence.

Anthony McGill's love of music and the spirit with which he shares his love continues to inspire music teachers, student musicians, and the general public. He is truly a gifted musician and a man of the people.

Delores Fisher, part time lecturer on African American music at San Diego State University, earned both an MA in music with an emphasis in Musicology and also a BA in the Humanities with an emphasis in music and literature from San Diego State University. Her focal areas include early 20th century African American Music history, music in literature, and the socio-cultural effects of oppression on musicians' lives. A researcher/participant in the arts, Delores collaborates with poets, dancers, musicians, and performance artists to illuminate nascent twenty-first century creative expression.