Christmas with Camerata Baltimore and The Accord Symphony

Cantata: The Ballad of the Brown King

The Ballad of the Brown King is a cantata composed by Margaret Bonds in 1954 and dedicated to Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1960. This nine-movement piece focuses on the dark-skinned Balthazar of the Three Kings, who traveled to Bethlehem to witness the birth of Jesus Christ. Bonds’ collaboration with poet Langston Hughes brings musical language to the cantata with a neo-romantic style mixed with the simplicity of negro spirituals.