Charles Samuel Brown

Charles Samuel Brown leads a rich musical life that includes work as a professional bass/baritone, composer of songs and choral repertoire, and music educator. He began his collegiate musical studies at Morehouse College before serving for three years in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. After his service, he returned to the United States to continue his musical education in voice performance. After having received his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Voice Performance from the University of Michigan, Mr. Brown sang professionally in many varied settings including concerts in Poland with the Szczecin Philharmonic, as part of the chorus in the first production of Porgy and Bess at the Metropolitan Opera, and as a back-up singer with Ray Charles, Cab Calloway, and Quincy Jones. Mr. Brown’s compositional studies were with William Bolcom and Leslie Bassett. He composes works for both solo voice and chorus, and was also an arranger for Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman’s famous 1990 Carnegie Hall Spirituals Concert. Now a retired professor of voice, Mr. Brown taught at the Borough Manhattan Community College (Manhattan, NY), Lincoln University of Missouri (Jefferson City, MO), and was also a music teacher for the New York City Board of Education. He currently is a board member of Melodious Accord, an organization that furthers educator Alice Parker’s work in western Massachusetts with Community Sings.

– Bethany Worrell

This profile was created in 2021 as part of The Savvy Singer, an EXCEL Lab course at the University of Michigan, School of Music, Theatre, and Dance and a collaboration with the Hampsong Foundation via the Classic Song Research Initiative.

Bibliography:

African Diaspora Music Project. “Charles Brown.” Accessed November 9, 2021. http://www.africandiasporamusicproject.org/charles_brown. 

Marquis Who’s Who. “Charles Samuel Brown.” Accessed November 9, 2021.  http://search.marquiswhoswho.com/profile/100022308168

Patterson, Willis C., Anthology of Art Songs by Black American Composers. New York: Edward B. Marks Music Company, Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard 2017.

Toppin, Louise, et al. An Anthology of African and African Diaspora Songs. Ann Arbor, MI: Videmus, 2021. Fayetteville, AR: Classical Vocal Reprints, sole distributor, 2021.