About BABC

Chamber Music Detroit is proud to present our Black Artists Black Composers (BABC) initiative. Founded on the principle of providing a dedicated platform for exceptional Black classical musical artists and composers, BABC is a direct response to the glaring underrepresentation within the classical music field. Nationally, a mere 2% of contracted orchestra musicians in America are Black, a statistic that underscores the urgent need for focused, meaningful programming. This initiative is a vital effort to showcase and celebrate the tremendous, often overlooked, contributions of Black musical artists and composers to the rich fabric of classical music in American life.

The BABC initiative is driven by a two-fold mission. Firstly, showcasing the rich heritage of Black excellence in classical music is vital for representation and continued growth of the art form within the Black community. By presenting world-class Black musicians performing the works of brilliant Black composers, we provide essential role models and foster a sense of belonging for aspiring artists. Secondly, this series serves to educate the broad, diverse populations in America on the depth and importance of Black classical music greatness. Through these concerts, we aim to increase awareness of this heritage, ensuring that these masterpieces and the artists who perform them take their rightful, prominent place in the global classical canon.

An evening of classical music with Derek Menchan, ‘cello and bass, assisted by Kasan Belgrave, winds, Brendon Davis, piano, & Jeannette Fang, piano in Detroit at Wayne State University's Industry and Innovation Center Atrium.
Featuring Beethoven’s Sonata No. 5 in D major, Op.102 No.2.

Ticket includes a signature drink and hors d’oeuvres.
Afterglow entertainment provided by DJ &Keyboardist Jon Dixon

Signature drink sponsored by Black Spirits Legacy
Food provided by Chef Steve Couch at Mr. Eat Right
This concert is sponsored by GreenLeaf Trust

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

DEREK MENCHAN
Cellist Derek Menchan was trained in his native Florida and at the Manhattan School. There he earned a Master’s degree with Olga Rostropovich and was awarded the Pablo Casals Award for Musical Accomplishment and Human Endeavor. He continued his studies informally through extended mentoring relationships with legendary cellists Janos Starker and Harvey Shapiro. Menchan has concertized as a soloist and chamber musician extensively throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe, and has had world premieres of his own arrangements and compositions in celebrated halls across the country.

Menchan has been dubbed “an übercellist” by Inside Houston Magazine; described as a visionary artist whose music-making “unites technical precision with a sense of honesty that’s hard to match in the music scene today” on Ink19.com; lauded as “a mage” by Cultural Weekly Magazine; and “a person for whom anything is possible” on allaboutjazz.com. A polymath with interests and expertise in multiple creative and scholarly fields, Menchan is a critically acclaimed record producer, professor, visual artist, and comparative religions scholar.

KASAN BELGRAVE
Kasan Belgrave grew up on the west side of Detroit and was educated through Christian schools, including Southfield Christian High School, where he was a band member. He was a part of the DSO Civic Jazz Orchestra under the direction of drummer Sean Dobbins and bassist Rodney Whitaker. He earned a degree in jazz studies from the University of Michigan and held a graduate assistantship at MSU.

BRENDON DAVIS
Brendon Davis is an incredible talent and an in-demand composer and performer leading his own ensembles as well as performing with major artists across multiple genres including Jazz, Gospel, Classical, R&B, Pop, and Hip Hop. He completed both his Bachelors and Masters Degrees with Honors at the University of Michigan. He has been a headliner and ensemble performer at such venues/events as the Detroit Jazz Festival, the Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe, The Blue Llama, Cliff Bell’s, Hill Auditorium, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra at Orchestra Hall, the Charles H. Wright Museum, the Detroit Institute of Arts, Disney All-American College Band, the Mackinac Island Jazz Festival, among many others. He leads Muze Society, a collection of musicians with equally stellar talents.

JEANNETTE FANG
Jeannette Fang is an imaginative and expressive pianist whose dynamic performances have attracted the attention of both professionals as well as the concert going public. Since 2015, she has been the pianist of the acclaimed Garth Newel Piano Quartet, who perform over 50 concerts a year as artists in residence and artistic directors of the Garth Newel Music Center.

Fang has received the Gold Medal at the 2013 Seattle International Piano Competition, where she also received the President’s Award and Audience Favorite Prize. She has earned top prizes in the Dallas Chamber Symphony International Piano Competition and the MTNA Young Artist National Competition. She is the recipient of the Earl V. Moore Award and the Gottlieb Award, given by the University of Michigan, and the Elizabeth J. Parisot award from Yale School of Music, the winner of the Karlfried Nordman Scholarship Piano Competition at Juilliard, and was a National Presidential Scholar in the Arts in 2003.

PAST CONCERTS

Sunday, January 26, 2025 Melissa White, violin & Pallavi Mahidhara, piano Inaugural BABC concert