Black culture and classical music mix in showcase 

GATEWAYS MUSIC FESTIVAL

Patricia Reeves, Dennis Carter and Hassan Anderson at the 2025 Gateway Music Festival.

Armenta Hummings Dumisani is getting a huge birthday gift a couple of months early.

The Gateways Music Festival in Winston-Salem April 19-22 honors Dumisani, the classical music showcase’s founder ahead of her 90th birthday on June 27. Dumisani, the creative force behind a community for Black classical musicians, launched the festival in 1993 in Winston-Salem. 

“At Gateways, Black culture and classical music are not in conversation from a distance — they’re inseparable — and you don’t just hear it, you feel it. It moves through the room, connecting people across time, tradition and lived experience,” festival President and artistic director Alex Laing said in a statement. “That spirit began with Miss Armenta — her vision, her insistence on excellence and her belief that Black classical artists deserve a home in this music. We are honored to pay tribute to her because every time Gateways convenes, we’re carrying her legacy forward, building community and showing what Black artistry makes possible across generations.”

The showcase’s programming including a concert honoring Dumisani’s contributions and featuring the Gateways Chamber Orchestra and Brass Collective, with performances by Amadi Azikiwe, Marcus Thompson, Damien Sneed and Jas Ogiste. Works by Black composers Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Margaret Bonds and George Walker are included as well as those of Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. 

There will be free public programming including the Young Musicians Institute: Brass Day, a high-impact community workshop led by the Gateways Brass Collective; Masterclasses for strings, brass and piano at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts; and a piano recital with Howard University professor Damien Sneed, an Emmy-winning conductor, composer, pianist and music professor whose career has earned recognition across classical, operatic and interdisciplinary circles.

Additional festival offerings include the Dr. Paul J. Burgett Lecture and Community Conversation, led this year by National Association of Negro Musicians’ 2025 Competition winner Mira Walker, Gateways Brass Collective in concert, and The Family Dinner: A Gateways Reunion, an intimate gathering celebrating the community of artists and supporters first envisioned by Dumisani. 

The Gateways Music Festival calendar. All public events free with RSVP.

April 19
Gateways Brass Collective at Centenary United Methodist Church. 11 a.m.

Gateways Brass Collective joins Centenary for worship service.

April 20
Dr. Paul J. Burgett Lecture and Community Conversation: Mira Walker, Piano, Forsyth County Central Library, 2 p.m.

Presented in partnership with the National Association for Negro Musicians, pianist and 2025 NAMM scholarship competition winner Mira Walker offers a lecture-recital exploring the Chicago Black Renaissance through works by Florence Price, Margaret Bonds, Betty Jackson King and Irene Britton Smith.

• Piano recital: Damien Sneed, Winston-Salem State University, 7 p.m.

The Emmy Award–winning pianist, composer and conductor presents a recital, including selections from his forthcoming Apple Music Classical release.

April 21
Gateways Brass Collective concert, United Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church, 6:30 p.m.

The Gateways Brass Collective traces  the impact of Black artistry across the musical landscape, performing works by Margaret Bonds, Dizzy Gillespie, Anthony Barfield and Jeff Scott.

April 22
Young Musicians Institute: Brass Day, Centenary United Methodist Church, 3:30–6:30 p.m.

Gateways Brass Collective leads young musicians through technique workshops, ensemble playing and collaborative music-making in a dynamic, inspiring environment.

April 23
Gateways in Celebration: A Concert Honoring the Legacy of Armenta Hummings Dumisani, Centenary United Methodist Church, 7 p.m.
Concert featuring violists Amadi Azikiwe and Marcus Thompson performing Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto as well works by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Margaret Bonds, and Damien Sneed.

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