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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS – In celebration of Black History Month, the U.S. Embassy in Amman is hosting American Soprano Nicole Taylor and pianist Daniel Ernst in Jordan from February 4-6. Taylor and Ernst performed in Amman in Feb. 2010.

Taylor and Ernst will perform spiritual and folk songs and present pieces by American composers such as Gershwin and Copeland. The duo will hold two free public performances in Jordan, the first in Madaba at 7 p.m. on Sunday Feb. 5, at the Municipality hall during which local poets will recite poems written by African Americans. The second public concert will be in Amman at 7:30 p.m. on Monday Feb. 6 at Al-Hussein Cultural Center in Ras El-Ein.

Nicole Taylor is a graduate of the masters program at the Juilliard School in New York City. Ms. Taylor has performed a variety of roles in a number of renowned operas and won several musical awards and came in first place at national and international competitions. She is a recipient of the University Fellowship (UCLA), Carnegie Mellon University Scholarship, and BEEM Foundation for the Advancement of Music Scholarship, as well as a professional studies grant from the Pittsburgh Foundation.

Daniel Ernst is a graduate of Fine Arts in Piano Performance from Carnegie Mellon University. He studied piano under Enrique Graf and Earl Wild and obtained a certificate in Piano Pedagogy under the tutelage of Hanna Li. Ernst became a diplomat with the U.S. Department of State in 2001.

African-American spirituals are musical songs specific to the religious and social experience of Africans and their descendants in the United States. They often tell the stories of suffering, resistance, strife, and religious inspiration.