[ZOOM] I Do Promise: A Virtual Roundtable with Composer Jonathan Woody

“I do promise to every NEGROE who shall desert the Rebel Standard, full security to follow within these Lines, any Occupation which he shall think proper.”—H. Clinton, June 30, 1779

Join composer/bass-baritone Jonathan Woody, violinist Shelby Yamin, and historical clarinetist Dominic Giardino for a roundtable discussion centered on Woody’s forthcoming work, I Do Promise.

Commissioned by Dyckman Farmhouse Museum and the period-instrument ensemble Music of the Regiment, I Do Promise blends 21st-century sounds with 18th-century instruments and texts from the American Revolutionary War. Taking its name from a line in General Henry Clinton’s 1779 Philipsburg Proclamation, the work is a musical meditation on the experiences of Africans and Black Americans who navigated Britain’s utilitarian policies of emancipation in New York and throughout North America between 1775 and 1783.

Date: September 11, 2025

Time: 6pm-7pm

Cost: FREE!

Registration Required? Yes, register via Zoom HERE!

Location: Virtual via Zoom.

Jonathan Woody often performs as a member of the GRAMMY®-nominated Choir of Trinity Wall Street, where he has earned praise from the New York Times for his “charismatic” and “riveting” solos. Woody is in demand as a bass-baritone soloist, appearing regularly with historically informed and period-instrument orchestras including Boston Early Music Festival, Apollo’s Fire, Pacific MusicWorks, Bach Collegium San Diego, Trinity Baroque Orchestra, and New York Baroque Incorporated. As a composer, his compositional voice blends 17th- and 18th-century inspiration with minimalism and socially conscious subject matter of today. Since 2020, he has received commissions from Apollo’s Fire, the Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Chanticleer, the Handel and Haydn Society, the Cathedral Choral Society of Washington, D.C., and the Five Boroughs Music Festival, among others.

Violinist Shelby Yamin is a sought after chamber musician, recitalist, and soloist. Recent season highlights include appearances as soloist with the Albany Symphony, Oregon Bach Festival, Philharmonia Baroque Chamber Players, New York Baroque Incorporated, House of Time, and Voices of Music. Her passion for bringing historical music into historic spaces has led to concerts at the Hammond-Harwood House and George Washington’s Mount Vernon. Based in New York, Shelby can be regularly heard with the city’s premier period-instrument ensembles, including Trinity Baroque Orchestra and The Sebastians, and she has been a core member of Les Délices (Cleveland, OH) since 2022. In addition to her active performing and teaching career, Shelby is the associate producer of Les Délices’s award-winning early music webseries and podcast, SalonEra. Shelby holds degrees from the Manhattan School of Music, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and The Juilliard School, where she won the historical-performance concerto competition. 

Historical clarinetist Dominic Giardino enjoys a varied professional life as a performer, administrator, educator, and researcher. Dominic performs in period-instrument orchestras throughout the continent, including in recent seasons with Boston Baroque, the Washington Bach Consort, and the Pacific Baroque Orchestra. He also regularly performs in chamber music programs with the Raleigh Camerata and Wit’s Folly. Dominic has recorded with the Smithsonian Chamber Players, the Bach Choir of Bethlehem Orchestra, Newberry’s Victorian Cornet Band, and Three Notch’d Road: The Virginia Baroque Ensemble. He is the executive director of Arizona Early Music, serves on the faculties of the University of North Texas and George Mason University, and co-directs the period-instrument ensemble Music of the Regiment. Dominic is a 2016 Fulbright grantee and holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the Royal Conservatory of The Hague.

This project is made possible through the generous support of the New York State Council on the Arts.