ROME-In a unique, powerful lecture-recital, Derrell Acon challenges the claim that true Black Art cannot exist in America. Drawing on a variety of forms of artistic expression, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music voice student and Fulbright grantee uses live performance to exemplify his research into the roots of African American creative production.

 In his very own composition titled “Da Dove Viene La Black Art,” staged Wednesday in the American University of Rome’s Auriana Auditorium, Acon invites the audience to confront often dismissive opinions expressed by critics throughout the last centuries, questioning the existence of a distinct black art, with literature excerpts, poetry fragments and songs by African American artists, presented to the accompaniment of the piano.

 The performance, coordinated by Professor Timothy Martin, Program Director of the AUR Summer Vocal Institute, and held in collaboration with the American Academy in Rome and the Embassy of the United Sates, featured captivating texts by poet Amiri Baraka – “Why is we Americans” and “Black Art” – recited charismatically by Acon along with a live jazz improvisation by Eric Nathan on trumpet (American Academy in Rome) and Javier Moreno on bass (Spanish Academy). The recital culminated in Acon’s moving performance of classic Negro spirituals including “Deep River” and “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child.”